The Pen Addict 132/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	132
Title:	Happy Fun Time
Release Date:	December 8th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 132
Audio File:	Audio Episode 132
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 132
Length:	6464 min <br />1.067 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 132. This episode of The Pen Addict is brought to you by Massdrop, an online community for enthusiasts of all kinds. Harry's, an exceptional shave at a fraction of the price and pen chalet. Great deals on high quality pens of a 100% satisfaction guarantee. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined, as always, by The Pen Addict, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hey, Myke, how's it going?

Myke Hurley: Very good, sir. Very good. How are you?

Guest Absence

Brad Dowdy: Very good. Very good. Do you listen back to our show? My guess would be no.

Myke Hurley: No, I don't. I don't listen back. I tend not to listen back to anything, really, unless there's a specific reason. Either somebody tells me I should, or there's something has happened in an episode that I was particularly proud of. I have listened back to episodes of this show, but I don't habitually listen back to episodes of this show.

Brad Dowdy: Sure, sure. So I usually listen, I'd say I listen probably 90% of the time. Sometimes if I've run out of time, I don't listen back to it. But I listened back to last week's episode with Brian Goulet. I love that episode. That was a really fun episode. It felt like it. So I want to just thank Brian again. Yeah, yeah. You can kind of feel it at the time that, okay, this is going to be a good episode, and we've gotten a lot of good feedback on that episode. So I just wanted to say everyone thank you for the feedback, and thank you to Brian Goulet for joining us. And I enjoyed listening back to it again and caught some of the things that you don't catch when you're actually working on recording a show instead of listening to your self-recorder show. So it was good. We did a good job.

Myke Hurley: You did a good job. I saw somebody say on Twitter this week, which was quite funny.

Brad Dowdy: I know what you're going to say.

Myke Hurley: When you said there was no guest, and they were like, great, Myke will be back.

Brad Dowdy: I felt bad. I did feel bad.

Myke Hurley: Why?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. So I went back and listened when I had read that before I listened to last week's episode. I was like, okay, Myke talked enough in this one. I was like, I don't feel too guilty. I don't like Myke sitting back there quiet.

Myke Hurley: That is my choice, though. So when we have guests, I don't know if people would assume this, but when we have guests, I let you run the episode. I like to just sit back and listen. It's nice because I don't ever get to do that. So that's actually when I listen to the show, is when we have guests. Because, plus, you are a lot better at interviewing the guests we have on this show than I am. Because you have a greater knowledge of the products and things like that than I do.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, but you've gotten so good at this, you just chime in perfectly and elaborate on some of those topics. So anyway, I thought it was good, but I saw that exact tweet you were talking about, and I got a laugh out of that. I forget who sent that, but it was funny. All right, so this week we have a bunch of random topics, a bunch of topics I got off Twitter and some interesting things to go through. And one was something I went through yesterday, Myke, on this new Field Notes edition. I punted this edition. And do you know what that means in the American lexicon?

Myke Hurley: Well, if I know what it means exactly, it means you took it into the garden and kicked it. Essentially. Very, very far.

Brad Dowdy: Essentially, yeah. So I started an ambition edition, and essentially I gave up on it before finishing it.

Field Notes

Brad Dowdy: And I posted this on the Field Notes board. And, you know, most people thought I was crazy. Some people agreed in that. But have you ever, has there ever been an edition where you've just like, I can't use this any longer? And that's what I ended up finding out with this edition. I don't know what it is. It's such a beautiful edition. I think it was maybe the ivory paper was getting to me. And I don't know, I just, I was not enjoying writing in it. So when it got to that point where I wasn't enjoying writing in it, I didn't want to write in it. Well, that's kind of a problem because I need to write in it, and there's things I need to note down. But I was kind of like, every time I would bring it out, I'd be like, oh, okay, ambition edition.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that's a shame. So I just said forget it and threw it in the stash and just picked up a new fresh notebook, which I went with the day game. The white cover with the red one, which is a great one.

Myke Hurley: You've got to be running low on those now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I've got one or two left after this one that I just started. But yeah, have you ever found an edition? Have you ever started an edition that you just could not finish? A couple. I'm done.

Myke Hurley: A couple, actually. American Tradesman. I can't do it. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You made the, wait, America the beautiful or the?

Myke Hurley: No, no. American Tradesman's the legend, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, traveling salesman.

Myke Hurley: Traveling salesman. Yeah, brown with the green paper. I can understand that. American Tradesman's the beautiful blue corrugated.

Brad Dowdy: It's one of the, oh, yeah.

Myke Hurley: I actually don't know if I have any of those. I think I do. I think I had one at least. I know I had one. Yeah, that's a beautiful set. Yeah, no, it's the traveling salesman. I don't like the traveling salesman. And the gradient ones, what were they called? Cold Horizon?

Brad Dowdy: Cold Horizon.

Myke Hurley: I think I did finish it, but begrudgingly. I did not enjoy writing in those. Now, I've seen a lot of people, including Stephen, say that the cover is what bothers them. I like the way the cover cracks. The paper, it feels like I'm writing on glass. Yeah, it's a little. Didn't like that paper.

Brad Dowdy: It's almost like it's coated. So, that one came up repeatedly in the discussion yesterday about my post about stopping. So many people said, yeah, Cold Horizon was the one where I just stopped. And that was one that I finished begrudgingly. I finished up one book, and I forced myself to finish it. So, yeah. So, I thought that was interesting. I was just curious if there was any others that you had just, you know, I can't finish this and just time to move on to something else. So, I've got two sealed packs of Ambition. I'll just leave stashed away. I'd given away another three-pack to a friend here in town. And then I have one ledger book I'm going to ship off to someone in the Facebook group.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I've not cracked mine open. I'm probably going to give out the, like, Imparts, one of the packs. It was my girlfriend. I told her about it. We were, she is a paper planner person. And there's a book company, not book company, a bookstore called Waterstones in the UK.

Brad Dowdy: Sure, I've heard you talk about that.

Myke Hurley: And every year she buys a planner from Waterstones. It's just a thing that she likes to do.

Brad Dowdy: Is she a Filofax person? Like, specifically the brand Filofax?

Myke Hurley: No, no, it's purely just like a date planner.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, because that's, Filofax's are big all over the world, but I don't know if they originated in Britain, but they're huge, huge in the UK for some reason.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they really are. I had one when I was a kid.

Brad Dowdy: So, someone can tell me in the chat room if that's a British company or originated from there.

Myke Hurley: Because they make kids editions of Filofax's in certain themes. But yeah, so I mentioned to her that there was a day planner, basically. And she was very interested in it. And I said I'd give it to her because I wasn't going to use it.

Myke Hurley: So yeah, and then we were talking about, my color subscription has run out.

Myke Hurley: And I don't know what to do yet. I will most likely refresh it. But I'll probably wait to refresh for when the next books come up.

Brad Dowdy: Next one comes out. Yeah, you have to do it. You have to wait until they announce the next one to renew it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because they sent me an email to tell me to renew and said you'll be starting with the ambition. I'm like, well, that'd be wasted then, wouldn't it? Because I just got it. Yeah. So, yeah. They should let you renew now for the next one. I think there is a period of time where if you start one, I think maybe after the current edition sells out, you start it and it starts with the next.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, but they're not selling out anymore. Are they not? Mm-mm. I mean, not in the first few weeks or so. They're usually not. They'll sell out, but usually not before the next one's announced.

Myke Hurley: Unexposed sold out, which is a big surprise. Yeah. See, I would not have expected that.

Brad Dowdy: I would have gone right back to the... I was about to go... The choices after I punted on this ambition edition was grab another Unexposed because I really like those. But then I had these day games sitting there, so I went for that. So the chat room came through Mikey Reak and Corey Bender. The file effects company was founded in London in 1921. So it makes sense.

Myke Hurley: Makes sense. I think there's a bunch of retailers that have Unexposed still. Oh, yeah. Jet pens. Jet pens actually still have arts and sciences in stock.

Brad Dowdy: Yep, I saw that because they were pushing them for a Christmas thing, which I thought was a good idea. That was on my Christmas list to give to people.

Myke Hurley: I need to check some UK dealers now to see if they have arts and sciences.

Customs Fees

Brad Dowdy: So I want to talk about the monarchy a little more, Myke. How'd your week at customs go?

Myke Hurley: Oh, man.

Myke Hurley: So I think the day after we spoke, I got my little card from the customs people. And it was like, oh, you owe £20. And then I was really upset about it. And it is an £8 admin fee. You know, just for the... For opening your package. Yep. And I don't know. Like, I understand why it's there. It's VAT or whatever. But it really annoys me. It's like, how dare you? Like, you've got nothing to do with this. Like, why are you inserting yourself in this process? Like, it's just... It really, really, really, really annoys me that I have to pay. Like, I don't know why. Like, I know why. But it really, really annoys me that I have to do it. So I did that. Fine. And then I got another letter.

Myke Hurley: And it... So it turns out that that £20 customs was for my RelayFM merchandise. Don't worry if you're buying stuff from us, by the way. I bought, like... I bought three t-shirts and, like, three sticker packs. My order was, like, well over, like, $100 and something. It might have been, like, $150 or something like that.

Brad Dowdy: I like how you pay for your own merchandise.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's funny that, isn't it?

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: And you don't get nothing for free around here. I'll tell you that.

Brad Dowdy: These guys who run this place are terrible.

Myke Hurley: Nothing for free. Not in these parts. So, yeah. So I bought a bunch. So, you know, that's kind of why that sent me back. And then I got another letter. And this was for the Topo Bag. And I've got it here, actually. So I can tell you the exact amount of money. 42 pounds and 51 pence. So it's another, like, $65, $70.

Brad Dowdy: That's mind-boggling.

Myke Hurley: It's so expensive. And then hopefully the bag will arrive tomorrow. But, like, they just sit on it for days. Like, it just sits and sits and sits. And then they send a letter out. And then you have to fork over an incredible amount of money.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Bag Episode

Myke Hurley: It's so frustrating, Brad. It really, really annoys me. Because it's like, why are you making me pay for this? I can't buy this bag in the European Union. It is not possible. So why are you making me pay? This has got nothing to do with you. Get away. But here we are. Here we are. For some reason, I have to pay our lovely government 20% plus their £8, which, for my convenience.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So if that wasn't enough griping about customs, next week's going to be our bag episode, Myke. People are clamoring for this thing. So I've given you enough time. You're going to need to do some homework. You know, most of it's on me because I have a bunch of bags I want to talk about. But we need some homework. And then we're going to, for you live listeners, next week we're going to have an early recording on Thursday. So we're going to go Monday and Thursday next week. And the Thursday won't release until the following Monday because I will be out of town the week of Christmas.

Brad Dowdy: So we have two actually pretty good episodes next week that I'm excited about, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, you planned them all out already.

Brad Dowdy: It came to me like a bolt of lightning because I didn't even have anything ready for today. And then all of a sudden I have three episodes ready to roll. So I'll take it.

Myke Hurley: That's how this show works.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm looking forward. I've been so excited. See, the other thing is I'm so excited to get this bag. So excited. Finally. Finally it's going to be here.

Brad Dowdy: I did watch the Chase Reeves video that you mentioned. And we'll include that in the show notes next week. We'll talk about it. But it was pretty funny.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, definitely.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So we got a bunch of Twitter questions I want to get into. And then I have one kind of moderately sized topic at the end that's kind of crazy. So why don't you talk about – we got this sponsor lineup, Myke. Look, people, you know, people can sometimes get a little sketchy on advertising. But I think what our show does is gives like some of the best, most pertinent advertisers. And they're advertisers I spend money with already. So I'm excited about our advertisers today. What do you got, Myke?

Myke Hurley: This episode of the Pen Addicts was brought to you by Massdrop. Massdrop is a new sponsor of the Pen Addict and Relay FM. And they're perfect for this audience, as Brad says. And let me tell you why. Massdrop is an online community for enthusiasts of all kinds, from audio and electronics to quilting and cooking. It's a place for you to connect with people like you, to discuss your favorite products and activities, and buy them together. Massdrop represents a new type of online experience that combines community, content, and commerce. And I say all the things, and I purposely left it out. You know, I say audio and electronics to quilting and cooking. But these guys, guys, they do pens too.

Brad Dowdy: And I'll talk about that in a minute. A lot of pens.

Myke Hurley: Massdrop offers its users a place where enthusiasts can meet and connect over the products they love, a forum where you can vote on and discuss the products you're passionate about, and a platform to connect directly with manufacturers and buy products together to get bulk pricing. They are not a flash sales website, a deal site, or Groupon. It's flat out. They're not Groupon, okay? The thing that is most important to the guys and girls over at Massdrop is that they want to build communities around things that people love. That's what they are passionate about. They are passionate about letting you be passionate about the things you're passionate about. Ultimately, they are here to help you by making the products you care about more affordable and accessible and providing you with a way to connect with other like-minded enthusiasts. I know that group buyers are something that's super important to the pen community. Some of the stuff that we buy is pretty expensive, and buying in bulk can help with that, because any money you can get off is a good thing. And this is where a service like Massdrop is incredible, because it helps facilitate it. It's something that is really cool for this community. I took a look at Massdrop myself, and I found they have some awesome cases on here, where they've gotten like 20% to 30% off brands like Pelican and Franken-Christophe. They have Karas Customs stuff on here. So you should be going and checking it out. Basically, they are giving you a way to try and communicate. You can basically get all the people that you know that love this stuff, and you can all go on there and buy some pens at some good prices, basically. That's what you want to do. It's totally worth checking out. If you want to find out more, go to... Okay, this is an interesting URL. D-R-O dot P-S slash The Pen Addict. That's D-R-O dot P-S slash The Pen Addict. So it's like drops, you know? Yep. D-R-O dot P-S slash The Pen Addict. Of course, it'll be in the show notes. Sign up right now. So go sign up, and you can take a look at all the great offers they have. Thank you so much to Massdrop for supporting this show and all the Real AFM. Massdrop are a new sponsor, so I would love to have them more often. So please go sign up right now so they can see that you guys are right for them, because I know that they're right for you. So thank you so much to Massdrop for supporting this week's episode of The Pen Addict.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so this has been a change like in the past six months, maybe year, that I've started getting tweets saying, hey, did you see this on Massdrop? And at first I was like, hmm, what is this? And then all of a sudden they started bringing in all these great deals, like the Rotring 600 was one of them, and I think maybe even the 800 and a bunch of Lamy stuff. So it's like not just any old gear. It's like the good stuff. So I will definitely be checking that out.

Myke Hurley: It makes sense, right? Once people start kind of gravitating around it, you get the pen community on board, and they're going to start pushing it in the ways that they want to go. Like I assume it was probably like All Army originally, you know, like where it's kind of like bridging the divide, but then you push it. That's what I'm saying. Like I've seen like Pelican and Franklin Kristoff. Now these are pen addict brands, especially Franklin Kristoff, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, no doubt.

Myke Hurley: So when I saw that, I was like, ah, there's already a bunch of pen addicts here.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: Anyway.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So let's get into a few questions I wanted to knock out, and then thank you for everyone on Twitter who sent some of these my way. And I grabbed some of the most interesting ones, and Mary Calla sent me a question about what pens have you had like changing preferences on? And then I got another question from a different follower about the worst pens.

Pen Rankings

Brad Dowdy: You know, do you have your top five best pens? How about a top five worst pens? And I look back, I had done a post on the blog before. This is kind of a two-part question to answer both Mary's question and the worst pens question.

Brad Dowdy: I actually did a post last year called the worst pens I have ever reviewed. I don't know if I've had any since then that would make me change the list, but this old list contains the Oto dude and the Oto fine and even the Oto rook. All of those Oto fountain pens are terrible. And Oto, which is sad because Oto makes good pens outside of the fountain pen market. You know, I love the drawing pen that they have is one of my favorite pens. So that's the Oto fountain pen line needs some serious help. And then I had a couple other ones like the Pentel Sleechies, which is the Sleechy multi-pen. The regular Sleechy is fine. The Sleechy multi-pen is not. The tool ballpoint is a train wreck for all of you tool fans. They make really good gel pens, but the ballpoint is a mess. And then just a couple of other more random pens like the Bic A1 gel and the Carondash 849, which I got a lot of grief on. A lot of people love the Carondash 849. The refill I had in it was terrible. And it was a huge disappointment because it was like a $25 pen or $20 pen. And it was craptastic. So that's some of my worst pens. Now, Mary's part of this was pens that I have changed preferences on. And I had to think about that. And for the longest time, I couldn't come up with anything. I was trying to think of there's something that I've used a lot that I've gotten kind of down on. And then it hit me that I've been having trouble with a certain pen for months, if not longer. And that's the Pilot Hi-Tech C. Whoa!

Brad Dowdy: Huh. I don't know if I'm not using them often enough. You know, I've got so many other pens I use. When it's going good, the .3 millimeter Pilot Hi-Tech C is the best pen on the planet, I think, for me. But I've always said that's never a pen I recommend because it's so finicky, right? You have to use it. And, you know, it's sometimes hard starts. But when it's good, it's great.

Brad Dowdy: I've been having a hard time getting to that great part recently. I've been having to fight more and more refills than I've expected. Like, I just got the Apollo pen, which was a Kickstarter pen that was, like, super delayed by, like, a year. And I put in a blue-black refill, and I used it a bunch for a couple days. And then I set it down, and then I picked it up maybe three or four days later, and I couldn't get it to write. And that's been a recurring theme with a bunch of my Hi-Tech Cs, and I don't get it. It's been a little bit of a – I've been having more frustration with the Hi-Tech C than I recall ever having before. So that's one where I'm getting a little bit down on. So, yeah, there's that. Do you have anything in this category, Myke, that you've – you know, there's something you're just not using anymore? Just – it's out of the rotation, and it's just not been doing it for you?

Myke Hurley: Oh, man, there's so many things. I mean, especially, like, the stuff that I don't use anymore, you know, that I once thought was amazing. I mean, like, for example, like, just as a brand, Kaweco nibs don't do it for me anymore. Mm-hmm. I just don't think that they're as good as, say, like, Twisby's nibs. But, you know, like, you know – and then again, like, the problems I've had with Twisby as well, right? So, like, their build quality, like, over time, I actually am not 100% on it, but it's good, right? So, like, I'm – probably my next pen will be the 580 AL in orange.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's pretty nice.

Myke Hurley: That's probably going to be – so the Twisby 580 AL in orange, if anyone is planning on it at home, that's probably going to be my next pen purchase. Goulet have that. I'll put that in the show notes for those guys. Yep. Yeah, that's probably going to be my next – I was looking at it again the other day. But it's just kind of like right now, I do feel pretty set right now, which is kind of scary. But at the moment, I feel okay with my current lineup. Like, primarily, I'm using the ink, the rollable. Mm-hmm. And I'm also using Retro 51, and I'm using the ink, fountain pen, and the Lamy 2000. They're kind of like my current 4. Mm-hmm. I'm using a Retro 51 again because it's easy to pocket, you know? Yeah. So right now, I'm feeling pretty good. So like I was actually – was about to buy it and then thought, nah, I'm okay right now. I'm waiting for something to totally blow me away before I make another pen purchase, I think. Right.

Myke Hurley: What do you think about that? Does that sound crazy?

Brad Dowdy: So let's readjust these show notes a little bit because one of the questions I wanted to answer from the listeners was, how do you justify owning so many fountain pens and just pens in general? You know, how – and that's kind of like what you're talking about right now. Why – what's going to make me buy that next pen? You know, I'm really happy with the things that I have right now, and I have a lot of those things, and I keep going back to the same pens over and over again, and I keep not using another group of pens.

Brad Dowdy: So how do you justify that next purchase? And that's kind of what you're talking about, I think, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because it's like I have a ton, right? And I'm feeling pretty good about it right now. So why – you know, I have some stuff coming. Like I have like a Kickstarter project that I backed, which is late.

Myke Hurley: Do you remember that pen, the Nexus pen? You're a backer of that too, right?

Brad Dowdy: I am an anxious backer of that, and they just sent an update today. They're going to be shipping in January.

Myke Hurley: Which is later and later again. I can still complain. You can't.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I can't complain. And Dan Bishop cannot complain.

Pen Ownership

Myke Hurley: This is why I'm never going to do one.

Myke Hurley: It was just so ambitious, right? We're going to ship it in November, and now January is rolling around. But from their update, it looks like they're making some improvements to it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they're at least in the ballpark compared to most of these guys.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, I think I told Jeff the other day that, you know, 2015 might be the year of consolidation for me. You know, at some point, I'm buying less, but I'm spending more. Yes, that's it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm on board with that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, but still, there needs to be some consolidation in the ownership of pens that I have. So, you know, I'll probably, I've never sold any of my pens before. So, I might sell a few next year. We'll see. I don't know. It's hard. I look at the pens that I have, and, you know, and I decide, you know, could I sell some of these? And sometimes, it's hard. And I was like, no, I kind of want to keep it for X reason. But maybe, you know, after a certain amount of time of not using a certain pen, I probably just need to move on from it and sell it. And, you know, use that for a more specific, you know, pen that I'm shopping for or something like that. So, you know, it's just part of this whole process. You know, you go back and listen to our first, you know, 10 or 20 episodes, which we have a lot of people doing these days, and they just laugh at us now. You know, like we've gone off the deep end on all the things that we like and from what we started talking about. So, it's pretty funny. So, yeah, I think we'll probably have more talks about the justification part of owning so much stuff, you know, throughout the next year. Because I think I'm going to go through a little bit of a consolidation period here.

Myke Hurley: But we'll see. JTower42 in the chat room. Don't worry, Myke. That feeling of being set will pass. Yeah. I agree.

Brad Dowdy: It always does. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, I just feel that right now, like, I'm on board with the mantra of buy less, spend more. Because I feel like I'm done with the middle range mainly now. Sure. Unless something special happens. You know, like, for example, the orange aluminium Twisby, right? That's a nice thing. Yes. That might tempt me out. But other than that, I mean, we're looking three figures now. Right. For me to want to maybe take a new pen, a new fountain pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Exactly. Exactly. And it's not like, that's not a weekly purchase by any stretch of the imagination. So, we'll see. A few other quick hits.

Brad Dowdy: My local Georgia buddy, Mr. Gray Williams, he was taunting me. He said, hey, you got any new not-goods coming out, like backpacks or messenger bags? Because we've teased those in the past. And I don't see us doing a backpack next year, but Jeff and I definitely want to do a backpack. That's on the radar. I doubt it's going to happen next year. Just looking at what we have coming up, y'all have seen us do a bunch of teases about our folio. I'm going to get my first folio prototype this weekend. I'm going to pick that up. So, hopefully we can get that going in the spring. That's kind of the next big thing on our radar. We'll probably also introduce the Fodderstack XL, which people have been clamoring for. That's going to be the Fodderstack that fits the memo books, the memo book standard, like the 3.5x5.5, because ours fit a 3x5 note card is what we made them for.

Myke Hurley: So, you've been putting field notes inside of there. Yep. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Yeah, I like that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so a bunch of people have been clamoring for that. And in the lead up to that, we're introducing something new tomorrow. It might be something that can go into that Fodderstack XL that is our own creation.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you'll have to check this site out tomorrow. The chat room got a good tease on it. Yeah, JTower42. He pings me on Twitter all the time. Where's my Fodderstack XL? So, it's not imminent, the Fodderstack XL. But, you know, I think in the first part of next year, we're going to try to get that done because we're introducing a paper product tomorrow that will fit in it. So, you know, I'll...

Myke Hurley: Are you going to give any more information than that?

Memo Book

Brad Dowdy: It's a 3x5x5x5 memo book, which doesn't sound all that new or novel, but we have it in a format that's a little bit different in a format that Jeff and I really wanted for our own personal use. So, we decided to make it. So, you'll just have to wait and see tomorrow. But I sent the chat room some pictures.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to be buying some of these, I think. Cool. Cool.

Brad Dowdy: I hope so. I hope so.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to get some Nox stickers as well.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I hope people enjoy them. If not, me and Jeff will certainly enjoy them. We'll use the heck out of these because we like the layout. So, we'll see how it goes. They launch tomorrow, I think, at noon. But, you know, that's Tuesday, the 9th, for people listening in the future. You'll have to go back in time to find them.

Brad Dowdy: Stuart Haisley had... His was the justification question of owning so many fountain pens. And he had three questions right in a row.

Brad Dowdy: One, about the justification part. Two, about giving an opinion on a pen purchased for you and that has special meaning. So, almost like someone gifted you a pen. And now, say you're going to write about it and giving... Are you giving an unbiased, honest opinion in the fear of hurting someone's feelings, right? So, the feeling is always to be honest and open about that. But, it doesn't matter if it was gifted to you or not. I haven't had this situation come up too much.

Brad Dowdy: One of the pens that was gifted to me is probably my single favorite pen I own still. And that's the Edison Menlo. I call it the 3D just because of the colors. It's the red and blue. That's what Jeff gave me. Um... So, I don't... I don't have to worry about that because I love that pen so much. So, there's no... There's no negative opinion about that pen at all because it's amazing. But, it happens. And, you know... We're getting to the point now. And a lot of listeners are getting to the point now where we're super particular about the things we use. And that's okay. I mean, just because something's not perfect, it's... It's okay. And you just got to be honest about why it's not perfect and understand, you know, why certain things may not fit your needs. So, you know, I thought that was a good question. And, um... It's a little bit hard to beat around that bush. But, I mean, you just got... You have to be direct. And, um... You know, that's the... That's the best way around it. So, there's a... Don't worry about what other people are thinking or what the gifter might think. Like, um... You just got to be... If you're not going to use it, I mean, you know, you just need to be straightforward.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I've done that. Like, I have people say, oh, I'll get you a pen. So, don't buy me a pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I... I don't let people buy me pens unless I've given them 100% exact details.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Just... I've just flat out said, look, I'm very particular about this. It's the same in notebooks as well. Like, I'm very particular. Like, when I was leaving work, they were like, oh, we should... I was like, no. Don't. Just buy me something else. Because unless I tell you specifically what to buy me, you're not going to get me the type of thing that I like. And it's not for anything other than the fact that I'm crazy about it and you would buy a pen that anybody would have. But I'm really weird. Yeah. And I probably already own that pen if it's any good. And, you know, and I say, like... I say to people, you see the stuff I use, right? Right. I use crazy things. So, you know, please, please don't do that. Yeah. Right. And never contact me again. Click. So, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So, we want to get to our next sponsor. But before you do that, Myke, the question came up, was there any old-fashioned, non-stationary items we use? And I had that before this next sponsor because it kind of relates. Oh. And I had a real... I had a really, really tough time answering this question. Can you think... So, considering that stationary, you know, pens, fountain pens, paper... Sure. The things that we use are considered a little bit old-fashioned, right? Not like the super technical stuff that some of these pens are, but the more old-fashioned fountain pen, inks, ink wells. You know, that's certainly an old-fashioned thing. Can you think of anything old-fashioned that you use?

Myke Hurley: Not really.

Brad Dowdy: But I came up with two things, and it's really not. One, I use... If I grind coffee beans, I use a hand grinder. You know, I don't have a... You know, one of those Hario glass hand grinders that are really nice. You know, I don't know if that's necessarily considered old-fashioned. I mean, it's fussy coffee to begin with. And the second thing is, you know, maybe the razor. I don't use, like, the straight edge. You know, but I do like just, like, the classic razor that our good friends at Harry's are sponsoring us today, which I didn't intend on that. But, um, I can't think of any other, like, really old-fashioned stuff that I use outside of, like, fountain pens. Can you think of anything?

Myke Hurley: No. No. I mean, the razor, yes, but I don't use that every day.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The only thing I could come up with was the bean grinder, and I don't use that every day either, but, um...

Myke Hurley: It's kind of out of my character. Like, I mean, I don't even read paper books, you know? But it's like... Yeah. It is very, you know, the pen-paper addiction, the analog addiction. I mean, not every day, but I do own and listen to vinyl records. Okay. And I've been a collector of vinyl for, like, maybe eight years or so.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. That's cool. I did not know that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm not as avid as I used to be. I used, for a couple of years, I basically bought every single that I liked and many albums. And now, maybe every couple of years or every year, I buy that year's, a couple of my favorite albums from that year and add them to my collection.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, that's cool. I'd say that counts as old-fashioned. Yeah, it does. It does. Yeah. These days, that certainly counts as old-fashioned. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Cool. Even though vinyl record sales are up again this year.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. It's definitely become the hipster thing.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: You know, and I don't mean that in a derogatory term. It's just become a thing now. Just like, I think, like, fountain pens are getting to be a little bit more popular than before. And vinyl, as much of a music fan as I am, that's something that I've been teetering on the edge of, you know, checking out, you know, getting a turntable and a nice speaker set up to spin some wax.

Myke Hurley: This episode of The Pen Addict is brought to you by harrys.com. In case you hadn't already noticed, it is the holiday season. That means it's gift buying time. And we all know what it's like at this time of year. There's a hundred people to buy gifts for and little time to actually go and look for things. If you're looking for a cool gift to sell someone to buy you this year or you're stuck trying to find something for your husband, boyfriend, dad, or any guy in your life, you should look no further than Harry's. Harry's Winter Winston Set is only $30 for a sleek chrome razor. Three high quality blades. They're amazing foaming shave gel or shaving cream. And it's already wrapped and shipping is free. This is the set that I have myself, actually. I love it. I have, well, I have the Winston set. I don't have the Winter Winston special package. But I do have the Winston. And I love the handle. It's this beautiful chrome handle. I have mine engraved. It's very nice. But you can get $5 off this set by using the code PENADDICTHOLIDAY. All one word. It's a special code PENADDICTHOLIDAY. But this, this offer is a special holiday offer. And a special holiday offer means that everyone can take advantage of this offer. Even if you're already a Harry's customer, you can get the Razer three quality blades and a tube of their foaming shave gel or shave cream for just $25. So have a second, you know. If you've already got a Razer, have one for your parents' house. Take it with you over this holiday season. Leave it there so you've always got your Harry's Razer when you go visit. Harry's is helping you avoid all the lines at the mall. If you're looking to buy this for somebody else, they're helping you dealing with pushing and shoving of those big crowds. You just don't have to take it. They'll wrap it for you. Ship it for free. It's the perfect holiday gift. This is an awesome deal from an awesome company. You know Harry's. They were started by two guys passionate about creating a better shaving experience for everyone, for all men. They do that with their awesome feeling Razers. They give a smooth shave because of the high quality blades that they use. I don't want to mention this enough, but actually something really cool about them. Harry's is a company that gives back. They donate 1% of sales and volunteer 1% of all employees' time with their community partner, City Year. So when you give someone a Harry's product at Christmas, you can also get that special holiday cheer feeling for doing something good. So go right now to harrys.com and get $5 off a winter Winston set with the code PENADDICTHOLIDAY. Don't forget, this special holiday offer is available to all customers new and old. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S.com and enter the coupon code PENADDICTHOLIDAY or one word at checkout. Make sure that you get that order in quick now before the holidays. They're approaching quickly, so make sure you get it in quick. That's Harry's. A shave good enough to gift. Thank you so much to harrys.com for supporting this show and all of RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, as a Harry's customer, before they were in a sponsor, it's probably the best razor I've used, at least in as long as I can remember. I mean, I love using my Harry's razor. So I think I will order this extra pack and give my wife keeps stealing the razor. So she won't use the shaving cream or gel, but I'll give her the razor and blades so she'll stop stealing mine.

Brad Dowdy: All right, we're going to get a little analog-y on everyone. And I think y'all have talked about this, you and Mr. Casey Liss, on the analog podcast about the family business, you know, the whole work-life balance thing. And this was, I think this was Stuart again, Stuart Hasley again, with all the good questions. How do you, he was just asking, how do you balance all of these things? And it's, it's tough. The toughest thing I'm having to, I'm not having time for right now is actually the pen review stuff. I have to really like, I have to block out like hours at a time to get pen reviews and pictures and photo editing and regular writing and writing editing down. That's been the biggest challenge to fit in.

Brad Dowdy: I'm lucky to have a business partner like Jeff that really kicks butt with most of the knock stuff.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm lucky in the fact that I have a super supportive wife to say, you know, hey, I have to do this for knock or I have to do this for the pen addict. She understands that.

Brad Dowdy: But it's not easy. And sometimes, you know, we run into challenges where we, you know, we have to make a, I end up having to make some sacrifices, but I try to just, when I'm not doing these things, I just try to be all in with the family. So, you know, I'm not checking my phone or answering email while I'm trying to do stuff with the kids, things like that. So, I mean, it's nothing new or novel. It's just hard. And I'm still trying to find my way and still, you know, it's a work in progress. Things change about how busy we are with different things. So with the holidays coming up, you know, if I have to, if I come up short one post a week on the pen addict, you know, that might just have to be how it is, you know, things like that. So it's, I'm lucky enough to have been doing this for a while now where I can kind of get my routines in. But sometimes it's hard. I don't have any, like, super pro tip to answer that question. But you just have to be, the best thing is to just be all the way committed with whichever phase you're in. Whether if you're with your family, be all in with the family stuff. And then if you're doing work stuff, be all in with the work stuff. And that way you don't have those things crisscrossing and overhanging for in other areas of your life. You don't want to be doing both things at the same time. So that's one of the things I'm working on. So I know you've come up with, this is a little bit different for you now, Myke, now that you're doing the podcasting full time. And I'm sure people can pick up some of this stuff on Analog, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, the work-life balance is kind of another way that people put it. And we did a show about that a while ago, I think.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, it's... I don't know. It's difficult. It's hard. It is really hard. It is. And it depends on sort of where you are in your life at a given time. And I think it's important that you're able to kind of turn some light bulbs on and turn some light bulbs off at certain periods of time. And I've just made a very failed reference to an episode of Hello Internet. that I like very much. It's one of my favorite podcasts. And CGP Grey on that show, I'll find the episode. I'll put it in the show notes, which you can find at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 132. He talks about how you can kind of... There are like four kind of aspects to your life. You have work, friends, family, and health. And you only have like a limited amount that you can put into all these things. You can distribute your time evenly, but you only have like semi-bright bulbs. Or you can brighten some of your... One of those four light bulbs. And then you haven't got enough power to light the others. It's an interesting sort of way of thinking about it. It's not the best metaphor in the world, but I think it explains what I'm trying to explain anyway.

Brad Dowdy: No, I understand that completely.

Myke Hurley: It's episode three. It's called Four Light Bulbs is the name of the episode. I thoroughly recommend this podcast on this episode if you are interested in work-life balance, because it's a very interesting take on it, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, cool. Well, we will check that out. Before we get like totally like an episode of Analog, let's talk more about pens.

Myke Hurley: Great.

Brad Dowdy: Why not?

Pen Purchases

Brad Dowdy: Before we depress everyone, Myke, let's go spend some people's money, please. I got two or three questions about what pens can we go grab at the store that would be a good stocking stuffer for someone.

Brad Dowdy: And I thought that was a good question because there's not always great stuff you can just go grab off the store shelves. But there's two things that I came up with. One is the Uniball Sino 207. And they make, I think it's an eight pack of their colored gel ink pens for anyone, you know, it's great for kids or family or students that, you know, might use a lot of the different colors. And it's an awesome pen to boot. And you can find them at, you know, not just office supply, big box retailers, but other like big store retailers like Walmart, Target, any of your big, large retailers like that. And the second one is the Sharpie pen, you know, not the marker, not the permanent marker pen, but the writing pen. It comes in a wide range of colors too. So that seems to be a theme, you know, like around Christmas time, just something to throw in the stocking is like a multicolor set of pens. The Sino 207 and the Sharpie pen would be my two picks for that. They're a really good quality pen and they're really easy to come by. A lot of stores, a lot of stores carry those. So now Myke, now that you're a world dominating podcast network owner, I think you've talked about time and from time to time you go out and, you know, you might work at a coffee shop or something like that. Is that right? Have you been getting that into your schedule?

Myke Hurley: Here and there, here and there. I've actually just signed up to a co-working space in London. Okay. As well.

Brad Dowdy: So sometimes on the weekends, I like to take the kids to Starbucks or something and, you know, sit and I'll do some writing and, you know, grab a drink while they sit there and draw or play or whatever. And I was asked about pen spotting in public. And, you know, as many times as I've gone and worked in a coffee shop or done some writing in a coffee shop or anything and out and about and using, you know, my pens and paper, I'm always checking out what everyone else is using. And I never find like the hardcore pen addicts like us. You know, I never see, you know, this was from Tony from Everyday Commentary asked this question. He was like, you know, how can you tell like the pen addicts from the crowd? And I thought about it and it's like, I very rarely see them. You know, it's usually with like, you know, loose leaf paper, you know, a lot of students with loose leaf paper in the BICs, things like that. You know, I never see anyone like carrying a rhodia pad. I never I never see anyone carrying a field note. I never see anyone carrying a pen that you can't get at Walmart or something like that. It's super rare that I see that even at, you know, like at a coffee shop. I don't even see like a moleskin very, very rarely. And I certainly don't see people carrying the things that I carry around. Have you ever run into just you've seen someone using something you're like, oh, wow, they must be really into pens or paper.

Myke Hurley: I feel like I would remember it. Yeah. And I can't remember it, but I will be on the lookout for it now. And I will report back on my on my new travels to see if I can find any anyone like this.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yes. So keep your eyes peeled. And, you know, I do it all the time and I will talk to people. You know, if if I see them, you all make a comment about their pen or paper. And I think I've maybe done it one time only because I saw a girl drawing at Starbucks and I had a bunch of drawing pens in my backpack and I just wanted to give her some of the ones that I had. I think that's the only time I've ever seen it. But it was because she wasn't using good, good pens and I wanted to give her some.

Myke Hurley: Like a good Samaritan.

Brad Dowdy: I was the pen fairy. So, yeah, I was doing a good deed. I was I was giving her a bunch of a bunch of new new pens to write with. So one last thing before we kind of digress into a specific topic.

Brad Dowdy: Stub nibs, cursive nib, cursive italic nibs, italic nibs and line variation.

Brad Dowdy: The comment was basically, you know. Talk about them and talk about that different line variation and the differences between those nibs. And we've talked about it before and there's a good good link I'll have to find. I didn't put it in the show notes, Myke, but it's on Franklin Kristoff's page where Myke Masayama has some drawings that he did for the descriptors of a stub, the difference between a stub and a cursive italic nib. So the main difference between those two, they both leave a very wide line in the kind of in the north south direction and a very thin line in the east west direction, if you will, for lack of a better better descriptor. But the stub nib has more of a rounded edge on it. So it's a little bit smoother and the lines are not as varied as far as line width thickness. They're a little bit wider. There's still some variation, obviously, between the wide and the narrow lines. But the cursive italic is very sharp on the edges and it gives a crisp, cleaner line and it gives thinner, narrow lines, thinner horizontal lines, if you will. So that's the difference between the two. And I find myself really liking that cursive italic nib. And I didn't realize this when I started using fountain pens. I thought I wanted extra fine nibs so I could mimic some of my favorite gel ink pens. I wanted to mimic that writing experience. But actually the best writing experience for me is more of a blockier style, like a stub or cursive italic. And I've really become fond of the cursive italic nib grinds. And whenever I can, I usually get that done to a pen that I love a lot because I like that squared off, sharp, crisp line and have some of that line variation. And so that's kind of line variation 101. And we'll put the link in the show notes so you can check out the pictures that explain it better than I just did. So, all right.

Myke Hurley: Should we thank our final sponsor and then move on to the last topic today? Let's do that. This episode of The Pen Addict is also brought to you by our friends at The Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet sell authentic, amazing rollerballs, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils and so much more. They have all of your favorite brands like Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor and Kaweco. They're an authorized dealer of all of them and they believe in very fast and reliable customer service. This is what makes Pen Chalet awesome. They're also always running special discounts. They have closeout specials and they do these great offers and deals with us. And I'm going to tell you about what we've got in a moment. They're always adding new styles of pens every single month. And as well as all the brands that I mentioned earlier, they have things like pen carrying cases, pen holders, refills, fountain pen converters and so much more. Loads of stocking stuffers for the holiday season. They have free shipping on over $50 in the continental United States. And they sell internationally as well, very reasonable shipping rates. Pen Chalet has low prices on high quality pens and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Now, go to penchalet.com and use the code penaddict or one word to get a very special for this holiday season. 15% off your order. This is perfect to get that last minute shopping in. Or what you should be doing though is clicking that podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password penaddict for even more savings as well as your 15% off. This week's special offer is the Conklin Stylograph fountain pen at 50% off. The pen retails for $145. And once you add your penaddict discount on top of it, on top of the discount that you already see on the page, it takes us down to $61.63, including US free shipping. Goodness. You happy with that one?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. These pens are cool looking. I don't have one of these Conklins yet, but I like the mosaic pattern on these barrels. They're very nice.

Myke Hurley: It reminds me of the... You know what it reminds me of.

Myke Hurley: The old pen that we both have. The one that looks like a tower block. Vacumatic? Vacumatic. Yeah. Reminds me of that. Yep. This is a super great looking pen. And there is just... And it looks even better in person. It's what Ron is telling me. He made great pains to tell me how fantastic this thing looks. And I do believe him. There's one note that he just wanted me to pass along to you. The picture shows a chrome colored nib on the site, but the fine nibs only will be shipping in a cool looking black color. Which is kind of special sounding. So, you want to make sure you go to penchalet.com, hit the podcast button at the top, and enter the code PENADDICT to get access to a bunch of special offers. And don't forget to use the code PENADDICT at checkout as well, and you'll get your special 15% off anything at Pen Chalet. Thank you so much to Pen Chalet for continuing to help us over at the Pen Addict Podcast.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, just to be clear, when you go over there and you see a pen that's discounted, and it says 50% off like this Conklin Stylograph is, the 15% Pen Addict coupon stacks. So, you get 50% off, then you get another 15% off. So, there's some really, really good deals to be had. I'm scrolling through all this. It's pretty crazy right now. So, yeah. Definitely check this out. And, yeah. I think that's the first time Ron's done 15% off. So, that's really nice of him getting everybody ready for the holidays. So, awesome. Awesome. All right. So, from time to time, I get into some topics here that aren't the happy, fun topics that I like to keep it generally happy. Happy, fun time here, Myke. And sometimes there's some topics that get under my skin. And...

Myke Hurley: Sometimes the best ones.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Sometimes the best ones. And this one, I'm not going to get full crazy on because there's still information to be processed and parsed. But I mentioned it a couple weeks ago just in passing that Estabrook was relaunching, right? You remember that topic where we mentioned they're coming out with a new pin and they put these links out and we both thought they were very ugly and they don't look like Estabrook's. And what's going on here. So, things have kind of ramped up since that time. That was probably like a month ago that we talked about that, right? Um, so, since we saw that first little hint of Estabrook, they have started posting what's going to be the main line pin. So, those first pins we showed were going to be a limited introduction, okay? Like 150 of each of the colors. And we'll have all these links in the show notes so you can play along. So, then the new owners of Estabrook went on to Facebook and posted what all the new stock versions of the pin were going to be like. And the internet, the fountain pin internet had a conniption. They thought these acrylic base level models looked horrible, number one. Looked nothing like an Estabrook, number two. And were basically a Chinese, Indian, cheap acrylic kind of knockoff like you would expect to get like a $5 fountain pen from. That's basically what everything was being compared to.

Estabrook Controversy

Brad Dowdy: So, I'm saying all this as a precursor to the way Estabrook acted to handle all this negative feedback. And what's really thrown up the red flag about this whole thing is they just started deleting everyone's comments, questions, any type of response from the Facebook page. They refused to answer questions about it. They will not say, you know, Estabrook's an American company and they're promoting it as America's original pin company. And these pins are most likely not going to be manufactured in the U.S.

Brad Dowdy: That's okay. But you got to be upfront about it. And Estabrook's doing everything they can to not be upfront about it. And there's, I've captured all these links we'll have in the show notes where you can go through the Fountain Pen Network thread where people have screenshotted their comments on Estabrook's page. Just asking them basic questions. Where are these pins going to be manufactured? And Estabrook's going and deleting those questions. And you just can't have that. As a company that wants to do business with this community, we're a very particular community, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but they obviously don't know what they're getting into.

Brad Dowdy: And that's the thing is apparently one of the guys that's starting this has done this before. I mean, he's been in the business before, but they're not handling things right right now. So it came up. The reason why I put this in here was because I was asking. It might have been John Bemis. I can't remember if it was him or not that asked me. He said, basically talk about the Visionaire or Scribble. You know, he was just joking with me, you know, needling me. And I said, well, I might have a third one I can add to that and we're going to talk about it in this show. And I don't want to put it in that classification yet because this story is not finished. But they are handling themselves extremely poorly. They're putting pins out there that are awful looking in relation to the historical name recognition of the brand. And they're blowing it right out the gate. You know, Estabrook in the fountain pen community is a loved brand. It's loved because it's inexpensive and it's accessible. They made millions of pins, you know, in the 1900s. Millions. So, all these beautiful classic Estabrooks are still available today for like $30 and $40.

Brad Dowdy: You know, even refurbished. You know, completely refurbished. And they're still only $30 or $40. So, now coming in with some gross looking acrylics, you know, with cheap nibs. That honestly, this reminds me a lot. You could get this pin with like Visionaire money. It looks like to me. It looks like a $2 pin made in China. To be perfectly frank. You know, I... The jury's still out. But it's not tracking the right direction. So, I just wanted to throw all this stuff out there.

Myke Hurley: What are the best pictures that highlight what you feel is happening here?

Brad Dowdy: On their Facebook page, they've had several... So, the Estabrook J is one of the main popular lines of Estabrook. And they've put up several posts on their Facebook page. I'll get you a link of all the new acrylic pins in the tray. And I will shoot you this link for the show notes. And I will put it in the chat room.

Brad Dowdy: So, you know, they're decent looking. But they're not anything special, I guess is what I'm trying to say. You know, they're not something that would make you go... They're not... Number one, they're absolutely nothing that makes you think, Ooh, an Estabrook. Right? And I think that's what's really hanging people up. They look nothing like any Estabrook that's ever been created. Ever.

Brad Dowdy: And then... You know, not answering... You know, customers' questions... About those pins. And what they're doing. And why they're doing these things. And then continually... Continually pimping America's original pin company. Over and over and over again. They're digging a pretty big hole right now. So... Just something to be aware of. Because I bring all this up because they're launching this month.

Brad Dowdy: So... You know, and that limited edition pin. The very first one we talked about like a month ago. Guess how much that one is?

Myke Hurley: Go on.

Brad Dowdy: $450.

Brad Dowdy: Okie dokie. It looks like a $20 pin.

Myke Hurley: This is the one with like the chrome on either end. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Unless they come out with saying those chrome things are actually silver. And some kind of fancy material. It's a joke. So... I have huge... Huge amounts of skepticism right now.

Brad Dowdy: And most of it is self-inflicted by the people running Estabrook right now. When you're not up front and open and honest with this community. You're gonna get buried. And there's no two ways about it. And it's not coming... It's not just from me. There's people that take this way more serious than I do. And they're pretty upset about it. So... Anyone who's interested. You know, read the Facebook... Read the Fountain Pen Network thread. And read the Reddit thread. Where Mr. Estabrook himself... And I say that jokingly. But he's known for his Estabrook collection. And his Estabrook historical knowledge. Our friend Brian Anderson from Anderson Pens. He chimes in on the Reddit thread. And he's a little bit taken aback.

Myke Hurley: I'm very intrigued by his comments in the Reddit thread.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, it's gonna... This is definitely hashtag popcorn time for this over the next month. So, this will not be the last time we talk about it, I'm sure. And, you know, if you're a company and you're acting this way before you've even launched, that's pretty scary. So, hopefully they will come correct and do right by the community. But it's not tracking in the right direction right now. And plus, you know, the whole point of it is... Why buy one of these... For lack of a better term, faux Estabrooks. ! When you can get the real thing for about 30 or 40 bucks. That's gonna be better than anything that they're coming up with. So, they have a tough road to hoe.

Myke Hurley: We should call them faux Estabrooks.

Brad Dowdy: Faux Estabrooks. Yeah. I like that.

Myke Hurley: We'll go with that until they can prove otherwise.

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. So, that's my mini rant. And this could turn into a full-fledged rant one day. So, we'll keep this on the radar.

Myke Hurley: Well, I hope it's gonna be like our usual scandals where it stretches across many weeks. So, I look forward to next week's episode to find out how this is progressing. Oh, I love it when you get all detective.

Myke Hurley: If you would like to play detective yourself, you can find links to these articles along with a bunch of other stuff. We're at the show notes for this week's episode. Which are at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 132. Thanks again to our sponsors this week. Mashdrop, Harry's, and Pen Chalet. If you'd like to find me and Brad online, I am at imike on Twitter. I am YKE and I host many shows at relay.fm. And Brad, he is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. And he is the man behind the penaddict.com. We'll be back next time. Thank you so much for listening. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad.