The Pen Addict 380/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	380
Title:	A Little Bit of Extra
Release Date:	October 9th, 2019
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 380
Audio File:	Audio Episode 380
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 380
Length:	6464 min <br />1.067 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 380. Today's show is brought to you by ExpressVPN, Pen Chalet, and Harry's. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hey Myke Hurley, how are you today?

Myke Hurley: I'm very good. I am once again using my Retro 51 pastel chubah from The Pen Addict today.

Brad Dowdy: We officially launched it. It's out. It's out there. To both of you and Susan. Thank you. Yes, she's been awesome to work with and she's been excited to tweet it out. If anyone follows her, she's been tweeting it constantly. She's super thrilled with how it turned out and I love that she's excited as I am. We both appreciate how much you enjoy The Pen and I'm using mine today as well. I've been using it for quite a while now. And yeah, so the launch happened to Panadict members on Saturday. Then I posted it publicly on Monday and Retro retweeted it, which I always appreciate. And so the sales have been going great. At the end of the show today, I will be shipping again for quite a while this afternoon. So it's going good though. I'm really happy with the feedback and the results so far. So love it.

Myke Hurley: I want some of those stickers though. So make sure you keep a couple for me and what's left.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Did I send you any? I mean, I could have. You got zero stickers, huh?

Myke Hurley: Zero stickers. You sent me lots of other stickers. You sent me the Kickstarter stickers. But I didn't get the Shiba stickers because they are so...

Stickers Launch

Brad Dowdy: Interesting. Interesting. That's, I mean, that's pretty much my level of accuracy these days, right? Like, you know, we talk about me putting the audio files in the wrong place in our folder, you know, regularly. That's been a recurring thing for me this time. That's been a thing that you keep doing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this last week I stepped it up even further. I didn't even put it in the same account. Yeah. So it was an epic failure for me. So it's not a surprise that I left out your stickers.

Myke Hurley: That just expends all of his mental energy on the show.

Brad Dowdy: I do.

Myke Hurley: That's it.

Brad Dowdy: What I do is I get really excited about how fast it uploads and I tend to care less about where it actually uploads to.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. You just throw it anywhere it will go.

Brad Dowdy: That's fun. But yeah, back to the pen. I will get you stickers. We have three different stickers. You're just getting random. People are just getting random stickers. Like, you know, if you order one pen, like if you order two or three pens, I'm not going to duplicate your stickers or get some mix and match of each of them. But, you know, that's from Susan's Design. I always like to include a sticker with the pen. That's just kind of a thing I've done ever since the second version. It's not a little freebie. Yeah. Yeah. A little freebie. And, you know, who doesn't love stickers, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Crazy people.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Crazy people. That's exactly right. Speaking of crazy people, that was a good segue, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Well, no. Maybe. Yeah. I don't know. Things happen, right? Like things, they find a way. Life finds a way. And maybe a day or two after last week's episode, you sent me a message where it was basically a person told a person told a person told you to tell me that they could get the Alice in Wonderland bung box for me if I wanted it. And then it'd be hand-carried across oceans and then eventually shipped to me. Yes. So, I, as these things tend to go, stuff happens. People contact you to talk to me. I don't know how you feel about being my go-between. I hope you don't mind. Maybe you enjoy it.

Brad Dowdy: I thoroughly enjoy it. I 0% mind.

Myke Hurley: Because then Brad just basically just effectively tells me, send this amount of money to this PayPal address and eventually...

Brad Dowdy: In this country's denomination. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So, there are two countries involved. It's a completely different country. We're talking about currency-wise. You just send that money to this email address and then eventually this pen will show up at your home. And so, that's where we are. So, I have one on the way, which I'm very excited about.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, it wasn't quite that many degrees of Kevin Bacon to get it done. But it was pretty good.

Myke Hurley: Between me and the person who purchased the pen in Tokyo, there are like three or four people in between.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Right? Three. Three, probably. Yeah. Yeah. I guess. Total. I don't know. It's just kind of funny. We have wonderful listeners. We do.

Pen Delivery Process

Myke Hurley: I would like to thank everybody involved, even though I'm actually not 100% sure who they are. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think I ever told you because I don't think you've ever communicated with them like you would know necessarily who it is. But even still, I would normally pass the name on, which I don't think I did in this case. The way these things work, the reason why I don't mind doing this is because I'll tell you, hey, Myke, I can get the thing. And your answer is always yes or always no. It's not give me a few days and we'll figure it out. But it's yes, do it or no thanks.

Myke Hurley: I'm a man who knows what he wants. And that makes my life easy. You know? I know what I want. When I want things, I want them. If I don't want them, I don't want them.

Brad Dowdy: The only issue this time is I'm dealing with a massive time zone discrepancy. So, you know, messages are going, we're going eight and 10 and 12 hours between replies, right? Just by the way the time zone is working and things like that. So, the pen has been acquired. It will be handed off. This pen is going to, might travel more than you have this year. But it will get to you hopefully in the next week or two. So, we're working on that. But the pen has been purchased. It is in hand and it will begin its travels within the next week.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Are you excited? I'm excited for you, actually.

Myke Hurley: I'm very excited, actually.

Brad Dowdy: I'm vicariously excited for you.

Myke Hurley: This pen will sit very highly on, I think, my best looking Pro Gear list. Which is a very strong list, I think, at this point.

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. I agree with that. Yeah, it's a wonderful pen. And I'm excited on your behalf. Quick correction before we get into the hot topics this week of the show. For some reason, on last week when I was talking about Bill Gates' favorite pen, and I know completely about this pen because I used it for years and years, I called it the Pilot Elite. And I really don't know why. It's one of those things I'm struggling with. And I didn't realize it during the show. A lot of times I'll realize it like right after I said something that I've made a mistake or Chad will chime in and say, oh, you screwed that one up. And I all of a sudden got like three emails that evening about what I said. I was like, oh, wow, did I really do that? But it's the Uniball Deluxe. And I should know this very well because it is one of the gateway pens that led me down this path of the pen addict. But the Uniball Deluxe in micro blue was a pen that I searched for and hunted for for years. So it was interesting to see Bill Gates using it, even though I completely butchered the brand and model number. I guess I elite and Deluxe are like those fancy upscale names like they try to put on their $3 pens, you know, to make them look executive type. And I just got my wires crossed on that one. I felt I felt kind of bad after I got all the email. So but thank you listeners for correcting me on that and shame on me. Whoops.

Brad Dowdy: Right. I know. I know. It happens. You know, when you talk about. I think we should just blame the chat room, though, because they didn't correct you. Or I didn't see it. Like, I don't always stare at the chat room either.

Myke Hurley: So usually when you make a glaring mistake, they will continue to tell us until you correct. Yes. So I'm going to say that this one was 100 percent on our chat room, which, by the way, if you ever wonder, what is the chat room? We record this show live pretty much every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern time. There's some slight changes. But whenever we do make changes, we tend to update them on the Relay FM calendar, which is also where you can go to listen to the show, which is relay.fm slash live. Or, you know, we do. You can follow at underscore Relay FM. And whenever we do go live, the show tweets out. So you can come and join us. And we have a chat room there full of many regulars and a bunch of one-timers as well. People jump in and out. You should come and hang out because it's a fun way. There's always a little bit of action before and after the show as well. So you tend to get some stuff. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Like we had a little topic conversation for like two, three minutes after last week's episode. So, you know, it just happens sometimes. There's one of those fun things we do that you can catch live if you want to get the show early. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And you do get the show a couple of hours early.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

ExpressVPN Introduction

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Montegrappa Chaos Pen

Brad Dowdy: I am so excited about not just the next topic, but the next, like, two or three topics. Like, I am thrilled to be able to discuss the Montegrappa Lord of the Rings pen. Myke, have you seen this pen?

Myke Hurley: I've seen it this morning when I was looking through our show notes, and I'm looking at it right now. This is one of those Montegrappa pens, right? Where it's like a whole thing. Like a whole big thing. But I'm going to tell you on this one, whilst this is wild, it is not as wild as the Chaos pen. And I understand it. Now, I am not a Lord of the Rings fan. Like, I'm saying it's just not a thing that I've really gotten on board with. But I understand what this pen is. It's like got the Eye of Sauron on the top, and it's got lots of different, like, visual indicators of different Lord of the Rings things. Like, Gollum is on the back. And the ring that goes around the cap is the ring from the Lord of the Rings with the inscription on it and stuff.

Myke Hurley: It is bananas. It would be, I expect, horrible to have to try and write with this thing, because it is 108 grams, which is wild in the sterling silver version. The weight, they haven't actually listed the weight on the solid 18-carat gold version. But, yeah, I mean, look, if this is your thing, I think that they've probably kind of nailed the design. But it's quite a thing to behold.

Brad Dowdy: No one can do this except Montegrappa.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they have the license on this. That I have seen. Right, like, they have the... Well, I mean, not... No, no, I don't mean intellectual property license. Yes. I mean, they have the, like... That's a completely different conversation that I want to have. It's a whole different thing that is, like, super clever that they go about doing this and it must be super difficult to do. But I've done it a few times now and I think it's clever because people want this stuff. Yeah. But they have the, like, they can do this and people will accept it from them.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Like, ever since our trip to Fountain Pen Hospital where we got to hold the Chaos Pen, I've gained a newfound respect for what they're creating. Yes. You know, it doesn't matter if it's for me or not, right?

Myke Hurley: I could never own this because I don't... It doesn't speak to me. But when I actually saw the craftsmanship that went into the Chaos Pen, it changed my opinion about it.

Brad Dowdy: I totally agree. And that's what I see with this pen. I just stare at this picture and laugh and smile because I just love it so much. You know, not for me. Like, I would never want this pen, never own this pen. I'm not, like you said, I'm not a Lord of the Rings fan or anything. It doesn't speak to me.

Myke Hurley: The gold one looks amazing. Like, it is astounding.

Brad Dowdy: There's two models. We're mostly referring to the sterling silver model, which will run you about €4,000. Then the 18-karat gold one, which is really set off by the materials, is a cool €42,000.

Myke Hurley: I'm just going to pre-order this and, you know, we'll get right on that. My word.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, there's 20 of the gold fountain pens and 20 of the gold roller balls and then 379 of each of these silver. That's, I mean, that's a lot of these pens, Myke. That is a ton of €4,000 and €42,000 pens. Right, but doesn't that show you how successful their products like this have been? Right. I could not agree more. I couldn't agree more. Like, they keep doing this. You mentioned the intellectual property, and that's what I wanted to talk about. They do not play around with accessing and paying for this IP, right? Mm-hmm. With all the things they've done in the past. I mean... The Game of Thrones, right? They did Thrones last year, and they did the same thing with a silver edition and a gold edition. And it's, you know... I can't imagine what, like, the IP costs for these types of things. And even with the Thrones, which I haven't seen them do for Lord of the Rings, and they certainly could, is do all the sub-lower entry, air quote, level pens, like the $300, you know, different houses. And Game of Thrones, you know, had, like, six different entry-level pens, and then they had the, you know, the Winter is Coming pen that was relative to this Lord of the Rings

Myke Hurley: pen. And they also had an Iron Throne pen, which is also super expensive.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And then they do other crazy... Like, and this isn't even the only... They're only, like, really out there stuff. Like, you know, I've gotten to see, like, the Samurai pen and just some of the wild stuff that they create. They're... I love seeing the freedom that a company has to play. Like, clearly they have the money and the market to do this. They... This is not a market that we are in, right, as pen addicts generally, right? This is not our market. But I'm fascinated by it because of the consistency of Montegrappopoulos. Putting these pens out and clearly doing well with them. Like, they're selling these pens. There's no doubt in my mind that they're selling these pens. And I just find the whole thing fascinating to watch and be an observer of as, you know, someone who is in this hobby. You know, just observing that this thing exists. And some artists sat there and created this pen. And Montegrappopoulos is going to, like, sell all of these pens. It fascinates me. And I love everything about this pen. I mean, I can't speak highly of it enough just because it exists. Even though it's ridiculous and none of us will ever own one or much less maybe never see one. And I just find the whole thing fascinating. And I am just... Montegrappa has been on my radar recently. And I don't know. It's just cool to see.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I think it's safe to say that both of our impressions have been changed on this over time. And we have a lot more respect for it than we did before where previously this stuff just kind of seemed funny. And one of the things that changed my mind was getting to talk to somebody who owned one of these pens and then seeing one. Where I kind of realized that whilst these things aren't for me by any stretch of the imagination, both in design and price and, like, writing experience, like, you know, like, none of the... And also, like, a lot of the IP that they capture is, like, not necessarily stuff that I'm interested in and all that. But it shows me that there are people interested in this hobby that have very different tastes to me. And I think that that's awesome. And I want that to exist. Right? Like, I want there to be people that want to buy a pen that has the eye of Sauron on the top. Because it is, like, it shows something about this hobby that, like, it can take all kinds of people and all kinds of styles and all kinds of tastes. Right? Like, I personally have no desire to own, like, a ton of just all black pens of gold furniture. But there are some people who are like, that's, like, their perfect ideal. Like, that's what they want. Yep. You know? And that's, like, the complete opposite end of these types of pens. It's, like, they want the most stripped back thing they can get. And, like, we're going to talk about Visconti in a minute. Right? Like, there are people that think that those Visconti pens, like, Visconti pens in general, are, like, the most beautiful pens imaginable. Right? But I don't like the clips at all. Sure. But there are people that are like, no, that is incredible. So, these pens are just another example to me of the type of thing that I love about this hobby.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. And it's actually helped me, like, personally, like, realize, you know, you get, I'm taking this to a meta conversation now of where, you know, you have your tastes and your opinions and that's the only way. And this is not a hobby where that really has a place because everyone has their own tastes, their own styles, their own opinions, their own needs, their own wishes.

Myke Hurley: And there is more than enough space for all of it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. And, like, I respect all of those things. Like, you know, and you take it out of being personal and just understanding that there's something out there for everyone. And, you know, I just, I love seeing it. I love being part of this hobby for those reasons until the next topic. And now I'm going to take back everything I just said.

Myke Hurley: Oh, okay.

Brad Dowdy: Just kidding. Just kidding. All right, Myke. Would you like to read the product description of the Visconti Iopena blue fountain pen or would you like me to do the honors? I'm good either way.

Myke Hurley: Let me read it. All right. Because I haven't read this yet. Purposefully. Okay, so we have the Visconti Iopena, which is eye-opener, I guess. I don't know if that's actually meant to be a pun or not, but Visconti Iopena fountain pen. A harmonious balance of forms makes Visconti's Iopena an absolute masterpiece in the world of luxury pens. Gaetano Pesse, a famous architect and designer whose works are exhibited in some of the world's major museums, designed much more than a pen for Visconti. He created a real piece of modern art. It is a revolutionary pen in many respects, but the real innovation is its soft, flexible body and soft resin?

Myke Hurley: This. What? All right. Okay. Visconti and Gaetano Pesquet were the first to experiment with such innovative materials in the pen market. The architect has created a sculptural pen to which people can relate. It brings to mind the softness of the body, as he himself said in a press conference. So he chose to call it Iopena, which roughly translates as eye pen. I don't understand how those two things relate in any way. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He also played with his own name by giving the pen an elegant profile that resembles a fish. Pesquet translates to fish.

Myke Hurley: And a profile of a face. Mm-hmm. None of that makes sense as to why they called it what they called it.

Myke Hurley: None of that... Keep going. Okay, sorry. The pen's ultra-modern concept in bright colors was designed to bring young people closer to writing. In an increasingly digital world, young people can finally have a fountain pen or rollable that keeps up with the times and with the creative experiments that are typical of modernity. The packaging is a designer resin case in which the pen bends gracefully. None of that makes any sense either. The fountain pen is a steel nib and uses standard international cartridges.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, you can end it there. Yeah, yeah.

Visconti Iopena Critique

Myke Hurley: That's a waste. This is...

Brad Dowdy: This is stupid. This is a stupid pen. You haven't seen the half of it, Myke. Click on the second link and scroll down to look at the packaging. When you get to the picture of the umbrella handle, that's not an umbrella handle.

Myke Hurley: That's the pen.

Brad Dowdy: That's the pen in the packaging. So, there's the back half of this pen is like a silicone rubber that...

Myke Hurley: I need to try and explain this to people. It's like... It looks like a dip pen, right? So, it's like very long, right? Mm-hmm. And it has like a silvery end to it and then the... It's got like a metal grip section. Yeah, a metal grip section with a stupid clip, which is the shape of a face. Visconti, what are you doing? And then it's this like long piece of plastic and a collar, which is flexible so it can bend. So, in the... The packaging is shaped like the letter J. So, the pen bends around inside of the packaging.

Myke Hurley: I would have less of a problem with this if they didn't describe it in such a stupid way. Like, all of the descriptions. None of it makes any logical sense, right? Like, how they got to the name that they got to. Right. Like, they tried to explain something which doesn't explain anything. That's exactly right. What are you doing, Visconti? You're a luxury brand. So...

Brad Dowdy: What are you doing? To your point, if Visconti said, here is our new couture pen line, I would have no problem with this. Right? Like, we're experimenting. We think this is high fashion and we're going to get this great architect and designer and we're going to experiment. Right? But that's not how they present it. They present it as... Designed to bring young people closer to writing. Designed to bring young people closer to writing. That's my biggest problem with this whole thing. It's a 280 euro pen.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: This isn't bringing any... No young person... I know. 280 euro. I thought this was a budget pen. It's what it looks like, right? Holy crap. Right? If this was a $40 pen, like, okay, maybe I see the young people getting into this and playing around with it and having fun, having a silly pen. This... I kind of want one.

Myke Hurley: Of course you do. They've made a pen that looks like a kid's pen, which is marketed towards young people, but they sell it for 280 euro.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's my main problem here. Come on, Visconti. Are you familiar with the Jinhao shark pen?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: That's what this is, except it's Visconti-ized.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, there's... There's... I have no positive spin on this other than, like, okay, fine. I mean, if anyone appreciates art, I do. But the marketing and the presentation of it, they've gone a little bit too far with this. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I would say this is an example of a company that's gotten a little too high on their own supply.

Myke Hurley: Right? Like, they are believing in themselves more than they should at this point, right? Right. And they produce something that is completely out of touch. This is the difference between what we were just talking about with Montegrappa. Montegrappa create crazy things, but they are in touch with a specific... The market they are going for. Right. This pen is not in... Like, if they are true to who they say they've made this for, they are not in touch with that market. Do you know who is? Moskin. They are in touch with that market. They are creating products for digitally-minded young people. Right? Because they make... They also do IP deals that people are interested in. They create stuff that looks nice, and then they're pushing smart technology forward. Right? That is a brand that understands what young people, digitally-minded young people, want out of writing experiences and are trying to bring digitally-minded young people back into the fold. Right? This pen is not doing that. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I've... You've angered me, Visconti, for the last time. I know. I'm surprised you're this agitated about it, because I just laughed, and I thought it was ridiculous, the words that were written about this pen. It does not add up to what they're trying to do here. And like I said, all you have to do is you put this in the Couture lineup, which, you know, for those who are not familiar with that term, it's basically like experimental art. It's like a fashion term. You know, like one-offs and like singular items that don't make any sense, but like they're the future of products, right? You know, 10 years down the line. Mm-hmm. That's... If that's how this pen was classified and spoken about, it might not even be on the show, because I feel that would be accurate. Like, I don't feel what they're doing is accurate with what they're trying to present here. And yet, I still kind of want one, because it's so ridiculous. It would be just a waste of money. Like, it's a steel nib, and like, it's a... Like, basically, it's basically like something you would buy like at a county fair. Like, the floppy pen, like where you like shake it around, and like this rubber thing's flapping on the back of it. It's like asinine. I'm sorry, Visconti. Like, I enjoy what you make, but this is just... This is too strange, even for me. It's ain't it, son. As someone who is a lover of the strange. That ain't it, son. It's ain't it. So, I was excited. I was pretty excited to talk about this on the show, because I didn't know what you would think. I'm pleased that I didn't read the whole thing. And... It was good that I left the original link out and made you have to edit the show.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. Now you've ruined that. You've ruined the fact that I edit it up so cleanly that nobody would ever know that there was a mistake.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, what do you expect from me? That's true.

Myke Hurley: Today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Pen Chalet. We can get good stuff there.

Brad Dowdy: Not this crazy stuff. You get good stuff. Dude, I got good stuff from them last week. The best stuff.

Myke Hurley: Authentic, amazing rollerballs, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils. So much more. They also... They don't just sell the writing implements. They sell the things that you need. The accoutrement. The peripherals, as some may say. Like carrying cases and pen holders and refills and ink and converters and so much more. They have all of their favorite brands, and they're adding new styles of pen every single month. Pen Chalet believe in the fastest and most reliable customer service that they can give, and that's what they strive to do. And they put everything behind their 100% satisfaction guarantee. They want you to be happy with your purchase, and they want to get it to you as quickly and as cheaply as possible. They have free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US, and great shipping rates for international orders as well. So go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com, and there's a link at the top of the website that says podcast. Hit that and enter the password penaddict. This is where you will get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet at any time, and also to see this week's special offer, which is a super secret deal that you must go to the website to see. Ron's told me I cannot talk about what it is or the price. Wow. So, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. I appreciate that, Ron. And since we can't talk about this week's, I did make my own, use my own Pen Addict 10 coupon last week or two weeks ago on the show to buy the Montegrappa fountain pen, which I gave away to Pen Addict members this past weekend. So I took advantage of the hot, fresh deals at penchalet.com.

Myke Hurley: So there are some great deals. You can go get them yourself by going to penchalet.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and using the password penaddict. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for their support of this show and RelayFM.

New Pen Releases

Brad Dowdy: All right. So we had three new releases that I wanted to talk about. We've covered the first one, which was the Montegrappa Lord of the Rings, two thumbs up. We've covered the Visconti Ayo Pena. No thumbs up. Fountain Pen, no thumbs up. And now we're going to hit the Platinum 3776 Carnelian, which I honestly think, not to just spoil everything, is, you know, maybe one thumb up. Like there's, this is like kind of right in the middle of those things. I have a lot of questions and concerns and wonderings about this pen. So what do you think about this pen and the reason for it existing?

Myke Hurley: Pen, boring.

Myke Hurley: It's a red demonstrator 3776. It looks like it maybe has a little sparkle in it, but it's hard to see from the images, but it's, you know, it's there, but it hasn't got, I like the 3776s that had textures on the body because that was different, right? Like the nice line, the nice line. It is a US exclusive, which is interesting.

Myke Hurley: Because is that normal?

Brad Dowdy: No, this is a new thing.

Myke Hurley: So that is interesting to me is like, are we setting a precedent here for more variation in this line? Me and Nadine were just talking about the difference between sailor and platinum over dinner yesterday, because that's who we are now. And we were, we were talking about kind of the differences. And I was saying, you know, cause she listened to the episode where we were talking about that. We spoke about it a bit. And like the thing about sailor is there's so many pens. You can really find something what you, that you're, that you're interested in. You can really find something that you like because there's so many different styles. But the problem with this one and with platinum in general is they don't really do enough of that. And that you, that what they have in their more reasonably priced line, which is 3776 a lot of the time is like, you can maybe find one that you like more than others, but the ability to find one that really speaks to you. Like you can, if you go hunting for pro gears, it's a very different, it's a very different experience. But if they're starting to do country exclusive colors, that could start to increase the creativity would be the hope.

Brad Dowdy: I am a little bit surprised that this is actually going to be a no thumbs up from both of us.

Brad Dowdy: I agree with pretty much everything you said. In general, this is not a special pin. And when you're going to use this price point of $240, as opposed to their standard price point, which is what, like 160 for the 3776, something like that. Let me just double check real quick. Yeah. Like 160, 170. Um, it better be special. And this one's not, this one, it's just not, I think it's a mistake. Even though on the surface, it's a pretty pin. Like it's a pin I would like to use. Myke, it's a pin I already have in the platinum shungyo. And it's, the shungyo is better, right? It's red with the etchings on it, right? This has some barrel sparkles, which they must've had a panic attack when Platinum, when Pelican released the star Ruby, because it's kind of the same idea, the same pin.

Myke Hurley: Miles better and cheaper.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And not as, I don't think it's as high a percentage increase in price for the limited edition of that pin versus the standard model. And I think that's where the mistake comes in. This should be a standard lineup, 3776. But I feel like this is a money grab to me is what this looks like to platinum. I don't think it's special enough to justify the upgraded price point, which I've paid the upgraded price point for several of these pens. I don't think this is one of them. I think the color looks great. It probably looks really good in person, but you're asking me to pay an upgraded price for a pretty much standard offering and just telling me that, Hey, it's a U S exclusive and like, it's a new color, even though it's, I guess it is. I mean, technically. Yeah. So I, I'm not as thrilled. I'm not thrilled with what platinum has done here, but we'll see. We'll see what happens after this. Um, it'll do well. Like there's no doubt that it's a great pin and it's great looking. I just think the story it's trying to tell is not adding up to me in this particular instance. So we'll see. Um, you mentioned that Visconti was drinking their own Kool-Aid a little bit earlier. And I think that's a case of platinum right here, right now with the carnelian. So we'll see what happens.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, um, I am anxious to see it in person. I bet it looks really good. Um, I just don't have any interest in it and I'm more interested in, in a year or two from now to see what they can do to make that price point more interesting than their base level pens. So that's kind of where I'm at with that. Oh boy. I, this was a good week for new products. Um, we're normally not like the always new product show. I mean, I guess we do a lot of it. It's kind of what we talk about the new hot stuff, but there were some good things to discuss. And I have a couple other things I want to just drop in here, little tidbits, not at the level of these last three pens that we talked, but I did a stream on Tuesday on Twitch, which, um, that's been going really good. Y'all should, y'all should come hang out on the stream on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. Eastern, uh, twitch.tv slash pen addict hashtag plug. Um, I, yeah, the audience is, is growing ever so slightly and I'm really enjoying and appreciating everyone show up. So yesterday I did an unboxing. I got it, uh, my October goods from jet pens. And I just, I basically shop from a list before I see the stuff online, like an email list. And so some of the things I get, I don't really know what I'm getting. So I tried this ink called Kala nostalgia abstraction ink. So in general, like with all the inks out there, like that, just seeing that name, that's like a turnoff. I was like, what is this? What are you doing here? It's like, okay, like I'll try one, you know, and you know, just for research purposes. Right. Um, so I look at the ink colors, I do a search and I was like, man, all these ink, these colors are kind of dull and boring. There's not much to them. So I went with the one called spring rain, which is kind of a, it's a gray, um, as maybe spring. That's the color of spring rain, Myke. I don't know. You can confirm or deny that rumor. Um, yeah, wouldn't know. Um, and then I opened it up and threw it on the page. I, I, at the time I just had like a, my pocket knife. So I dipped my knife in there and spread it on the page. I was like, oh, this is a really great gray. It's like a graphite, nice gray. Gray inks are hard to get right. So I was like, oh, this is really pretty. And then the chat mentioned that, Hey, these inks are pigmented, which means it should be waterproof. And I was like, oh really? So I had my bottle of water there and I reached in, I stuck my hands in my water bottle and like splashed ink onto this page where I'd written this ink. And it didn't budge. Like there was no smearing, no bleeding, no nothing. So long story short, I didn't realize I was ordering a pigmented ink. And as it turns out, it does its job very, very well, which was a pleasant surprise to me, right? Those are the things that surprised me. And I appreciate out of products when I was expecting one thing, but you know, maybe because I didn't fully read the product description and it turns out to be this really, really good at its job, right? So you're not going to look at these inks and go, boy, look at these colors. I need all of them. But if you're looking for a pigmented ink and you know, something that has waterproofness, this is going to be like a pretty cool ink for that. And you'll probably hear me recommending it a bunch. As soon as I get to test more now, I'm wishing I would have ordered like one or two more colors just to play around with. But I was surprised because I normally don't care whether an ink's waterproof or not. It's just not one of those things I have to have. But when I saw how this one worked, I was thoroughly impressed. So more testing to be done. See how it handles pins and nibs and things like that. But I like being surprised by products. And this was one of them.

Brad Dowdy: The second one is kind of my Alice in Wonderland, but at a very different price point. I have talked many times about the Field Notes Wilco set of memo books. And I said, you know, if I ever have the chance to get one, I'll get one, but I'm really, I want them badly, but I have too many notebooks. You know, when this was at the time when the National Parks Edition came out. And I was just like, that was overload. I didn't need to buy six more. Well, turns out they're going out to retailers and JetPens had them. So of course I got them now. And I think I'm just going to make a little project out of these. So we'll have more on that later when I'm kind of discussing it and figuring out what I'm going to do with it. But it's one of those products where it's like, I tried not to buy, not to buy, not to buy. And then I had an easy opportunity to get them without necessarily paying for them as part of my JetSpin sponsorship on the blog. And I was like, yeah, I think I'll have those now. Thank you. So I, I now own the field code field notes, Wilco box set, which I love. And I will be using, I will not be stashing this box, like for safekeeping or something silly like that. Like I'm going to use these, these notebooks or else I would not have bought them.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. These are, these are a set for you, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's a cool project. It's something that like checks all my boxes. Right. So it's kind of a thing, but it's like, I knew at the time that they came out, I just could, I could not justify owning them. Right. And now that, well, I didn't have to pay for this set necessarily, but I'm not going to, I'm still not going to take it if I'm not going to use it. Right. Right. I still have to commit to using it no matter what. So I have an idea for a project for the entire set of books. So we'll, we'll see how that plays out.

Myke Hurley: Should we do some hashtag ask TPA for the end of the show?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, we'll wrap it up. We got a bunch of email versions of ask TPA for this episode. So yeah, let's do that.

Myke Hurley: First one comes from Richard. I'm hoping submitting this ask TPA in the right place. You sure did Richard. Cause it's on the show. I absolutely love the podcast and your blog and Brad, you helped me journey deeper into my burgeoning fountain pen addiction than I ever thought. I have just picked up a pilot metropolitan with a CM nib. What is a CM nib?

Brad Dowdy: It's, it's their stub. They pilot does a 0.9 millimeter stub and they call it, I think it's, dude, it might be cursive medium. I don't know the exact terminology for their CM, but I believe it's a 0.9 stub, like a cursive italic type of nib.

Myke Hurley: Uh, it's the blue one filled with noodlers. Navajo blue. My world has changed immeasurably for the better. My question is about Onoto fountain pens. I'd never heard of them, but my dad introduced me after hearing about this Spitfire pen made from salvaged metal from a real world war two fighter. That's kind of cool. I'll put it in the show notes. The story and design of this pen fits all of the criteria of a grail pen for me with the price to match. How much is it? Okay. It's like 1700 pounds. It's expensive. It's an expensive pen. Okay. Uh, but I have heard so little about Onoto pens, and I can't see a way to try one before I order from them. As it's such a big purchase, I'm wondering if you or any of the pen addict community have experience with modern Onotos. It's O-N-O-T-O-S, and can share their feedback with me. Thank you for producing such great content and welcoming so many of us into this awesome hobby. This is a, not only a good specific question, but a broader question about buying pens from companies you've never heard of before for large amounts of money.

Brad Dowdy: It's totally a, totally a brilliant question,

Myke Hurley: right? Let me say as well, this is a freaking awesome pen. It looks amazing. Amazing. And the story, genius. These are awesome.

Brad Dowdy: Wow. So, let's, let's break down this question here. So, Richard is new, and he's got the Pilot Metro, and he's loving it so far. And we're just gonna, I'm gonna talk about Onoto in depth, but we're going from, you know, the 20 euro pen, and, or pound pen, and to a 1600 pound pen. You know, in conversation saying, boy, you know, what do you think about this? And I think, just in general, just, like, slow, go, go a little slow, slow that down a little bit, just because, even though this might be the grail pen, and it might, you know, not be available, I think that's, that's a jump I'm not comfortable with, for many reasons. That said, okay, so that's one little bit of the conversation. The question about Onoto in general, they are a great pen company, so there's no problem with Onoto whatsoever. I think they're fantastic. I do not own one. It is on my very short list of pens to buy. The reason why I haven't bought one is because of the price point is a little bit off for me in, like, their, their, what, let's call it their entry-level gold nib fountain pen. And it's around 400-ish dollars. I'm not looking at this, so don't totally quote me on this, but let's just go with that. And the way those pens are built, they're stunning looking. They're really cool, classic, like acrylic. They have, like, this crosshatch pattern on some of them. Like, there's one of them that's orange. Of course, it speaks to me, but even, like, the black ones are really good, and they can have silver trim. And they're really pretty. They're made in the UK. And I just find them a stunning, stunning pen. They're really good quality. They're good craftsmanship. But what I can't, couldn't get past with, like, the base level gold nib pen was they're very light. And if I'm going to spend X amount of dollars, like, there's a feeling of substantialness I want. Yeah. When the pen is in my hand. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, some pens are able to mitigate that by doing things like adding a brass sleeve in the barrel. Like, this is not a piston-filling pen, the Notos I'm talking about. They now have a piston filler, but that's a different story. Um, there has to be, it basically felt like a $400 Pilot Prera. And, I wasn't comfortable with spending my money and having that thought in my head. Despite the fact that it's good looking, it's well made, it's a respected company, it's a nice, there's like nothing wrong with any of it. I just felt they were a little overpriced for what they were. that doesn't necessarily mean that matriculates through their entire product line. But when you look at something like the Spitfire, it's probably, it's probably more of an accurately priced pen at that price than their $400 pen because of, you know, what this is and the, the type of craftsmanship and the limitedness and the story of it is, it's still a lot of money. It's a lot of money. I'd be uncomfortable like going from a Pilot Metropolitan to a $1,700 a Noto without having at least to, a chance to try other like expensive fountain pens out. This is an all metal barrel. The Metropolitan's, you know, a brass barrel. It's got some weight to it but I don't know what this feels like. You know, there could be, I don't know what the balance is like. Like, I would have a hard time buying this pen sight unseen without at least holding it in my hand to see what the, the writing feel is like. That's a big, I think this is too much of a risk for Richard to take in my opinion. But, uh, that's, that's my roundabout Onodo conversation but I just, it's a really good question and there's no perfect answer but that's kind of my feelings on it.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I, I have no experience with this pen brand but from saying what you've said I can't disagree with you.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like, I will, I, like, probably next year I'll probably break down and buy an Onodo once I find one that's like for me and I feel good about the price. So, like, they just, um, our friend Anthony at UK Fountain Pens blogger, he just, he gets a lot of Onodos to review and they just recently introduced a piston filling option for their pens but they're charging two, it's a $250 upgrade for piston filling. Like, their pricing is, is a little, you know, it's a little plus for me. Like, it just doesn't, it's not quite adding up in my mental math of what I expect to pay for a pen that feels, feels the way that it does. So, we'll see. But they're, they're a really good company. Like, people who buy Onodos love their Onodos. And like, I wouldn't turn anyone off from buying an Onodo. They're a good quality brand.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of good quality brands, Myke.

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Brad Dowdy: Myke, I did something. Okay. I had to upgrade my blade purchase based on my now ever increasing household usage to the 16 blade order for Harry's blades. I'm all in. It's such a good deal, but I finally had to like, I've been holding off like for a while. I was like, yeah, four blade replacements and then, oh yeah, those are going fast and, you know, you know, my wife and daughter love the blades as well and the cool handles and then the blades start disappearing at a faster rate and so I ramped it up to the eight blades and just like two weeks ago I went to replace my blade which I don't have to do very often because they're such good blades and there were no blades left and so I ramped it up and ordered the 16 blade pack on this last version and I think I'm going to have to hide them from my daughter and dole them out, dole them out accordingly because they just tend to vanish but it's because they're that good.

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Brad Dowdy: Alright, you want me to read this next one? Go for it. This is from Maxwell. Maxwell, Hi, I was wondering if you could recommend a good pocket journal for me. I'm an aspiring author and I like to handwrite my first drafts in tiny notebooks and journals with fine nib platinum and pilot fountain pens. I have a couple of small notebooks and journals that I don't know the brand of but have worked fine with my fountain pens. The problem is that I've written in all of them and I'm starting a new project. Journals with pretty covers and magnet closures appeal to me. My local Barnes & Noble used to have a rotating display of them when I was in high school four years ago but when I had the money to buy some they no longer had them. This past January after listening to the Pen Addict podcast for half a year I got a Leuchtturm 1917 bullet journal and fell in love with the dot grid. So I'd probably prefer a plain looking dot grid journal to a pretty looking line journal. My handwriting is fairly small and light so I've not had any issue using fountain pens in any notebook or journal except for my one attempt at using one in a field notes. Suck it Myke. That wasn't really written in there but I put that in there. I don't know what it's like because nothing

Myke Hurley: doesn't matter to me.

Brad Dowdy: So the paper doesn't really matter to me. I have a large collection of those pretty covered notebooks they sell at back to school time that I occasionally use and haven't had any bleed using fountain pens in them except when I accidentally shook my pen too hard and it spit a bunch of ink on my page. Sorry if this was really rambly. It was not. It is exactly 100% up our alley here at the Pen Addict podcast and all I can think about in when you're looking for a pocket notebook that you're going to use your fountain pens in is I'm going to grab a Write Notepads book. I love those books. They handle fountain pens well. You can get them in dot grid and they're very sturdy. Like if you're an aspiring author and you're writing a lot they're very durable. They're going to handle you know back pockets or bags or backpacks or purses or anything like that and they're going to hold up well.

Brad Dowdy: Leuchterm if you do like that they make the hardcover they don't make a softcover small book but they make the hardcover small books like three and a half by five and a half. I tend not to use those. They tend to be too thick to write well with that hardcover but they do make a little bit larger softcover one. It's not really a pocket size notebook but it's closer to an A5 and they make some A6 size softcover pocket notebooks that you can get not pocket notebooks excuse me but just softcover dot grid notebooks that will at least fit in like in a bag or a backpack and they're not really really huge but if you're looking for like a strictly field note style pocket notebook to use with fountain pens I always choose write notepads.

Myke Hurley: This next question comes from Mariska who says I must admit I used to follow the show last year but I unfollowed because I found most of the podcast discussion way over my head maybe my experience was not advanced enough to benefit from the pen addict but then enter Adina who was a fountain pen newbie but no more and suddenly I found the podcast relevant again so Mariska thanks Adina because the pen show appearances were super useful Mariska is now resubscribed to the show so hello and a follower of Instagram which is lovely Mariska goes on with a question but thank you for that it's very nice I like to hear that very much

Brad Dowdy: yes that's great I love it

Myke Hurley: so Mariska says I own mostly steel nibs like the Pilot Capless Steel Nib and Kakuno Lamy Safari Cafe Copaccio and would like to branch out to gold nib fountain pens in particular I was researching the very same Sailor fountain pen that Adina bought the White Rose Gold Pro Gear as my net like is this going to be discontinued I don't know if it was ever if it was ever a standard line I don't know honestly it's difficult to tell a sailor sometimes then Adina purchased the Platinum Celluloid and preferred that one over the sailor then again on the most recent episode we both talked about how much you prefer Platinum nibs to sailor nibs my first question what was exactly the problem of Adina's sailor nib that needs reworking and could it perhaps be because of feedback would you both still steer me away from the sailor towards platinum if so why I like to write small Japanese fine medium nibs not as thin as Brad's maybe I enjoy both smooth nibs and nibs of feedback like in the Kovey Kopukio so let me just address this quickly like I don't actually think there was anything wrong particularly with Adina's nib it was tuned to somebody else's handwriting before she received it it had some work done on it

Brad Dowdy: yeah there was no technical or physical problem with the nib yeah and also necessarily plus it was fine

Myke Hurley: yeah exactly and again she's not really a fine nib person so like there was just it just wasn't the right nib for her and I also just wanted to maybe restate like I really love platinum nibs I also really love sailor nibs I don't think platinum nibs are always better than sailor nibs and I think they're pretty on par most of the time but if you sometimes a very good platinum nib can be better than a very good sailor nib I wouldn't steer you away from a particular pen like a particular sailor because platinums exist if you like a sailor then go for it because you will have a great experience but just be aware that like you probably want to start off with a stock nib and that was not what we were able to do because we couldn't find that pen anywhere second question how do you clean piston filled fountain pens like Montblanc's I can't seem to get them clean enough for storage yet many warn me to clean it thoroughly to keep the piston in perfect working condition

Brad Dowdy: so I'll take the second part first because it's pretty easy you just have to work through it you just have to continually fill and expel water from the piston filler until it runs clear you know sometimes you fill it halfway up and shake it vigorously and then expel the water bring it suck the water back up in again and just go I mean it might take you 20 times honestly to get it completely clean now if you're using an older pin you may want to fill it with water inside the piston and let it soak for a little bit just in case something has crudded up in there like you're saying if the mop block was from the 70s or 80s you know it's okay to fill that piston with water let it sit overnight and then expel it the next day and see if it runs clear so you're just wanting it to run clear and it's not it's going to take more than like three or four times it might take 10 or 15 or sometimes more so you just have to stick with it some pins I'm not totally familiar with Montblanc and their nib how they can if they can come out easily some are easier to clean like pelicans where you can remove the nib unit and it's easier to clean get more water flushed up in there but it's just a matter of continually filling the piston with water until it runs clean and let it soak overnight if you have to on the first question about platinum versus sailor I agree with pretty much everything Myke said it's not a like or dislike of either it's just it's basically you know the answer to that question was if those were your only two choices in the world what would you pick kind of thing it's like one's you know a 9 and one's a 9.1 out of 10 right they're both like virtually identical they do just feel different so some people do have a preference on feel platinums have more feedback to me than sailor nibs sailor nibs are firmer than platinum nibs so it depends on how you write what you enjoy I clearly enjoy them both I think sailor is one of the few medium nibs that I enjoy writing with because it's kind of the right size from a stock perspective but I do prefer kind of the finer platinums more than the finer sailors it tends to be but you know that's really picking nits at this point they're both excellent

Myke Hurley: and next question I think final question for this episode comes from Chris I have a strange question for you we'll find out about that Chris we'll find out about that I'm planning on setting off on a several years long project I want to hand write my own bible but I need help I am wondering what paper and ink I should use I would like a paper which I can write on both sides of the page it will allow time for the drink ink to dry before I flip it I would also like this paper not to be too thick as the bible has many words in it and I don't want a coffee table book but one which I theoretically carry around with me I'm thinking it should be either A4 or A5 size but will need to make some practice pages before I decide for good I would like to get it professionally bound after it's completed so perhaps an A4 would give them extra room to work with second question what ink should I use I would like an ink with archival properties it should be black or blue black or brown black and since this project will take a few years or longer to complete perhaps an ink that will be around for long unless you think I should probably buy two or three bottles when I start anyway I know this isn't your normal wheelhouse but perhaps you could help me get started because I don't know where to begin

Brad Dowdy: yeah it's kind of our wheelhouse right I feel like these are the questions you would ask and we've had a similar question multiple times before and I think the paper answer just the paper answer is pretty clear right I mean Tomoe River paper is practically bible thickness paper for what people traditionally think of a bible thickness paper

Myke Hurley: with quality and all that nonsense right like

Brad Dowdy: yeah it's going to handle your fountain pens you can write on both sides even though there will be some ghosting as in you'll be able to see the letters like it won't bleed through it won't feather but you're going to be able to see the back page of the handwriting just because of the thinness of the paper the real question is what notebook would this be and you can get loose sheets of Tomoe River if you want to go that route in a 5 or a 4 size if you wanted loose sheets but it doesn't it's in binding and afterwards makes me sound makes me think loose sheets are a good option but you also want to carry it around you should do which I think loose sheets makes it harder

Myke Hurley: well I think loose sheets in some kind of folder or binder because what if you don't have enough pages in a notebook

Brad Dowdy: yeah that's the kicker right we're never going to get no matter the size of the notebook we recommend to you like something like the cross field from Nanami or the Hippo Noto which is has even more pages it is pretty much Bible thickness it's like 500 something pages you're still not going to be able to copy as much as you think on those pages the way most Bibles are written in columns and the amount of words on a singular page is going to take you multiple notebooks and if you're looking for multiple notebooks that's fine but that's probably what it's going to take so maybe it's loose sheets and some type of folio pad it's a lot easier to get to Moe River and loose sheets and a four size than getting a bound a four size to Moe notebook even though you can find pads and things like that a five is pretty common to find for Tomoe River there's lots of brands like I said the cross field the Hippo Noto I know elemental paper has made one which is pretty cool so you know there are options out there for Tomoe River paper but I think that's the biggest answer is using that Tomoe River paper because you're going to be able to get a lot of pages in a singular book that's going to be the best from like a thickness and performance perspective

Myke Hurley: I think you're right yep yeah that's an interest in seems like a big that's a yeah

Brad Dowdy: job I get this question probably like twice a year really for the past few years yeah yeah yeah so it's either I'm going to rewrite I'm going to handwrite the Bible or I need to notate in my Bible what pen to use those are the two right very very common questions I get and just to answer the pen notation question that no one asked in this episode the Uniball Jetstream 0.38 is an awesome awesome notation in book pen so I got

Myke Hurley: I was a little bit confused at the start of the question and thought that Chris was writing their own Bible right like the Bible according to Chris it's like I don't know how to answer this question yeah that'd be a different story that's a very different thing all right that's it for this episode thank you so much to everybody for tuning in thank you to those of you who sent in a hashtag ask TPA question we'll be back next time we'll be doing horror stories on our next episode which I'm very excited about I always enjoy those thanks to ExpressVPN Pen Chalet and Harry's for their support you can find Brad online he is penaddict on Instagram I am i Myke I am Y K E Brad is also on Twitch twitch.tv slash penaddict and you go to penaddict dot com for Brad's work there as well we'll be back next time until then say goodbye Brad goodbye Brad