If you have been following billiards on TV, you must have seen players chalking their cue tips frequently. Some do it after a few shots while some do after every shot. And then, a question keeps popping up in your mind, Why do you chalk a snooker cue? Is it necessary to do so, or does it make any difference?
So in this article, I’m going to shed some light on this topic.
Chalk is one of the important things you have in your pool accessories because it is applied to the tip of the cue stick to increase the tip’s friction. The purpose is to increase the impact of the shot.
Let’s put it this way. When your cue tip meets with the cue ball on the table, the longer it remains in contact the greater the impact. That’s why some players even use it before every shot.
Conversely, if you don’t chalk your cue or your chalk is of bad quality, your game play will suffer because a lot depends on the friction generated by chalk between the ball and cue how accurate and powerful shots are.
Chalking a cue isn’t a big deal. All you have to do is hold the tip cue in such a way that the tip is right in front of you, then you brush the chalk over it such that the whole surface of the tip is covered with it.
Normally, these chalks are kept in cubes, so you brush the cube over the tip.
A common mistake that beginners and amateurs make is they grind the chalk on the tip, as if they are drilling down a hole. This is not a good practice and in this way you can’t cover the whole tip with chalk. Also, it results in a terrible mess of dust chalk on your clean table.
Billiard chalk used to be made of calcium carbonate including several proprietary compounds with a silicate base at the time of the Industrial revolution when the industry wanted to produce something that could provide a better friction between the ball and the tip.
And then, with the passage of time, chalk was further modified and it is now also available in cone shape, also known as white hand chalk, like talc. This type of chalk is quite handy to reduce friction between the cue and bridge hand during shooting, to give you a smoother stroke.
Now there is no one chalk that pros use. They have different preferences, therefore their choices vary.
These pros have their own reasons to choose any particular brand.
Yes, despite the difference in the sizes of pool and snooker cue sticks, the chalks used in both are the same. Because the purpose of using chalk remains the same i.e. to maximize the friction between the tip and the ball upon contact so you can enjoy more power and accuracy.
