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Tibhar Cedric Nuytinck
Speed: OFF
Plies: 7 (limba outer-ZC composite -?-kiri?)
Thickness: 5.8mm
Finally this blade that I have been waiting for so long to test arrived. I was intrigued with this blade because Samsonov used this blade. The blade's handle was shown to be wrapped with handle grip covering the entire length but the single black or blue stripe at the middle of the handle gave us a clue that this was the blade he was using. I think he covered it only to protect the identity of the blade as this blade was designed and advertised for another player with the same name. I think Vladi uses the VS Unlimited blade nowadays but he spend significant time using this blade in tournaments. The blade is encased in a big and better looking box unlike other Tibhar blades with their small boxes this one has a better packaging. The blade itself has a high quality finish like the Unlimited Blade series before. The blade surface seem to have a very thin layer of sealing or the blade is just smooth. The head shape seem to be semi-egg shaped. it is not as profound as those Waldner egg shaped blades. The blade weighs about 87 grams and the weight tilts towards the head but it never felt head heavy when I used the Aurus Prime and Select rubbers at maxed thickness. The neck and wing part need only a little bit of sanding. If only they have pre-sanded the neck part of the blade, this would have been perfect. The handle is very comfortable but the Unlimited series seem to be my personal choice for their handles and they feel bigger to the hands.
When I bounced the ball onto the bare blade, the ball bounced on a medium height. It is surprising that Tibhar did not release any OFF+ blades in their latest set of blades. They would usually make 2-3 blades with one being very fast, one medium speed and the other is a typical all around blade. I would probably attribute this to the fact that the new generation tensor rubbers nowadays when even paired with off- blades only can already compensate to the blade's lack very fast of speed. In short, blade's power can be increased by using fast rubbers like Aurus Prime or MX-P. I did not have a chance to test this with an MX-P. The Cedric blade has enough speed but it is not too fast. In fact it is slower than the CCA Unlimited before and the past blades such as Paul Drinkhall Carbon and Samsonov Carbon blade (the one with the blue handle). If I compare it to other brands, the Cedric Nuytinck blade is closer to the Carbonado 145 in terms of speed and maybe feel except that the Carbonado feel more stiff.
What I like about the Cedric blade is that it is a high performance blade despite being not too fast at all. The blade excels close to the table and mid distance from the table. It has enough power that will let the player feel it is not a slow blade. However when it is paired with an MXP- or Aurus Prime it is good even at far distance from the table. The blade feels medium soft. It has this flex that you need when you loop the ball and looping with it is very easy. The Cedric blade has very good control and seems to be as good as the Samsonov Stratus carbon in terms of handling however I like the Cedric better because it feels a bit softer if my memory does not betray me. This would be one of the best control carbon blades in the market if paired with the right rubber. I suggest to pair this more with MX-S if you are a pure looper and with Aurus Prime or MX-P if you hit more or need more power in your shots. It is just easy to handle that even an intermediate level of player can use this probably with slower rubbers like a 2.0 MX-S or 2.0 EL-P. The blade also provides good control in blocking and when you want to use long pips in the back either for pure blocking or attacking long pips style, the blade is good enough to use. I would assume it would also pair well with Chinese rubbers because of the limba outer plies and the woody feeling due to the very thin carbon layers.
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