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Of late I have been hearing quite a bit about "slim" pips and "wide" pips
I have never heard of that

Pipsual wrote: ↑December 1st, 2024, 4:20 am Of late I have been hearing quite a bit about "slim (flex)" pips and "wide (stiff)" pips
I have never heard of that

This could be somewhat confusing to new players coming into TableTennis
Stated simply , "slim (flex)" pips are the rubbers that are listed as "long" pips.
LARC stands for List of Approved Racket Coverings . Racket Coverings means rubbers. This itself I somewhat confusing because you are not covering the racket but only covering the blade (or frame) with rubber. The “racket: itself is the whole assembly of rubbers & the blade. So it should stand for List of Approved Rubber coverings
Anyway, there are some pips listed on ITTF LARC as “long” pips. However this is a deceptive naming convention used by the ITTF to brainwash & confuse even very experienced or even pro pips players into believing that "long" pips still exist in TableTennis . This is besides the simple fact that ITTF actually banned long pips in 1977 by setting the maximum allowed limit of long pips at 2.0 mm. After that 11 more rule & regulation changes were made to severely limit the capabilities of long pips. This is why you cannot really call long pips as long pips
"Wide (stiff)" pips are the pips that are called “out” pips in ITTF LARC. This also confusing because so called long pips are also “long” pips. Wide (stiff) pips are generally known as “short” pips among more experienced players.
But keep in mind this very important fact > The maximum allowed pip length for any pips in TableTennis regardless of what you want to call it, is 2.05 mm (it was 2.00 mm after 1977 but was changed to 2.05 mm in 2024 , reasons only political and no technical merit won’t be discussed here)
The only difference therefore between the two type of pips is the width of the pips. This is why it would make more sense to call the ITTF long pips as “slim (flex)” pips and ITTF “out” pips as wide (stiff) pips. There are other pip design parameters involved here but that is beyond the scope of this post.
BTW you can also call slim (flex) pips as flex pips and wide (stiff) pips as stiff pips as well. Because you can take two pips and have same height & diameter but one can be more flexible providing more spin but lesser speed & the other pips can be stiffer providing more speed but less spin

So this is somewhat confusing. because what exactly are "long" pips as of today in 2024 then

So if they were banned according to you , why were they banned in 1977, 1983 & 1998 and so on

Are any long pips available today

Pipsual wrote: ↑December 1st, 2024, 2:29 pm
Are any long pips available today

Yes , there are some real long pips available today.
Most of them are made in Indonesia & some in China & probably one or two in South Korea.

Unforutunately the Indonesian long pips seem to be readily available pbly in a few countries like Thailand, Phillipines & Malaysia
Chinese REAL long pips are available on Ali Express

But keep in mind that ALL these REAL LONG pips rubbers designed for blocking style play.

There are no REAL long pips available for away from the table choppers (for the 40+ platic ball ONLY era) .
Oh BTW , there are also zero production commercial blades are available for choppers (for the 40+ platic ball ONLY era) .
All the commercial blade manufacturers lie to to the clueless choppers that semi-large bladea are over sized blades.

I am deeply offended by your use of non ITTF names & inventing new names & jargon (Don't ask me why ....I just am.............I have no rtional reason or justification) . I love & worship the ITTF . And der_echte is my BFF

Anyway, are these rubbers same as social rubbers ?

Just a quick note about pips.
There are about 17 or pip design parameters

But the primary parameters that differentiate the two primary pip types is NOT the length , when ITTF banned long pips in 1977 at the Birmingham BGM , they set the maximum allowed pip length for any & all pips at 2.00 mm. This limit was changed at the 2024 AGM in Busan, South Korea, to 2.05 mm for political reasons , that I will not get into here.

So what separates the two major types of pips . It is NOT the pip length . It is the pip width , because the maximum allowed aspect ratio for one type of pips is set at 0.89 and other pips between 0.89 & 1.1 .
What does that mean ? This means that for one type pips the pip width cannot exceed 2.05 mm divided by 0.89 , which gives 2.3 mm. These are the wide (stiff) pips .
The other type of pips are the slim (flex) pips whose maximum allowed pip width is 2.05 mm divided by 1.1 which is 1.86 mm. So these are the slim (flex) pips.

Another primary distinguishing parameter of the pips was the pips stiffness or flexibility. Traditionally , the wide pips were stiffer and slightly shorter (that is why they were called short pips) & slim (flex) pips were flexible and at maximum length. But of late manufacturers have been making wide (stiff) pips also at close to maximum allowed length of 2.05 mm but also flexible (but calling them wide pips) to confuse the clueless and sell these rubbers as chopping short pips LOL

Anyway going forward please identify the "short" pips listed as "out" on ITTF LARC as wide (stiff) pips & the other pips listed deceptively as "long" on ITTF LAR as slim (flex) pips to avoid confusion.
And refer to the actual "long" pips with pip length higher than 2.05 mm and aspect ratio higher than 1.1 as long (flex) pips.

Keep also in mind that ITTF reduced the maximum allowed aspect ratio of pips from 1.3 to 1.1 at the Durban 1998 EGM
This is the most infamous, most political & most oppressive rule or regulation change in the 100 year history of the sport.