Can any taper be designed that will stop dead and not got past the point of power [or whatever it could be called] and thereby rebound setting up a secondary wave? The material would have to be weightless. Certainly not cane. Graphite gets closer but still a secondary wave will result. Spent several hours talking to Tom Morgan a number of years ago about the same thing. He, like me, thought the taper could take part of the secondary wave out but not remove it entirely. But, there are other considerations when designing a taper. Energy transmission & tippet protection are two that come to mind. These are @ odds with each other. A limp tip will protect the tippet but won't transmit energy. Ain't life wonderful and a compromise. (Don Anderson)

I would agree. There is always a tradeoff, a compromise, with respect to the taper. One may not get

there, entirely, from here.  (Martin-Darrell)