Six Month Review: Favorite Pens From 2019, So Far

Every year I take time off around Memorial Day to go on vacation, and while there won’t be any new content until the first week of June, I typically will post a series of short recaps in which I revisit some of my favorite products and reviews from the first six months of the year. First up is pens. All links are links to my own full reviews. Enjoy!

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Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Zero. Though these aren’t supposed to be in any particular order of preference, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the Leonardo Momento Zero made this list. I now own SIX of these pens - three celluloid and three acrylic - and carry at least one with me every day. The fact that you can get one of these pens well under the $200 price point amazes me, though you will have to pay a premium for unique materials such as celluloid or ebonite.

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Desiderata Soubriquet. I waited a long time to pick up my first Desiderata. Too long, apparently. The Soubriquet is the biggest pleasant surprise of the year, if not the entire blog. I love this pen, especially the Briar Ebonite material. Now that Pierre is making these pens with JoWo nibs, those who like the look of the Soubriquet and other Desiderata Pens won’t be limited to the Zebra G Calligraphy nib, which itself is a great option/feature if you’re looking for a fountain pen to do calligraphy.

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TWSBI ECO Transparent Orange. While I’ve always considered it a good pen, especially considering that you’re getting a reliable high capacity piston-filler for around $30, the ECO’s design has never appealed to me as much as TWSBI’s 580 line. Something about the acrylic on the standard white and black models made the faceted cap look too chunky. That changed with TWSBI’s release of clear demonstrator versions, especially the orange version that came out this year. Sometimes you find a pen that just checks all your boxes: a great price-to-value proposition, just the right pop of color, a large ink capacity, and a good nib.

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Montblanc Starwalker Rollerball. Despite the premium price point, I like Montblanc rollerball refills because they come in a finer tip and generally don’t write as wet of a line as Schmidt refills, which have become the default for rollerball pens such as the Retro 51 and the Baron Fig Squire. I’ve also been wanting to add a Montblanc Starwalker to my collection for years, but have held off purchasing a fountain pen because this particular model is cartridge-only and has developed a reputation for spotty nib quality over the years. But a Starwalker rollerball? On deep discount? I snapped it up immediately.

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Baux Pens. Though the 22Pen might be a close second, the Baux Pen is probably the weirdest - in a good way - Kickstarter project I’ve ever backed. A premium barrel for a Bic Cristal refill? Sign me up. I’ve used these pens on a daily basis since they made their way into my hands. I highly recommend the Xtra Precision refill if you find the typical Bic Cristal too wide.

Editor’s Note: I’m traveling this week on vacation, so I’ll likely be slow to respond to e-mails and comments. I’ll catch up with all of you when I get back the week of June 3.

Favorite Workhorse Fountain Pen Inks, as Determined by Actual Use

I’ll preface this post with the admission that I’m a serial ink changer and I have more ink than five people could use in a lifetime. That makes it hard to pick “favorite” inks, since I rarely use the same one twice in a row, and in the nearly ten years I’ve been active in this hobby have probably only finished a couple of bottles, though I have several that are close to empty. It’s these latter inks that caught my attention as I was sorting through my ink cabinets this past weekend. Despite changing inks frequently, I evidently keep coming back to these particular colors and brands.

1. Waterman Serenity/Florida Blue. The king of “safe” fountain pen ink, which represents the gold standard for testing at pen shows due to how easily this ink flushes out of pens. I also love how this ink behaves in daily use, finding that it flows well and typically won’t feather or bleed on most papers. While some people find the blue color washed-out, particularly after it dries, I think it lends your writing a retro/vintage look. Also, if you’d like to add some vibrancy to standard Waterman Blue, just mix in a bit of Waterman Purple, which creates a lovely ultramarine color that’s been dubbed “Blurple” in pen circles.

2. Waterman Tender Purple/Violet. I’ve gone through 3/4 of a bottle of Waterman purple over the years. This particular ink is a bit more temperamental than others in Waterman’s lineup, mainly due to its potential to stain, but I’ve always loved the vibrant color. As noted above, this ink mixes well, and another fun experiment is to mix this ink with Sheaffer Skrip Red to form a nice burgundy.

3. Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo. The first expensive bottle of ink that I purchased, back when Iroshizuku was considered a “luxury” ink and cost much more than the $20 per 50ml currently charged at retail. I loved (and still love) everything about the Iroshizuku lineup, from the glass bottle that looks great on a desk to the range of colors based on Japan’s natural features. Tsuki-Yo (“Moonlight”) is a blue-black-teal color reminiscent of the night sky, and the exact shade of this ink changes depending on lighting and whether it’s wet or dry. This is one I always find myself coming back to!

4. Iroshizuku Yama-Budo. The only magenta ink I use regularly. I don’t know what it is about this one, as pink-purples aren’t in my usual wheelhouse of colors, but Yama-Budo is up there as one of my favorite inks of all time. I think it has to do with the ink being just “loud” enough to be interesting, while remaining somewhat work-appropriate. It behaves well in most pens and on most paper. I’m down to less than half a bottle!

5. Aurora Black/Aurora Blue. Until last year, when Aurora went wild and released a blue-black ink, they had a simple lineup of two colors, both of which flowed extremely well and which have remained staples in my pens. Aurora Blue is a rich blue ink that has undertones of purple/violet, and Aurora Black is one of the best “pure black” inks out there. If you crave simplicity in your ink choices, and want to stick with a two-color rotation, you won’t go wrong with Aurora.

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I’ve also killed one or two bottles of special or limited edition inks, and am close to finishing a few more, but I won’t list those here because it’s not helpful to people when you can no longer buy the inks. Each of the seven listed above is a standard ink made by a pen manufacturer, which means that it’s not only generally safe to use in most pens, vintage or modern, but it’s also easily purchased at retail. You can buy any of the inks listed above from ink retailers Vanness Pens, Pen Chalet, Anderson Pens, Goldspot, and Appelboom.

Live on the Blog: Updated 2019 "Best Pens" Recommendations!

It’s April, and you know what that means: it’s time for the annual update to my “Best Pens” Recommendations list. There may be a few surprises on here, particularly in the “beginners” category, the $100-200 price point, and my list of personal favorites. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

You can check out the updated list here. The 2018 list and the 2017 list are still live if you’d like to see how things changed.

Overlooked and Underloved: Three Fountain Pens That Don't Get the Attention They Deserve

The current fountain pen market can be driven to a large degree by hype, with new or “limited edition” pens selling quickly, only to have sales peter out as the novelty wears off and users figure out that maybe those “next big thing” pens aren’t the best for actual daily use. I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone, as some of what I consider to be the best fountain pens in my collection have unfortunately fallen by the wayside. Today I’ll take a look at three pens that have been around for a while, but don’t necessarily get a lot of attention on pen blogs and websites and social media. That’s unfortunate because all three are exceptional, well-balanced writing instruments that are generally reliable “out of the box” and available at most pen retailers. I’m talking about the Pilot Custom 74, the Pilot Custom Heritage 92, and, yes, the Lamy 2000.

You can read my full write-up on the Pilot Custom 74 here.

Pilot Custom 74. At the top of my list of pens that deserve more attention is the Pilot Custom 74. We did end up selling a handful of these pens in Baltimore, and these colorful demonstrators are what I consider to be one of the better bargains on the market. For $176, which is rapidly becoming the price point for many steel-nib pens, you get a sweet 14k Pilot rhodium-plated nib, paired with Pilot’s high-capacity pump converter, the CON-70. You can also use Pilot’s cartridges if you prefer the convenience, and they hold a ton of ink and last forever. The rhodium trim on this pen nicely complements the jewel-like acrylics. I own the blue version, and Violet, Orange, Smoke, and Clear versions are also available, along with two limited editions arriving in the coming months. Stay tuned!

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I’ve previously written a full review of the Custom Heritage, but the orange acrylic version has become somewhat more difficult to find, even online.

Pilot Custom Heritage 92. Sitting at a slightly higher price point than the Custom 74 is the Custom Heritage 92, which runs $220 and pairs the same 14k nib from the Custom 74 with an integrated piston filler. One of the main reasons that I love Pilot pens is the mix of quality and price - with the exception of the Lamy 2000 (discussed below), it’s rare that you will find a quality piston-filling fountain pen with a gold nib for under $300. The main drawback to the Custom Heritage is the fact that it’s only available in a single color. At one point Pilot made this pen for the Japanese market in orange, blue, and smoke as well, with the different colors being readily available online, but those appear to be phased out and are not as readily available as they once were. I recently saw someone trying to sell the orange version for close to $1,000, which is silly.

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Most people won’t notice that the Lamy 2000 fountain pen isn’t a ballpoint or a rollerball.

Lamy 2000. And finally, we get to an old standby that rarely sits uninked and out of my rotation for long. Talk about a pen that’s not “sexy” in the traditional sense: the minimalist, somewhat brutal, fiberglass design of this pen hasn’t changed at all since the 1960s, and it certainly isn’t going to win you any “likes” (or generate much blog traffic, for that matter), but if I were to open a pen store, you can bet that I’d stock these in all available nib sizes and try to push them on everyone who walked through the door looking for a durable, bottle-filling daily writer. Especially for an office professional, the Lamy 2000 gives you an understated, reliable pen with a large ink capacity that can get you through long meetings, hearings, depositions, or whatever your need may be. It’s first on my list of “workhorse pens.”

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So what prompted this post? At last week’s Baltimore Pen Show, a handful of people came by the Vanness Pens table and described to me what they were looking for. In a few instances, the Pilots would have made a perfect match but didn’t get any consideration at all. I sensed a real hesitation to give these pens a chance, whether because they were slightly more expensive than steel-nib options that customers ended up purchasing, or simply because some people hadn’t heard of these pens before or hadn’t seen them online. Don’t get me wrong - if a pen doesn’t speak to you, then don’t spend your money on it. But one of my resolutions for this year was to shift the focus of the blog from merely following market trends back to highlighting those products that I love and believe will serve readers well over the long term. Sometimes the best option isn’t the newer, shinier release - it’s the old standard that’s been around for many years, for good reason, and you owe it to yourself as a user and enthusiast to give these pens a chance.

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Six “Workhorse Pens”, from left: Pilot Custom 74, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Lamy 2000, Montblanc 146 Ultra Black, Lamy Safari, and Faber-Castell e-Motion Pure Black.

Disclaimer: As of 2020, T.G.S. is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

2019 New Year's Resolutions

I’ve never been a really bit “resolutions” guy in my personal life, but professionally I’ve found it helpful to take some time at the end of the year, reorient, and make sure your business is on target with where you want it to go for the next twelve months. I do that with my day job (a legal practice), and I try to do it here, though last year I fell off the wagon a bit and by the end of the year felt like I was drifting. After taking some time off during the week between Christmas and New Years, I came up with a few thoughts on where I want the site to go this year:

1. Work Through the Backlog. As you might have guessed from the massive pen sale and giveaway I held a few months ago, I accumulated far too much stuff throughout the year, both my own purchases and review samples. I overcommitted and found myself scrambling during the last few months to meet my review commitments, with little time left to explore the things that interest me, which is why I started my blog in the first place. My top priority for the year is to work my way through my personal collection and make sure that I’ve written about all of the pens, inks, and stationery that form my personal collection and shape my own preferences. (You’ve seen the results of this already, with my recent reviews of the Conway Stewart 100 and the Pilot Decimo.)

2. Buy Nicer Pens. Or maybe it’s better to say “Buy the pens that I want, rather than what I think I’m expected to review.” There are so many pen blogs and websites out there right now, that I shouldn’t feel like I have an obligation to chase and cover every major release. If it doesn’t interest me, someone else will pick it up. (Example: I suspected that I might dislike the Lamy Aion, but felt like I was “duty bound” to give it a shot. I should have passed.) The time and money saved already has funded some absolutely awesome acquisitions that I’m truly excited about, and I can’t wait to get reviews up on the site.

3. Take a Step Back. I’ve pushed myself pretty hard over the past two years, and I ended 2018 really, really tired. I need to take more time off if I feel that I need it, and while I plan to stick with a regular posting schedule, I won’t let it kill me if I need to skip a week or push a post by a couple days. I actually think the content will be the better for it. Relatedly…

4. Attend Different Pen Shows. The past couple of years, I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a Pen Show rut. I used to get really excited about attending the same group of shows, but in terms of pens (not people) it’s begun to feel like more of the same. The truly exciting releases are becoming a bit sparse, the price of decent vintage (not to mention near-vintage, past limited editions, and discontinued brands like Omas) is starting to approach what I consider absurdly overpriced, and my interests are shifting a bit towards pens and brands that aren’t very well-represented at most pen shows. I still plan to attend a few, but I’m going to target shows I haven’t visited before, maybe something on the West Coast, or even internationally.

5. Acquire WAY Less. As I mentioned above, I’m moving towards less stuff, not more, and even though I’ve gone a bit wild with my pen purchases over the last month or so, new pens coming in are vastly outnumbered (and funded) by pens that I’ve gotten rid of. It feels great to be able to see the surface of my desk again, and once I finish shipping the last load of giveaway items (today, hopefully), my office floor will even be clean. I plan to continue holding more sales and giveaways throughout the year, as I fine tune my personal collection and try to avoid holding on to anything that passes through for review purposes.

So goodbye 2018, and I’m looking forward to what the new year has to offer! If you have any suggestions about content you’d like to see on the blog (particularly something you may have enjoyed in the past but haven’t seen in a while) drop me a line through the “Contact Me” link at the top, or e-mail me at Joe (at) gentlemanstationer.com.