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I don't know why you're bringing this up again. This was all decided when the frictionless pimple ban came in, nothing has changed.

That's quite surprising, because it's usually only the commercial ones that are tacky, and both provincial/National barely tacky. I've not seen a National sheet that feels that tacky, although the black clearly have a bit more tack compared to red.

Spinlord has some nice and fast ones, like Waran, but they're quite a bit more expensive, not sure if that's more than you're willing to spend. Yes Uranus is supposed to be fast SP for a Chinese rubber, but there's quite a few versions, and I've not kept up with these.

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That can be a temperature problem, where they either packaged the rubbers before they cooled down, or the temperature when they're made is a lot different to where it's used. Since the top-sheet and sponge have different expansion rates at different temperatures, it will result in a dome (or a...

That's clearly an oversight by Tibhar by using the same packaging that shows the hardness of 53deg. They really should fix that. Looking forwards to hearing how it plays though, sounds like a rubber I'll like.

Then either of those blades will work very well. I assume you'll have an inverted or short pip on forehand, so choose the blade that best suits that rubber, as that's probably more important. If you want to hit with the other side, you might need a blade fast enough to hit it past the opponent.

Yes you're right, they always do, even if they were never boosted. I think it's just aging over time as it dried out. If you boosted it or stretced it onto the blade, the dome will be a lot worse.

This rubber feels very dead, extremely slow and massive spin reversal. Although no longer legal for competition for 10+ years, if you still use this for fun, it works well an almost any blade. Commonly used blades are Dr N Barricade or Firewall Plus.

It's perfectly normal to charge for it. Most coaches have a skill that's been honed over many years, and it costs them time (and probably balls too and some are often stepped on), so it's perfectly reasonable to charge for it. If you don't want to pay for, buy a batch of balls yourself, and...

I tried that for a while, but it's not as spinny (topspin) as Victas 401 for my style of game, and since my game relies a lot on heavy spin, I'm always interested in these types of rubber.

Yes, the original ones (in OX) were found to be slightly over the limit of 2.0mm, so they redesigned them to be slightly shorter. I'm sure sure of the year, but I would guess about 12 years ago perhaps?

It's hard to keep up with all the latest rubbers, but I'm really interest in the recent hybrid rubbers that many brand have released in the last couple of years. I think they can be identified by the mildly tacky (sticky) topsheet with a firm sponge, and a significant increase in price compared...

Yes you're right there, they do discontinue their products quite quickly, and stock/availability was often an issue for dealers. They're certainly not the only ones that do this, which is always so disappointing if you find something that you really like!

They do (or at least they used to do it), but a distributor would need to buy them in bulk quantity direct from DHS, and it seems there is not enough interest or demand for any DHS dealer to do this.

Thanks a very insightful post, makes perfect sense! 👏

Slower & softer blades have less 'spin reversal', but you return more backspin with a chop-block action. Faster blades like the Diode V has more spin reversal, but because the ball bounces off more quickly it's harder to add your own spin, which can result in less backspin. Finding the right...

The Donic defplay (both versions) and Tibhar CO-S-3 are both quite slow. I don't know about the Diode Pro, but it's likely to be a modern defender blade (like the other diode versions), in which case it will be faster.

That really sucks. They probably delivered to the wrong house, or it got stolen from your door step.

Assuming they've only modified the sponge, not the top-sheet as well, then you're right. Manufacturers are required to send the ITTF rubbers including sponge, but I'm not sure what the ITTF looks at in order to give approval. Of course if there's any truth to the rumours that Igor keeps...