i trim mine as short as i possibly can, while still maintaining finger protection. like mentioned above, it takes a lot of arrows to break in a cordovan tab, but it's well worth it... once you do, they last a long time. every tab will feel different for awhile too, so once you get one you like, buy another and break it in so you have a useable spare. my last tab seemed like it took a week of fairly high volume shooting to break in. give it some time, nothing comes quick with traditional archery, and any little change feels pretty substantial.