To test the effect of sponge hardness on long pips, I have selected XIOM Guillotine 1.3 mm and TSP Curl P1R 1.3 mm. Both are best selling long pips rubbers and being used by professional players.
The TSP Curl P1R has more like a dead rubber feeling. The sponge is very hard – the hardness is close to 60 degree. The XIOM Guillitine has a very live feeling. It is built of tensor technology. The sponge of XIOM Guillitine is soft – the hardness is close to 45.
The hard sponge rubbers are very hard to control, but it has the best effect while the soft sponge rubbers are easy to control. When you compare these two rubbers, the TSP Curl P1R requires longer time to master. The XIOM Guillitine does not have a long learning curve.
The TSP Curl P1R is faster compared to XIOM Guillitine. I have felt the TSP Curl P1R gives me a great amount of control while chopping away or close to the table. I would like to keep the ball low. The TSP Curl P1R can do better job in chopping balls at the table height. With the XIOM Guillitine, the chopper has to wait for the ball to fall a little – the Korean Chopper Joo Se Hyuk style.
The softer sponge has more dwell time. The soft sponge can absorb a great amount of spin from the opponent because of its dwell time, so returning is easy. The hard sponge rubbers like TSP Curl P1R does not absorb the heavy spin easily. A 100 mph travelling hard top spin can be easily blocked or chopped with XIOM Guillitine while it is hard to do with TSP Curl P1R.
The tensor technology has given a different dimension to the long pips. The tensor makes the pips more flexible to bend. The ball can be cut or chopped easily than a rubber with a hard sponge. The roots of the pips are flexible also which makes the pips to spring back. This does not require you to do a longer chop stroke to generate spin – short stroke is okay. There are choppers who would like to do chop at their hip level will like XIOM Guillitine.
The harder sponges can generate more deceptive effect for the long pips.
The softer sponges can generate more wobbling balls.
Long Pips with hard sponge: Joola Octopus, TSP Curl P1R, TSP Curl P-H, Butterfly Feint Long II
Long Pips with softer sponge: XIOM Guillotine, Butterfly Feint Long III, JUIC Leggy Defense
