irish or leather

which is better irish wrap or leather?

[dags_lax]

Positives for leather: Generally speaking, leather will last longer. As the leather ages its look will have more character (my opinion). Linen can get dirty as it absorbs the oils, chalk, and talc from your hands. Linen may also fray over time.

Positives for linen: It may be it may be hot and humid in one bar and the next one you go to it may be cool and dry. Linen will have a more consistent feel than leather when playing conditions change. If your hands sweat a lot I would recommend linen. Linen will absorb the moisture from your hands and still feel the same. It is for these reasons that cue makers started putting a linen wrap on cues in the first place.

To some players aesthetics are important. If that describes you, pick the one that looks the best to you. It is all part of the mind game. If that were not the case we all would be playing with basic, inexpensive cues, or sneaky petes. Seyberts might have hard time hosting this web site if all they could sell were the low margin, basic cues. Regardless of the wrap you choose, you will get used to it and, in a very short time, it will feel natural to you.

Depending on the cue maker you may have to spend a few more dollars to get a leather wrap.

I just had to replace my linen wrap with a leather wrap BECAUSE my hands sweat a lot when I play. At least the linen wraps that come on predators do not react well to any kind of moisture. My wrap frayed and felt like fur after two weeks of playing with it. Then after having it rewrapped, the same thing happened again. In my experience linen is a horrible wrap choice for people with sweaty hands. Linen also has to be repressed periodicaly and to me, seems like a poor choice for wrap material.

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[New Kid In The Hall]

A guy I shoot with gets ALL of his cues redone with either lizard or leather wraps after he buys them. He swears that the feedback is better with the leather/lizard than with linen and feels like his grip is more consistent.

Not sure if I agree, but alot of my cues -- the Lucasis in particular -- that have the black linen with the white specs would sure look cooler with a black lizard or black leather wrap in the first place. Just my opinion.

[txplshrk]

Again, I think it all boils down to preferance. If you like linen then linen is fine. If you like leather then leather is fine. If you like nothing then nothing is fine. I like linen, just for the feel. If it begins to get a fuzzy feel to it here is something I found to fix it. On one forum I went to, someone sugested to use wax paper on the linen. Go with the grain of the linen and turn the pool cue in your hand. You will find when your done that the lined feels new again. One thing I have noticed about doing this though. The wax from the paper will actually repel moisture. So if your hands sweet alot the linen won't seem to absorb as good with the wax coating you just put on it.

[New Kid In The Hall]

Leather, baby ... leather.

Elephant ear wraps are the SH%T!