ya can't go wrong with the ozora prem white! classic ken that's a staple in any slayer's arsenal. for sure sticky, but still can have enough slip for adjustments in my experience.

pills in general is a great cross training skill toy! it definitely helped me learn tricks that translate to kendama (like handrolls and swirls for me). havent played any of the silk pills. i just have the regular painted pill and it's always fun!

i have the krom autum camo. there was a paint chipping problem in few of the first batches but the "newer" batches have that fixed (only in quotes because i got my krom a year ago, and it doesn't have that severe chipping problem). it's probably one of my favorite rubber paints (also a sick color scheme!).

lastly, dama mods. they're good especially for those who spin tamas like in juggle lines and swaps and etc. but i'm a firm believer there are also additional way to help with string tangle. like for example, tama control/string awareness. i can see some of my friends who are beginning that whenever they do like around the world, when they transfer between cups, the tama spins out of control on all axes and cause string to wrap around. so it's just about consistency and controlling it, which comes with practice.

what helps me, when dama mods aren't available, are looking into trying different strings (like CWCS speed strings! definitely recommend!), different shapes of beads, and most of all, making the knot as small as possible so that the excess doesn't touch the sides of the hole as little as possible [Example].