Old thread but maybe my solution can be helpful. I simply initialize the popover if someone is about to possibly click it…
<template name="withPop"> <a href="#" data-toggle="popover" title="Description" data-content="{{description}}">{{name}}</a> </template>
Helper:
Template.withPop.events(
'mouseover [data-toggle="popover"]': function(e){
var p = $(e.currentTarget).popover();
}
});