Samsara has developed a layered leather break/jump tip that is extremely hard (comparable to phenolic). Being leather there is no question as to their being legal for play in any sanctioned event, the leather also allows for better cue ball grip when using english and does not damage cue balls. Generally leave it the hell alone. Chalk it every time and nothing more. A leather break tip is just a leather tip. Deal with it like any other. But most people don't use those. I have a phenolic tip and find that I need to scuff it every once in a while to get it to hold chalk. Obviously a phenolic tip won't contact the ball nearly as long as a leather tip, and there is no doubt a large difference in their respective abilities to "grip" the CB when using lots of english. Essentially, I think players end up preferring a certain tip hardness mostly based on the sound and the feel of the hit. A tip that is softer or I think the current option with break tips are all better than the phenolic stuff, and very hard plastics or composites in general. A cuemaker friend of mine put a pressed leather tip on a break cue for me and I could not tell the difference in hardness between that and a plastic tip, but it was a much nicer hit and no damage to the equipment. The very center is leather and it's surrounded by a phenolic ring. I really liked this tip, because in about 80% of my breaks, I'd get the benefits of leather, the durability of phenolic tips. Held chalk a little better than the G10. Only downside is that this tip was relatively expensive when I purchased it. That's the best break tip I've ever had..a 15mm LePro pressed for 4 days in a heavy duty vice..trimmed to 12.75. I've tried an original hard Moori, not as good as the LePro. I think the non-leather tips hurt your break also. A great break still has to be a sweet hit..a tip that hits like a stone makes it impossible to hit it sweet. Mine appears to be the model 2749. It says a phenolic tip, but the tip on this thing held chalk better than any phenolic, that I have ever experienced. It sounded phenolic when chalking it, but it held much better, IMO, and didn't have the harsh phenolic feel when breaking. The damn thing hits like a controlled war hammer. Hope this helps. Joe P Even lightly sanding any leather tip removes leather, and will shorten tip life. It in NO way "cuts down on wear". Thats not rocket science. WesleyW but I've never heard anything but good reviews. Maybe phenolic tips on expensive cues are better, but the low-priced imports like J&J definitely can benefit from a tip upgrade. M. mechanic I really don't notice a difference between them unless its a phenolic tip (which loctite seems to work better). To help get your tip centered back on, wrap a bit of blue painters tape around the ferrule with about the thickness of the tip sticking up off the edge to help form a guide for the tip to go back onto the cue perfectly centered. The whole point of having a phenolic tip is that it doesn't deform or mushroom like leather tips under hard breaking. I haven't touched my breaking shaft since buying it from Mike Gulyassy. You're free to modify to suit your taste, but I figure Mr Gulyassy may know a thing or two about tips. OVIKB7z.