Short pips like Spectol are used to create more deception so to speak than long pips at higher levels. You can easily vary the spin from a dead float to a heavy cut and make them look the same if you have good technique. Watch Hou's matches and he forces more errors from opponents with his chops than long pip choppers do. Downside is short pips are not as forgiving, so you're more likeky to make errors yourself or even pop the ball up too high if you haven't managed to time the chop perfectly, something long pips is less reactive to.

Interesting.. I always thought "disruption" was the province of long pips... that you were supposed to be able to produce variable spin with it.

Iskandar

I think Hou's Chinese National Championship run has got a lot of choppers thinking short pips might be the way to go, especially wity thr new ball. He uses Spectol, though I can't find any info on whst thickness. Been told Spectol is a lot more forgiving to chop with than 802, but haven't put thst to the test yet.

I'm playing with going back to short pips and use my 802 1.5mm to test the waters. The problem is, once you've used long pips, everything else is just so unforgiving when chopping. That's really whst it comes down to. Forgiveness of long pips but more predictablity, or variation of short pips but with less forgiveness.

It's got me searching for some middle ground. At the moment, P1r followed by P4 have been the best for me. Going to try Stiga Horizontal 55 in the near future as been told it's like P4 but with harder sponge. This could be the solution for me potentially, as like P4 (can vary the spin in a way close to short pips, though not quite as contrasting) but hate thr soft sponge. We'll see.