The bloom rubber series by the Chinese manufacturer 729 Friendship is a clear advancement in the realm of tacky rubbers. The plastic ball is very challenging for players, both in terms of rotation and speed. Even though classical Chinese rubbers with a tacky topsheet offer a slight advantage over German and Japanese rubbers in terms of spin, players have been forced to use very fast blades in order to be dangerous from mid-distance as well.
This much can be said up front: The Bloom-Spin carries its name for good reason! None of the other rubbers we offer has such an extremely grippy and tacky surface! It feels almost as if the ball sticks to the rubber, and the same holds true for the finger that rests on the rubber. The goal of 729 Friendship’s rubber developers was clear: They aimed at developing a typical Chinese rubber which offers lots of rotation, even when playing with the plastic ball. At the same time, though, they wanted to create a rubber which provides a certain degree of vigour to create sufficient speed in attacking strokes.
The Bloom-Spin features a purple, 45° sponge. As mentioned above, the accompanying topsheet is extremely tacky (even when compared to the topsheet of the Bloom-Speed, which is very tacky as well). And yet, the rubber provides surprisingly good dynamics. In contrast to other classical rubbers, which offer great spin yet low dynamics, the Boom-Spin comes with a significant amount of speed. Of course, this rubber is not as fast as a typical rubber with built-in speed glue technology, but its dynamic feel is quite surprising.
The Bloom-Spin is excellent for offensive topspin players relying on lots of rotation right from the start. The rubber is particularly effective when playing close to the table using short movements. From mid-distance, however, it does lack a bit of vigour. In these situations, players should get back to the table quickly after having played a high-rotation topspin stroke.
The Bloom-Spin also provides some interesting return options, enabling both short backspin strokes and aggressive strokes with enormous backspin. Flips with low speed but high rotation can force opponents into passive play immediately, thus giving the opportunity to win points through high-spin strokes. All in all, this is an interesting spin rubber available at a very attractive price.