I'm back. And after taking a bit of time to sort through my ink sample drawer (after reading this scary FPN post), I decided to ink up a few samples for review. (This one ended up being for review only, because it turns out it was not a fave.) The ink in question is Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline, which is Pelikan's 2012 "Ink of the Year" for their Edelstein line, which, to my knowledge, means that the ink is produced for one year only and then it goes out of production. They must produce a ton of ink during that one year, however, because both Turmaline and Amber (the 2013 Ink of the Year) are still in stock at retailers like Anderson Pens (links here and here).

In truth, I have not tried many of the Edelstein Inks. I hear great things about the Topaz and Tanzanite colors, and mixed reviews on the others. For one thing, the ink is somewhat expensive at approximately $23 for 50ml, although this price point is sadly becoming more the rule than the exception (Thanks Sailor!). Another issue I have is that the ink is fairly dry, a characteristic of Pelikan ink in general. I write with a lot of extra fine nibs and stubs, and I prefer a relatively wet writing pen, so drier inks are not as enjoyable to me as others because they tend to be scratchy. That said, I used a Waterman medium nib here, and Edelstein Turmaline had fairly good flow and dried very quickly on the page (about 3 seconds). So why was this ink not a winner for me?

Two reasons: (1) the color; and (2) the twenty minutes it took me to flush this ink out of my pen. With regard to the color: I would characterize this ink as a fuschia. Some call it pink, but to my eyes it has a slight purple tinge to it, although it is very bright (almost neon). Compare with Iroshizuku Yama-Budo below. I much prefer the Yama-Budo, which I think has greater depth and is a much richer color, without sacrificing any positive attributes such as good dry time, etc. With regard to cleaning, I used this pen in my new (review forthcoming) Waterman Phileas, and it took approximately 15 flushes with a bulb syringe (three with J.B.'s perfect pen flush) to get the water to stop running pink. I actually filled the pen with Yama Budo afterwards because I was tired of trying to clean this ink out and the Yama Budo would mask any residual pink. Anyway, some may love this color, and I wouldn't rule out Edelstein Ink in the future, but it's not for me.