If you have done anything different recently that would impact the angle of how your stick hits your tom then I would adjust that first. Could have been raising the seat a few inches, or adjusting the tom angle, or if you adjusted how you swing the stick.
This is important because if you have too much angle you will bury the very end of the tip into the drum. Perfect example is my 12" tom loosened up enough to allow the tom to move down... and I didn't think much of it because it stopped after dropping about two inches... But those 9-10 hits I planted on that angle dented the head. I was using Buddy Rich series Vic Firth... which is basically a modified 5A with a bit more meat in the front. I wasn't pleased since I had the heads for only a month or so. But I still have the G2 heads on my batters for toms and it has been almost a year with the same heads now.
