Kamui Chalk (1.21)
According to what I have read, the idea behind this chalk is that it is purported to be constructed with finer particles than your standard chalks. As such, they are designed to maximize friction and offer a larger “sweet spot,” which generates more spin to the cue ball. The added friction reduces slipping, miscues, and deflection. In addition, the chalk is also thought to provide a superior coating to other chalks, significantly reducing the need to chalk during play while continuing to provide consistent performance and protection from miscuing.
In my experience, this chalk does live up to the expectations in terms of reducing the need to chalk during play while maintaining consistent performance and protection from miscuing. It is reasonable to expect that you might only be required to chalk once per game of 8 or 9 ball. When you brush this chalk on your tip, you can actually “feel” the coverage that you are getting in the application vs. other chalks. It just feels as if the chalk is actually gripping your tip as you brush it on while other chalks may feel a bit like scraping as you are brushing them on.
Compared to other chalks, this is one very expensive piece of chalk and you definitely do not want to use it like other chalk. Meaning, if you are going to chalk after every shot as you may be inclined to with other chalk, you are going to be spending a lot of money on chalk. Therefore, I think the value is derived by reducing your chalking by using this chalk. While I can definitely see how this is appealing to some, I must admit that this does not work for me. The reason for me is that I use chalking between shots as part of my pre-shot routine. I use it as a way to purposefully slow down between shots and look the table over. Also, there is something about applying the chalk between shots that gives me confidence in my hit on the cue ball. I have tried the Kamui chalk in match play and I just cannot get used to not chalking between shots. The chalk itself has never let me down, but mentally, I just can’t get past it.
Where I have found this chalk wonderfully useful is during my practice sessions. I often will do drills over & over again, such as shooting 100 long straight in shots corner to corner. This particular drill takes me about 45 minutes to complete. I can do this entire drill with chalking only once at the beginning of my practice session. The only exception is when I practice my power draws with this drill, where I may have to chalk a few times. With other chalk, I feel a need to chalk after each shot, regardless. Contrasted to match play, I enjoy not having to chalk between these shots and for some reason, I do not have the miscue concerns that I have during match play – but practice is a different mindset than match or tournament play (at least for me). When I am not practicing “muscle memory” drills, but rather practicing real-world game type drills such as playing the ghost, running patterns, etc. I go back to my standard chalk and my standard pre-shot routines that I use in my league and tournament play – including chalking between shots.
Overall, this is an excellent product and I do use it. But as I said, I also use other chalks regularly as well. I have a piece of Kamui chalk that I use for my practice sessions and I use the other chalk for match play.
