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I am struggling to understand the differences

You are not the only one who is confused.

Because ITTF deliberately wants players confused.

Because they do not want the chopper fools to understand that actual long pips were banned from top spin only Olympic table tennis at the 1977 Birmingham BGM
At the 1977 Birmingham BGM , ITTF limited the maximum length of all & any pips at 2.00 mm

Then in 1983 they set the maximum allowed Aspect Ratio of legacy pips (so called short pips) to 0.89 and for the rest of the pips 1.3

Aspect Ratio is length (height) of pips divided by width (or diameter) of the pips.

The most important fact you need to understand is this.

The difference between the two types of pips is not based on the length of pips, as the ITTF wants you to believe.

Because any pips can have the maximum allowed pip length of 2.00 before 2024 (2.05 mm after2024).
The only difference then is based on the width of pips and not the length of the pips.

This is why the appropriate classification is wide pips & slim pips NOT long pips and short pips.

Also traditionally wide pips (the legacy pips, which were the first official rubber in table tennis) were stiffer than slim pips.

This is why it is more appropriate to call one type as wide stiff pips and the other type as slim flex pips.

Long pips is a totally different story because there are no long pips in ITTF as they were banned at the 1977 Birmingham BGM

But some actual long pips that are not approved by ITTF are available on the market that you can use in non0ITTF tournaments aor leagues
You can even use these long pips even in ITTF tournaments if the tournament director allows it as is the common practice in China for all low level tournaments .
More and more non ITTF tournaments are also popping up in places like USA where you can use long pips

Alam560 wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2025, 12:42 pm I am struggling to understand the differences

Let me give you an analogy. Let's say I previously played with some crappy Chinese hybrid with a soft, elastic topsheet. This rubber generates spin, but has a pronounced limit beyond which it can't go. Then I try the Dignics 09C, and it doesn't have this limit. The same difference exists between real long pips and slim pips. Slim pips can do everything the same, but they have a 70 rps limit(and even then, in most game situations, that spin won't be there, as it requires a 100+ rps loop. If your opponent isn't playing Chinese sticky rubbers or hybrids similae to them, or a hard ESN rubber, and doesn't have the technique and fitness to play with such a rubber, then don't even hope for the maximum spin that slim pips can generate) which they can't go, while real long pips don't have this. Moreover, with the Reach C801 OX, I can generate significant backspin with a sharp flick of the wrist. Imagine the horrendous spin that comes with a chop block, even if the opponent's loop wasn't loaded with topspin. And real long pips also have some of the properties of wide pips, because the width of the pimples is usually 2 mm and if they are stiff enough, you can do some wide pimples strokes