NOTE Workers and Lurkers Guide to Griptape: MOB, Jessup, and Pepper Griptape Compared

The lowly griptape is arguably the most forgotten part of a skateboard. The endless rolls of griptape in Tib street have sat quietly while NOTE Workers and Lurkers endlessly discuss the latest board graphics or the newest truck model. But no more! It's about time we shined some light on griptape and give a guide to what the Workers and Lurkers are skating and why. Afterall where would we be without grip? Probably skating some heinous combination of double-sided Sellotape and PVA glue. Sounds like something from an Art Attack fever dream.

Griptape: The Unsung Hero

Before diving into the specifics of different brands, let's first understand what griptape is. According to some AI bot, griptape was first used in the 70s for (what we can only presume) some slalom skating and from then it was a smash-hit rivaling sliced bread. The sandpaper-like material is what provides the necessary traction to perform and catch tricks. Name a trick... yes your griptape is responsible.

Griptape Options at NOTE Shop: MOB, Jessup, and Pepper

NOTE Shop offers a variety of griptape options. Among them, three brands stand out and are shop favourites: MOB, Jessup, and Pepper. Each brand offers its unique set of features, catering to different skaters preferences. So, let's get our griptape hats on and have a look at the options.

Jessup Griptape

You may not have known but Jessup is a company with many fingers in many non-skating pies! These guys make grippy stuff for all sorts of industrial purposes. Jessup Grip is the original skateboard griptape, introduced in 1975, so no wonder it’s become a firm favourite with NOTE Workers and Lurkers alike.

Call us creatures of habit but very few have deviated from the Jessup OG griptape - it’s not too grippy, been in the game longer than NOTE and is more consistent than Yuto.

NOTE OG and allround Manchester Legend, Joe Gavin, has been a long time rider of Jessup - 

"I've been skating Jessup for as long as I can remember to be honest. They've always been the leading brand for me and for good reason! It's a good level of grippiness but I sand it down a bit to help with fliptricks."

While Gavso and lots of the Shop are bastions of the OG grip, Jessup hosts a load of other options worth a gander, Including Jessup Ultagrip and UltraNBD (actually made with recycled Nikes).

MOB Griptape

Mob Griptape is another crowd favourite, renowned for its exceptional grittiness and grip. MOB is truly known for being the grippiest grip out there and for this reason (plus its unique bubble-free & super-adhesive technology) it’s another stalwart of the industry. 

Dom Henry (Skateboard Cafe Pro and Manny Magician) is a Mob man with a reason many don’t consider, “I switched to skating Mob a couple years back after a friend told me Mob stays grippier for longer than other brands. I tested this theory, and agreed!”.

So while you may fall into the Jessup default, it’s definitely worth a foray into the world of Mob even just to try and replicate Dom’s skating!

You can see Dom shredding Copenhagen in this tasty edit from Mob. 

Pepper Grip

What’s there to say about Pepper Grip ay? The grip game newbie. These guys started in 2022 and already host a pretty heavy team including the likes of Max Palmer, Sarah Meurle, Chris Colbourn and many more. 

You may wonder what can a new grip bring to the market, well their unique G5 formula is definitely turning heads and it’s not surprising as for one they’ve decided to bang themselves right between MOB and Jessup in terms of grippiness (Mob being the grippiest and the Jessup being the least course). Sort of the Goldilocks of grip if you will - not too grippy but just right.

Mani Haddon - NOTE Worker and the arguably keenest skater in the group chat - skates Pepper and here’s what he has to say:

“I’d tried MOB and Jessup already so when we got Pepper Grip in, I thought I’d give it a go. Been skating it for about 5 months now and found it’s a good in-between MOB and Jessup. It’s also thinner than both of them - which I like.”

Pepper Grip may be the young dog of the industry but their approach and team have already earned them a space at the table of “Free NOTE grip” - we recommend you give it a go the next time you buy a deck.

Ricky’s Recommendation 

I mean we’ve given three pretty solid recommendations from some of best NOTE Workers and Lurkers but if you’re still not sure what to use here’s a little tidbit from NOTE’s resident Aussie and nicest man in the skate scene, Ricky Davidson:

“I use Jessup in the summer and Mob in the winter! In the winter I tend to find the grippier stuff works better as my board is getting trashed more due to the weather, it gives that extra needed grip. But in the summer Jessup is plenty grippy enough and my board doesn’t get as messed up. Sometimes in the autumn I’ll do hybrid and do top two thirds Jessup and bottom third Mob.

Admittedly, I’ll always sand the s*** out the grip too so all this feels pointless ha!”

The final word

So there you have it! Three griptape choices and four NOTE recommendations. As with most things in skating, it comes down to personal preference or, if you’re like Ricky, how much you’re willing to experiment. Hopefully you’ve found this useful, all you need to remember is that we have plenty of griptape brands on offer at NOTE, including a technicolor dreamcoat range of colours and patterns and the three in this blog are free with every deck purchased.

Let us know what you’re riding, on a postcard or in the comments below.