The Pen Addict 461/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	461
Title:	Shimmer is Now an Add-On
Release Date:	May 12th, 2021
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 461
Audio File:	Audio Episode 461
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 461
Length:	6363 min <br />1.05 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 461. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Ooni Pizza Ovens, and the Kanilea Pen Co. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.

Brad: Hey Myke, how's it going? Very good, my friend. How are you? Good, good. Are you properly caffeinated this morning?

Myke: I'm about 25% of the way there.

Brad: Oh, okay, yeah. I need to work on that too. I need a little caffeine boost, although I guess I am kind of amped up just because it's podcast day and that's what I do when it's time to talk about pens. Like out loud, like outside of my head, Myke, I get to say these words out loud. I think people listen, although they're not in this room currently.

Myke: I'm currently drinking. I've been trying a thing recently. It's known as a dirty chai. Mm-hmm. Latte. Gotcha, gotcha.

Brad: Very nice. Let me ask you though, are you drinking that nearby a sunset over the ocean?

Myke: I'm not, but I could be.

New Sailor Pro Gear Release

Brad: You could be, Myke. Could be? Could be, because there's a new Sailor Pro Gear, big release. Sailor Pro Gear caught me off guard this week, Sunset Over the Ocean. This is a worldwide limited sailor release in the vein of, you know, how they've done like the elements, the earth and the sky or the air. I think they called it in the ocean. And, you know, that's where I got my last king of pen, the big bright blue one, right? This is all the shops, all the product lines, all the people get this one, you know, from, you know, the Japanese market to the US market to the European market everywhere. What are your initial thoughts on this pen?

Myke: Um...

Brad: That's exactly correct. Again, two weeks in a row, Myke, you were exactly right.

Myke: It's funny how I do that. I like that they have a Pro Gear option. I like that the blue has some sparkly going on in there. I think it's a specific type of finish. Somebody contacted us about it. I'm sure we'll have more deets in a minute. Um... And I like that there's a red finial just because why not do something different, right? But, I mean, I don't know why it isn't like more of an orange than a red if it's a sunset, right? Yeah. Which definitely feels a little on the red side of a sunset. Um... But I would say overall it is a nice looking pen. Uh... It's not... It's just not one that does it for me, and I can't really tell you why, but I think that's sometimes the point. If you can't explain it immediately, it just hasn't landed with you.

Brad: Yeah, I think it doesn't hit with me as well because it's just like a collection of parts that we've seen before, right?

Myke: MetaShine, Brad. That's this...

Brad: MetaShine.

Myke: This finish of a very kind of like glittery embedded into the pen.

Brad: Right. So they did this color, the blue barrel color, like in the blue dwarf last year is maybe a little, little, little brighter. But, um, this maybe has a little more depth and maybe a little more translucency. But, you know, I... It's... Yeah. It's fine. Like, it's awesome. Like, if I didn't have any of these, I'd say this is awesome. If I have these, I like the ones I have better. You know, I think that's fair to say. Let me read you the little marketing copy, Myke, just so... Maybe this will change your mind. A beautiful ocean sunset at the end of the day, marking the passage of time and showing the promise of a new tomorrow at dawn. The setting sun reflected on the sea signifies change and transformation and reminds us that everything in life has an ending. It's kind of a downer. Why does it have to do that at the end? This is the official copy. This isn't run through Google Translate. This is the official doc. It's like, wow. Yeah. Beautiful sunset. Like, not a stitch of red in this orange sunset photo image. Not one pixel of red. And then you're going to die.

Myke: Yeah. I don't like how we guessed that until it's the end. It's a bit... It's a bit of a downer, Brad.

Brad: It's cool looking. If I was to go for this one, I'm... This would not be a king of pen version for me. I'd get one of the smaller versions. Smaller of the two versions. I tend to like those. But I'm also saying that as someone who has a blue king of pen.

Myke: Is this the first king of pen released since the price increase?

Brad: That's an interesting question, Myke. This is a partial price increase.

King of Pen Pricing Discussion

Myke: Okay.

Brad: This is... The king of pen pricing is actually what threw me off on this. Because I was like, oh, that's not the new king of pen price. So I went and looked at the pricing on these. Sailor, I don't even look at the price anymore, right? I know kind of the ballpark. We've gone over how they had like a 25% plus increase this year, which is fine. But these are listed lower than the new MSRPs that they came out with in 2021. But higher than previous versions, if that makes sense, right? So this is a non-existent price point release. So the standards... Let's just talk about the standards. That's the easiest one to... That's the main... Probably the main line pen, right? It's the middle price pen. So the MSRP on those is $450, which makes them what? $93.70? Is that right? So like 20% off of that. $360. $360. Sorry. I'm looking at the numbers here.

Myke: I can't do math on the flyers.

Brad: I was. I wasn't looking at the numbers, even though I have a link in the doc. So that makes them sell for $360, where all the... Like the North American Lemon Editions that came out, the Habanero, the red sparkly one with the 2021 edition, the MSRP on those is $490. And that was the big price increase push that they had, right? So those would be more like $380, right? $390 for those. And I'm just confused now. Like I don't care either way, but they raised the price, said, here's our new price across our product line for 2021. And then introduce a new edition at a lesser price point. It's like midway, right?

Myke: Between the old prices and the new prices. Mm-hmm.

Brad: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Myke: Yeah. Okay.

Brad: Yeah. I mean, I don't have any commentary on that. I don't want to be like price point guy, but now I'm just confused. Like I don't like to be confused when I'm like talking about products because now there's three active price points. Yeah. For just say like a Sailor Pro Gear standard. There are currently three price points because retailers aren't sold out of the previous editions at the previous price point. They have new limited editions that got hit with the full price increase. And then now this is a third price point for theoretically the same pen model. Now there could be like a quantity volume thing, but normally if you're going to do like a across the board price increase, it just is, right? There's not like a modification. Well, we're making, you know, 10,000 of these instead of 2,000 of these.

Myke: Maybe there's something, an argument that can be made to like materials, like depending on the materials used in the pen. Like Sailor don't have to have just one price for all of their products. Yeah. Right. Like if they use, I'm not saying that is what's happened here, but like, you know, if they use a different, if they use like a metal finial or whatever, it's going to cost more than if it's acrylic or whatever.

Brad: Right. And that's what I'm saying. You know, this one is a World Ride release. So they've, maybe they got, you know, some economy of scale with the pricing on this. I'm just saying it adds confusion to the consumer. Even though in the end, I fully don't believe it matters. I'm just like, that's interesting. And it's just another little thing. So a little weird. Like the pen, it'll do well. You know?

Myke: I can imagine this being one like the Lighthouse where I didn't want it. And then I saw it and was like, oh man, you know what? I wish I would have got that. 100%. 100%. I could imagine it. I could imagine the blue finish, like the sparkly finish, the Meta Shine, could have to it something quite cool looking that doesn't necessarily come across in the imagery. Like I could imagine that being the case. But just looking at this here, it isn't really one that floats my boat. Right.

Brad: And I'm a well-renowned orange guy, but like one of my favorite color combinations is different types of blues and reds together. But for something about this one, it's not hitting right in the imagery. But like if I saw it in person, I could see ending up with like the middle size one. I definitely don't see King of Pen in my future on this one. But I said that about the Tangerine too. And that was just, that was a really good decision. I really like that pen. So there you go. All right. So that's our sailor talk.

Myke: So the, we spoke about this a couple of weeks ago, the Lego member special that we have recorded is going to be published on May 13th, which is tomorrow as we're recording this. So most of you will be hearing this when it's either going to be out within 24 hours or it's already out when you're hearing it. So this is a special bonus episode that we do every year for RelayFM members. You can go to relay.fm membership to learn more and sign up. Or you can click the link that's in the show notes of this episode in your podcast app, and you'll be able to sign up and support this show. If you become a RelayFM member, not only do you get access to these extra special content shows, you also get access to some other stuff that we do, crossover shows. And we have a show called Backstage and Fusion that we do every month, which are just for RelayFM members. Backstage is me and Stephen talking you through our tips and tricks for starting a podcast of your own. Fusion combines multiple RelayFM hosts from different shows every month to talk about a topic. And you also get access to our RelayFM members Discord, which is a fantastic community full of wonderful people. It's a safe, moderated space. It's something that we really built into something wonderful over the last year with the help of all of our fine moderators there. And you will get access to our Lego special where me and Brad built the Paris set over, was it three and a half hours, I think is the length of the show?

Brad: About three and a half. We didn't kill each other. Got close, though. As shown by us being here today. Close. Showing up to work today. Close.

Myke: There are a couple of moments where I really lost my patience with you. It's a very fun episode, as always. And so you can go check it out. So yeah, Relay.fm membership to learn more about our membership. You can sign up on that page. Or if you just click the link in the podcast app, it's the very top link in your show notes. You'll be able to sign up and support the show. And we thank you all so much for your support if you do that.

Myke: All right, let's take our first break of this episode and thank Squarespace for their support of this show. They are the all-in-one platform to build your online presence and run your business. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace has you covered. They combine cutting-edge design with world-class engineering to make it easier than ever to establish your place online and make your ideas a reality. Squarespace has everything you need to create a beautiful and modern website. You start with professional design. The templates are beautiful. And you just drag and drop everything around. They have these wonderful tools to help make it your own. You customize the look and feel, the settings, even the products you have on sale if you want to run a store with Squarespace with just a few clicks. Everything's optimized for mobile as well, so your content automatically adjusts so it's going to look great on any device. One of my favorite features when designing a Squarespace website is in the designer itself, you can click these buttons to shrink the website, like to shrink the design view. So you can see like, okay, this is what it looks like in a desktop. I press a button, now it's tablet size, and I press another button, now it's phone size. So you can actually do all of that design work without needing to have a plethora of devices in front of you. It's really clever. With Squarespace, you'll also get free, unlimited hosting, top-of-the-line security, and dependable resources to help you succeed. There's nothing to patch, install, or upgrade. And they have award-winning 24-7 customer support as well. They'll let you quickly and easily grab a unique domain name. And they have everything you need for SEO and email marketing to get your ideas out there to people. You can use Squarespace to turn your big idea into a new website, showcase your work with their wonderful portfolio designs, publish your next blog post, promote your business, announce an upcoming event, and so much more. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict to sign up for a free trial with no credit card required. When you're ready to launch, just use the offer code penaddict, and you'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at squarespace.com slash penaddict, and use the offer code penaddict to check out to get 10% off your first purchase. And to show you support for this show, our thanks to Squarespace for their continued support of the penaddict and RelayFM.

Brad: One point you reminded me there about Squarespace that we never usually talk about is how seamlessly it works on mobile devices. Like, I don't have to do anything for my blog to just show up and be easy to use for anyone reading it on, you know, mobile devices. You're not having to zoom in.

Myke: You don't have buttons that don't work, like none of that stuff.

Brad: You don't even have to think about it. Yeah, it's just frictionless. Works perfectly. All right. My pen cases are not frictionless, Myke, because I've added friction to them by adding more pens to slide in and out of them. My experiment to last one fountain pen, I knew it would not last long. I knew it wouldn't. Like, it's a given. That's not how I roll.

Myke: No.

Myke's Ink-Up Routine

Brad: I made it like three, four days. I don't know if that's a record. But, like, I inked up. I cleaned all my pens so I could use my Namiki Yukari Milky Way, which we talked about recently. Mm-hmm. And I love that pen. It needs to be used. It's an important pen to me, personally. I just love it. It's just one of those quintessential me pens.

Brad: And I'm using it and using it. And all I'm thinking about when I'm using it is, well, I missed this pen, too. And I need this pen to do this thing. And I need this pen to review this thing. And it's just on and on. And so we're up to five inked fountain pens now, Myke. So I went from 10 to 1 to 5 in the span of, like, six days total. So, you know, whatever. Exponential growth. But it's because I have some really awesome pens that I miss. So aside from the Milky Way, which I inked up with Pilot Orozhuzuku Tsukiyo, which is a little bit... I don't know if brighter is the term than Shinkai. Maybe greener, but it's not a blue-black. But it's a really, really good bluish-green that's been the only... It's the perfect ink for the Milky Way. It's the only ink I've ever inked up the Milky Way with. And it just stays that way. Like, that's the one. So I'll clean it out and then redo it. The pen I really wanted to get inked up next is a pen I probably should review. And it's the Kasama Una Ultum. Which we've talked about on the show before. It's that Ultum material, which is that thick amber. Like, we saw Ian Schoen come out with some Ultum barrel pens recently. And this Kasama is just a really big, thick pen with a titanium torched grip section that's extra long. Like, it's a really lengthy grip section that's metal. And a super concave grip section in the grip area. And it's just kind of a fascinating pen to use. And on top of that, I bought it from Mark Backus. And it's got a Blade Turk grind on the M nib. So it's this kind of cool, not really architect, a more easier to write with architect nib. It'll give you a little bit of additional style in the horizontal lines than in the vertical lines. So there's a little bit of differentiation there. A little bit opposite of stub nib. And I ink that up with the Sailor 50 States Delaware. Because I haven't tried any of the Sailor 50 States inks yet. And I've had Delaware sitting here trying to figure out what to do. And it's one of those magenta-y purple ones with a green sheen. Which I really, really like. And, like, I don't need another one of these inks. I think I have, like, two or three of those inks already. But it's kind of a good fit for this Kasama. So between the Milky Way and the Kasama, like, those pens, like, I just love them. They're, like, my pens. They're the pens that I want to use, right? If, you know, for some reason, you know, I have to get rid of all the pens I own. And can pick, like, a handful to keep. Those two definitely make the list, right? Those are coming with me. They're my pens. They fit everything I like about a pen.

Brad: So then I needed a big, bulky, wide nib wet pen to do some writing with. Because I generally write small. And that's what the Milky Way writes small. The Kasama with that grind on a medium nib, it writes kind of a medium, fine to medium, fine line. I needed a big nib, which I always like. So I broke out my Nakaya Long writer. This is the black hairline one I think I've showed you a picture of. We've talked about it before. Bought it a couple years ago or maybe last year. It has, it had a broad nib when I bought it. And I took it right over again to Mark Bacchus. This is just very convenient at the Raleigh Pen Show when I bought it. And he put a stub nib on it. So this is like, this pen is hard to describe. Because it's way bigger than any pen that I normally use lengthwise. Right? The Kasama is much heavier. But the Nakaya is much longer. And it's kind of like a paintbrush. And I wanted to do some things with my writing to do that. And I also always have to have a pen with Robert Osterfire on Fire inked up. I just do. I know that's my own ink, but I love that ink. I'm not going to lie. For what reason? It's an awesome ink. I'm going to self-high five myself on that one. Okay. That was excellent. Excellent ink.

Myke: Don't do that too much, Brad.

Brad: I know. I know. It's perfect. I did break my wrist that one time.

Brad: Too aggressive high five. But that big, dark pen needed a bright ink coming out of it. So I used that.

Myke: Yep.

Brad: So as I go through this, I think a lot of you will be familiar with all the excuses we make to ink up these pens that we like. You don't have to have a really good excuse to go ink up another pen or to get out a marker or a pencil or a gel ink pen. This is what we do. We're pen addicts for a reason because we can't help ourselves because, you know, luckily in my case, I've gotten to experience a lot of things. And when I'm not getting to experience that thing and it's sitting right around the corner from me, well, all it takes is for me to stand up and go grab it like the spoke icon in purple and silver, which I've had sitting on my desk and I was using it to test out if long international ink cartridges, Myke. So you're familiar with the short international ink cartridges that come in, you know, like almost any pen you get, they'll just pop in a little ink cartridge, especially for like the smaller pens like Kaweco's. Well, you can actually get long cartridges from a few companies. And I had a Pelican Edelstein Tanzanite ink cartridge sitting here that I wanted to test how it fit inside the spoke icon because it's a cartridge converter pen. And I was certain it would fit, but I'd never physically tested it. So once I did saw that it fit, I was like, well, let's just think this bad boy up. And this is how you end up with like 50 pens inked because of a stupid test of trying to fit an ink cartridge into a pen barrel to see if it works. And now, well, that blue black would go nice with this purple and silver pen. And right, wouldn't it, Myke? Like, I feel like that's the right thing. And then, Myke, sometimes...

Myke: I feel like you were trying to explain this to me in a way to like somebody who won't understand. You know what I mean? Like, you know, and sometimes you're trying to explain this stuff to people and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, you don't get it. No, I get it.

Brad: I'm trying to make myself feel better at the same time and know that I'm racing towards 10 pens inked again and going to have to clean everything. I'm going to have to break out the scorched earth method again in like a matter of weeks at the rate I'm going because I had to ink up, Myke, the Twisby 580 AL Prussian Blue with a 1.1 millimeter steel stub nib to review the Pannonia Vatacor Vatacucor Cotton Candy ink, which it turned out to be an awesome ink, one of my new favorite inks. I love the color. Love the color. And that pen in that review is exactly what needs to happen. Yeah, it's kind of perfect. That's the pen for that review. It's like this muted blue with like a muted pink in a demonstrator and it just works. Like, that's the move.

Myke: As you can imagine, there was a conversation about this ink at home this morning.

Brad: I cannot wait. Like, that was on my list to ask. How did this conversation go? Because when I was reading, so Pannonia, the founder, it's in my article. I forget his name. I apologize right off the top of my head, but you can look it up while I'm rambling. It's Mate.

Myke: I don't know the right way to say that.

Brad: So he mentioned growing up, the only thing he ever saw for cotton candy color was white, which makes complete sense, right? It's made from white sugar. You know, all the stuff we see that's blue and pink is just all, you know, food coloring and dyes. And so he's like, I never saw pink cotton candy till I watched the Cartoon Network when I was a kid. And I was like, oh, cotton candy can be pink. So how did this conversation go at your household? Because the maker of the Pannonia ink is Romanian.

Myke: Yeah. It's a Romanian brand. So this is why I brought it up. I was like, oh, Brad's reviewed this Romanian ink. And I sent Odina a link to it because my wife, Odina, was also born in Romania. And we were just chatting about it. The Cartoon Network thing is particularly interesting to me because I feel like I hear from it also from Odina lots of stories about Cartoon Network and growing up. It seems like maybe more than in some parts of the world, it seemed to be quite formative for her. I would assume it's because it was the main kind of bridge to American culture. Because, you know, like communism fell in the early 90s in Romania. So they, you know, they had the revolution and it was a big deal as the rest of the world was able to start kind of coming in to what was then a previous like communist country. So I found it interesting. We were looking at it. The ink itself looks kind of cool. I just like to see it. I feel like I don't feel like there's a lot of Romanian companies in this hobby. So it was nice.

Brad: Yeah, it was really cool. And I'm very impressed with the ink. So I'm going to get some more to try, you know. So that, you know, normally a lot of times I'll do these and I'll keep them for a week or so, a week or two. Like if I've done an ink review and if it like really sticks, then it'll just kind of sit in the rotation for a while. And I think that's what's happened with this one. It's a really, really enjoyable ink and ink color and a good match in the pen.

Myke: Have you tried any other inks from this brand?

Brad: I haven't. But that's at the top of my list. Like as in I'll probably be ordering some this week. So looks like good colors. And he does something interesting where you can buy the ink or you can buy the ink and he'll add shimmer. Like it's a like it's an ass shimmers now like an add on, which I find hilarious.

Myke: I assume this is if you buy directly from them, right?

Brad: Yes, yes, yes, yes. Not the not like the wholesale to retail. But I think if you just buy directly, you can do that as far as I read. So that led me down the path. So those are my five pens inked. My excuses for inking them.

Brad: I'm very happy with the situation. And probably by next week, I'll have five more pens inked on top of these. And then a month from now, we will yell or I will yell about how I have too many pens inked up and we will rinse and repeat throughout the year and throughout the rest of our time here on the pen addict because this is what we do. Last little bit. Another reason why I can't ever just have one pen inked up is because for paper testing, it's important to have different fountain pen nibs and inks to test. So my fine pilot nib in the Namiki is only going to tell me so much about the different papers I'm using right now, which I'm testing in the Midori MD cotton pad and the Morimond Gliffy, which is the hardbound notebook companion to the Morimond Croquise that I was fawning over, you know, weeks ago. So Morimond sent me some of the Gliffys to test out. There's more testing to do. I need to do some side by side comparisons between the new Gliffy that's in these hardbound covers. It's really good for fountain pens. Like it's really good. It just feels different than the Croquise that I was just absolutely head over here. heels for, right? Like, which is fine. Like they can be different. I just want to be able to try to determine this.

Myke: Your expectation from what Morimond said to you is that it's the same paper in a different form, like in an actual notebook format, right?

Brad: I don't know that that was my crystal clear expectation. I was hoping that that was the case, but they call this product Gliffy and they call the other product Croquise. And is that because of the way they're bound or because of the paper inside? I think theoretically Morimond is saying 60 GSM cream paper is the same for both of these. And I'm trying to determine if that's actually the case to me right off the top of my head. It feels slightly different. Like the Gliffy page feels softer. And the thing that I loved about the Croquise paper, it was, is a very firm, kind of like a crispy feeling paper, which, um, you know, that's an official, official term. It's on their marketing mic. Um, right next to the sunset picture and death. Um, it's crispy. It's crispy. So yeah, I, I got to figure that out. So I have these all sitting side by side and I need like, like need air quote, need all these different fountain pens and inks and nib types to test it out properly, just to see the results that I'm getting. So, you know, that's, uh, that's how a pen addict escalates from one pen to five in the matter of days. And there's no ends in sight. Like I shouldn't fight these things, right? These are just not things we should ever fight. Like we do a podcast that has like, you know, we're on episode 461, Myke. I shouldn't worry how many pens I have inked up.

Cleaning and Maintaining Pens

Brad: All the pens, ink all the pens.

Myke: But that's what I do. But people tell me not to do that.

Brad: Well, no, there's a difference.

Myke: Next week, by the time we've recorded next week, my plan is to have done the, I don't know, biannual cleaning and refilling of everything.

Brad: Yeah. Ink all the pens, just clean them on occasion. That's the issue. Yeah. It's not the inking of. Okay.

Myke: This episode is brought to you by Uni Pizza Ovens, the world's number one pizza oven company. They make surprisingly small ovens that are powered by your choice of either wood, charcoal, or gas, letting you make restaurant quality pizza in your own backyard. Uni Pizza Ovens are incredibly easy to use and they're super portable. They're going to fit in any outside space. Uni Pizza Ovens can reach temperatures of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, 500 degrees Celsius, which lets you cook restaurant quality pizza in as little as 60 seconds. That high temperature is what you need to really make the best effort here to really get that incredible result is what's going to set the pizzas that you can make in an Uni Pizza oven apart from what you can make in a home oven. One of their most popular models is the Coda 16. This is a gas powered oven that can cook up to 16 inch pizzas with their innovative L-shaped burner. So it gives you even heat distribution across the whole surface of the pizza. Uni Pizza Ovens start from just $299 with free shipping to the US, UK, and EU with two of their most favorite coolest models being the multi-fueled Uni Carro. So you can choose between wood, charcoal, or gas for your pizza and the Coda 16. Uni also make an amazing app that can help you perfect your dough recipe and give you loads of pizza making tips. Brad, can you tell our listeners one of your Uni experiences?

Brad: You know what else you don't have to clean, Myke? You're a good Uni customer. You don't ever have to clean this oven because it is on fire and just burns all that stuff off of there.

Myke: Oh, yeah, yeah. You can just basically just dust, right? At the end of it. You just clean it up.

Brad: Yeah, it's just dust. And then whatever's left just adds flavor to the next pizza. That's part of having this brick oven style personal pizza oven. It's amazing that way. And the other cool thing is when I take the little laser temperature gauge, the little laser pointer, and that thing says 700 and something degrees, you just go, whoa. And you're like, there's no way. My pizza is going to be that dust. And you throw that pizza in there and like 30 seconds later, it's like perfect, man. It's like the best. It's the one, like one of the most unique products I have ever tried. And I just absolutely love it.

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Myke: So we had a RSTPA question. We're going to do some more in a minute. But this was one that I felt warranted maybe breaking out into just a discussion topic rather than a simple answer to the question. The question came from Jack, and Jack said, some pen shows seem to be planning to happen this year. What is the first pen show you will be attending?

Brad: I don't know. I'm not anxious to necessarily get back out there. And we've kind of covered this a little bit. I'm moderately tempted if a show is in driving distance, like maybe later this year, like fall, winter time. Yeah. I have no desire to travel through an airport or fly in an airplane, even though, you know, like all the science points to, you know, all the proper mitigation techniques and the way that the, you know, the airflow works on the planes, everything looks good. But it's just being around that many people when I don't have to is the real reason why. Like, I don't have to be there. So just wait. Like, why? Why rush? I, I, I'm not in a rush. Put it that way. Would I love to go to three pen shows between now and the end of the year? Absolutely. Like, I miss being out there. I miss seeing all my friends. I miss talking to the vendors. I miss hanging out at the hotel. But I don't have to be there for my job, right? So, you know, can I do my job better if I was there? Maybe. But like, I don't have to be there. So I'm not going to force anything. So that's why right now I have no shows on the calendar for the remaining of the year. Or theoretically that could change. I kind of doubt it will. But I, I'm open to that changing. But I don't know that it will. And it's certainly not going to be before this summer. Like, I'm talking like September, October, or later if something works out. Like, I'm not anxious to go to San Fran or DC or to any of the shows earlier in the summer than that. I'm just not ready for that yet. Just because I don't have to. Like, I'm, I'm okay.

Myke: I, like you, right, would love to be able to do these things. To go and do them. I can't imagine being this year any kind of large gathering thing. Conference, Penn Show. I can't imagine doing that this year. Next year seems very likely. You know, like, I'm not vaccinated yet. I'm hoping that before the end of this month I will have booked my first jab. And so we'll be fully vaccinated. I don't know, in like a, you know, a couple of months from now. Because we, we do it like 12 weeks apart here. So, you know, by kind of the end of the summer I should be good. I just don't think that the world will be in a place kind of in 2021 to pull off one of these things with complete success. And, you know, and, and without fear of, of people getting sick. Like, and also just from a comfort level for people of getting back to normal. Like, I could imagine by the end of the year, say in most places in the US and a lot of places here in the UK or in, you know, other countries in the world. That you would be able to do something like this. And it wouldn't be too tricky. But, you know, you're inviting travel from all over the place to these types of events. And I just think that it's maybe just a bit of a push. Like, more of a push than is needed. I think that if we just give it the best part of six months from now. Maybe a little bit longer. Kind of into 2022. I just think that it makes more sense to wait.

Brad: Yeah. And to backtrack on my comments. I'm saying this as someone who is fully vaccinated. I'm at both shots and I'm past like the waiting period. Like, I'm done.

Myke: There's societal norms that need to come back, right? Yeah. It hasn't been an incredibly long time. But it's been a long enough time that we all kind of just need to re-acclimatize a little bit.

Brad: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, I think the rest of the questions surrounding this are actually more interesting. Like, do we think there'll be a change long term with pin shows, like, going into the future? You know, do you think people say, let's just scrap this year, right? Let's say next year. Do you think people are going to be hesitant? Do you think the pin show calendar is going to remain full and the attendees and vendors are all going to want to attend? What are your thoughts on that?

Myke: Because the long term is dependent on the medium term. So, in theory, in the long term, there's no reason why we can't return to pre-2020 events and stuff like that, right? Yeah. There's always been sicknesses and illnesses and even pandemics, right? Like, it's depending in different parts of the world, I've had more kind of experience of this than others. But this just becomes a part of our lives if we get booster shots for coronavirus like we do for the flu, right? Like, it will just become a thing that we do, right? And it's just when you get your flu jab, you may also get a coronavirus booster. And that's just the way that we deal with this now into the future, which seems very doable. Yeah. So, in theory, from my perspective, I'm not a scientist or a doctor, in the long term, I don't see why we couldn't return. But the long term, I think, is dependent on the medium term. Because if either A, there is something else that happens, some other kind of delay that pushes it further, right? Like, we could still be having a rocky period for a while. We don't know yet. You know, the last 18 months, things have changed so rapidly at points, you know, in ways that you never would have expected. So, anything like that could still happen. But there's also kind of, like, if in the medium term, people don't want to do these things because societal norm changes, or vendors decide not to go because they think there won't be much of a market, it could reduce the amount of pen shows that are feasible. And if that reduces, then the long term changes because the medium term was affected. So, that's what I think it is, right? Because, like, as a vendor, are you going to take a gamble on cost for the first one that you go to? Like, could you go back too soon and there won't be that much of a market? Or could you go back too soon and everything gets shut down? Or maybe there's, like, a boom opportunity for those that are first because consumer spending is up. So, it's hard to make that decision, right? But that's what I think the decisions that people make kind of late 2021, early 2022 in regards to this specific thing, I think will dictate what happens going on after that.

Brad: Yeah, and I think the vendors are the ones with the real questions, right? Even though, like, I've been a vendor at shows, I consider myself more of an attendee, right? Like, I don't have to necessarily do it as a vendor. So, like, attendees can make a much simpler calculation than vendors do. And I think that's where some of the challenges are going to lie. I think, you know, next year, I think we're going to hope. I mean, I'm knocking on wood. Hopefully, we have a pretty normal year. And when shows are back and, you know, if, you know, the pandemic issues have gone by the majority of the wayside, like, I think shows will be fine and vendors will be fine and it'll be an enjoyable experience. I think maybe overall, like, the short term, maybe not medium term, but, like, I could see, you know, the weekend visitors being a little bit less as opposed to, like, the day trippers, right? Where we've always said, if you can go, make it a weekend, you know, come in Thursday night or Friday morning and leave Sunday afternoon. You know, that might be a few less, but maybe that wasn't a huge number anyway. I don't know. That's just my thoughts. I think it'll get back to mostly normal next year is at least my hope and desire. So, you know, just the vendors, I think, have the biggest challenge just from a cost perspective.

Myke: Because there's a cost, right? There's costs in multiple ways. You've got to get there, but then you're also bringing all this stock and stuff. And, you know, it becomes, it's quite an expensive affair. You've got to hope that you'll make your money back. It's not really the cost of the table so much, I feel like. No, no, no. It's the other costs surrounding it. That's minuscule.

Brad: Yeah. Yep.

Myke: Yep. Yeah, and I don't know.

Brad: So, it's a good question. We'll keep addressing this probably through the year. We'll probably have this come up a few more times, especially once shows start to happen again. We'll get some reports from people who were there and what was it like. Yeah, I'm really. The changes that you saw.

Future of Pen Shows Post-Pandemic

Myke: I'm really intrigued to see how some of these pen shows go. To my understanding, there are some in this summer, right?

Brad: Yeah. So, Raleigh is happening in June sometime, but that's a smaller show. That seems way too early. Yeah. Which is, you know, it is pretty early. But the two big shows are San Francisco and Washington, D.C. They're both in August. So, that's when we'll see. And then I think Chicago is in September.

Myke: Yeah. August, September feels to me like the very earliest that something like this could happen. Yeah. But to me, for my personal taste, it's still too soon. I wouldn't go.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, if I lived in San Francisco, would I make, do a day trip or like a spend, plan on an afternoon there? Yeah. But I'm, me, I'm not traveling across country to go to San Francisco in August. Mm-hmm. Right. I think those are the differences where we're at now. Where next year, you know, that calculation will probably be different.

Myke: Yeah. It's going to be an interesting one to track.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. You know why, Myke? Why? It's interesting because I can buy some pretty cool pens online too.

Myke: Oh, look at you. You're so smart. Look at that. It's beautiful. This episode is very kindly brought to you by the Canalea Penco. Canalea Penco make stunningly beautiful pens inspired by images of Hawaii. Canalea's founders, Hugh and Carol, believe that these locations can help recharge our spirit and connect us with nature and they embody that in their products. The execution of these pens, though, is what truly sets them apart from the rest. Every single Canalea Pen is handmade in a process that means that no two pens are ever going to look alike and every nib is tuned before it ships to a customer. So Hugh of Hugh and Carol make sure that every single nib works great. So you're going to get something that's perfect and unique just for you. And we're going to remind you about something that they've got right now, which is truly very special. To celebrate their fifth anniversary, Canalea have created the Honokalani Mailei Lei. This design of the pen that they've got here is really fantastic. It is inspired by Hugh and Carol's first ever trip to Hawaii. It's based on these stunning visuals of Honokalani Beach with crystal blue waters and glistening black sand. And these elements are captured beautifully in this pen, which has these wonderful clear like parts of the blue acrylic with these beautiful black like kind of rock like sand kind of ribbons, I think is the way we described it before that kind of flow through the body of the pen. You should go to their website and look at it. It's fantastic. But what makes this pen even more special is the band that they have around the cap. It's designed to evoke a lei made of Mailei leaves crafted in Argentium silver. A Mailei leaf lei is used to signify special events in one's life, which makes it the very perfect accompaniment for Canalea's fifth anniversary pen. This model featuring the Mailei lei band is only offered in Canalea's classic style of pens. It's got like the larger cap to the body. But the Honokalani colorway itself is also offered in the classic pinched and classic slim models as well. So Canalea pens feature Yowa number six nibs and you can buy steel or 18 karat gold nibs directly from Canalea. They offer sizes from extra fine all the way to 1.1 millimeter stub. And every pen ships in a beautifully packaged keepsake box. There are also many more beautiful models of Canalea pen for you to check out. There truly is one for everybody. If you order now both the Honokalani Mailei lei with or without the band so that you can get the Honokalani as well, will be shipped within four weeks. And a portion of every sale will be donated to the Maui food bank and a homelessness resource center in Hawaii as well. Go and see for yourself right now at Canalea pen co.com. That's Canalea pen co.com to choose your aloha today. And Canalea also wanted us to send a special thank you to listeners of this show for the wonderful reception for the Honokalani so far and for all of the messages they've received congratulating them on their anniversary. Brad, I have not been able to put this pen down. I'm using it right now. I have fallen in love with it.

Brad: Here's what I want to say. And this is a general, well, it's not general, it's specific to the Honokalani. So Canalea doesn't make pens. They execute on a vision and they execute on a story and they try to tell that. And I think this pen is one of the best executed in quite some time. And that's saying a lot because they're all generally executed very, very well for what story and vision they're trying to tell. This pen feels like I have the ocean in my hands and just dug my fist through a big, big pile of black sand. It looks like I'm right there. It's really cool. I love this pen. I think it's exceptional. They did a great job with it. I think it's one of the best executed in some time.

Myke: Yeah. Something I didn't mention on that note. When I first opened this pen, I opened the pen box before I looked at the related materials. And when I took it out, I was like, oh, that's like black rock faces in a blue ocean. And I looked at the image and I was like, yeah, that's completely correct. That's exactly what the image is. So that was quite an interesting experience. So our thanks to Canalea Pen Co. for the support of the show. You should go check out their wonderful pens right now, especially this new one. Let's round out today's episode with some hashtag ask TPA questions. First one comes from Winter Charm from the Relay FM members discord. I currently have a Lamy 2000 extra fine and was wondering if anyone had ink recommendations for it. As my pilot Hiroshizuku Kompeki is finally running low. So it's time for another ink. I want something fancy that stands out a bit, but it's okay to be used in a work environment. So not too colorful. I'm hoping for maybe a gray ink that has some kind of fun splash to it, but also won't jam an extra fine nib. So nothing too shiny, but a tiny bit of sheen is okay. What do you got, Brad?

Brad: So gray is traditionally a tough ink color to get exactly what you're looking for in an ink, right? So you can get like a good standard gray that's like a good writing ink. And it's like, oh yes, this is gray and it seems fine. Or you can get these grays that have all these weird offshoots and almost like these pastel-y undertones and just some wild, wild stuff. The best thing I can tell you if you're looking for a gray for the Lamy 2000, which is, I think it's a really, really good choice to be honest. Go to Kelly's blog at Mountain of Ink. And I'll put the link directly to the gray ink page. So, and I think there's two inks in here that I've-

Myke: Can I just pause you for a second and just once again underscore how incredible a resource Mountain of Ink is, the website? It's so good.

Brad: Yeah. I brag on her every week in refill. Like she does, she's really exceptional. Kelly's just the best.

Myke: Kelly provides a service to the pen community.

Brad: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Brad: So yeah, so she has a gray ink page and you can do this for any color. And there were two that stood out to me and I'm just saying the ones that I've used. You can go and sort through all these reviews. Click on this, on the swab, take you to the review. The Diamond Earl Gray is a darker gray ink, which I think is really, really good for work, right? It may not have this ultra character type of stuff that you want, but it's a good gray, good shading. It's dark. It's going to be dark enough to read at work. The second one is an ink that surprised me when I use it. It's Robert Oster, Australian Opal Gray. It's a little bit lighter than the Diamond Earl Gray, but it has some interesting characteristics to where you get some like purple undertones and some just really interesting looks. So go check those out and get some ideas from there. But those are two that I've used that I would certainly recommend and that would work in the Lamy 2000. I think the Earl Gray might be a better choice just from a readability and an extra fine nib. But if you had a broader nib, the Australian Opal Gray might be a good choice.

Myke: Let's do another question about the Lamy 2000. It comes from D Green. Hypothetically, this means it's not hypothetical. Hypothetically, if a new to you Lamy 2000 find was quickly becoming a favorite, even though it wrote a little wide, but it took a tumble and then wrote slightly broader and more scratchy. Who would you send it to? To get it writing perfectly again?

Brad: Number one, I like all these Lamy 2000 questions. Number two, you're in pretty good shape, not because you dropped and broke your pen, theoretically, hypothetically. But if, say, if someone were to do this, that's a decent enough pen and a pen that a lot of people have experience with that you could send it to almost anyone to get it taken care of. So I don't know where D Green lives, but, you know, if you're on the East Coast of the United States, for example, you could send it to Mark Bacchus. If you're on the West Coast, you know, you could send it to Gina at Custom Nib Studio. If you're in Europe, you could get in touch with Applebaum and have Annabelle take a look at it. And so, you know, tell me where you are, email me, and I can give you some specifics. But, like, there's so many people I would recommend for this work because I don't think it would be a massive challenge to get this fixed, especially from what you're saying. This would actually be an easy fix for anyone, I believe.

Myke: All right, Compasaurus2 asks. It's funny that there is another Compasaurus. Anyway, new to fountain pens, but enjoying them immensely. My pilot Metro seems to be unscrewing itself. Am I doing something wrong? Also, how do you feel about demonstrator pens?

Brad: So the Metro, the only thing I can think of is the Metro is a snap cap. And if you're uncapping it but putting a twist into it, that could be, like, a telling factor. Otherwise, you shouldn't be doing anything wrong. That threading is strong enough to hold tight while you're writing with it, right? Unless for some reason you have, like, an ultra, you know, pressure handwriting that could cause some type of tension there. But I really, really doubt that's the issue. I bet it's some form of twisting when uncapping. Because I think, am I, now I'm second-guessing myself. Do those actually have a snap cap? I think they do. So that would be my guess. Otherwise, you're probably doing something wrong. Because that should not be happening.

Myke: It's the way you're storing it, right? Like, there's something going on with the way that it's being stored.

Brad: Yeah, like, if you put it in a, like, in an active, if it's actively moved, like, in a pants pocket, right? Where you clip it and it's always going to be slightly moving. Then, yeah, it might get a little bit loose. So how do you feel about demonstrator pins? Give me all the demonstrator pins. I'm 100% in demonstrators. I understand why people don't like them. I'm on the opposite end of the ledger. I could have every pin be a demonstrator, just about. I love them.

Myke: All right. Next question comes from Side Rose, who asks, if you were to pick, this one was pretty much for me, but if you were to pick a specific ink to sponsor a Formula One team, who would you pick? I'll first go with Monteverdi, California Teal for Aston Martin. I was, at first, frustrated to see a California ink sponsoring Aston Martin, who is very much a British team. But then when I looked at the ink itself, it's kind of a green of a pink sheen, which is, that's exactly Aston Martin's colorway this year. I have two answers. I was thinking about this for, I think, too long this morning, as I was preparing for the show. So, one is kind of a joke. Actually, I have three. One is kind of a joke. This is probably one for F1 fans, which is, considering Ferraris seem to love bright green so much, I'll give them some Ackerman 28, because clearly they love bright green now. This is a joke, which is dead for Brad, but it's very… Yeah, I got nothing. But F1 fans will get it. Fire on Fire for McLaren. McLaren's papaya orange, they call it, but I think a good orange ink they need. And I would go with Sailor Ink Studio 223 for Mercedes, because it is a really nice gray ink, which has got some, like, purple-green in it, which would look particularly good on Lewis Hamilton's car, because they are a gray and black. The livery of the car is gray and black. Mostly black now, but it's got some gray, and it used to be more silvery gray than recently. They changed it for a good reason over the last couple of years. But Lewis wears… He has a lot of purple in his helmet, because he's sponsored by Monster, I think, is the reason for that. And so, that would work very well for him. So, now my three.

Brad: I love… That was my favorite one, because I went and looked at that ink, and, like, I went and looked at the car. So, you're right. Like, I know F1 from, like, a headline perspective, right? Like, I recognize, like, three of the driver's names and, you know, some of the teams. So, I went and looked at the F1 team colors. Like, they have, like, all the cars, like, on a page.

Myke: So, if you look on that website that you've put in the notes, right? So, you've got all the colors. They've got all the cars here. You see Ferrari. Yeah. It's number four on this list. It's all red, right? Click. Yeah. Click it. And take a look at the actual picture.

Myke: And they've got that big green M. So, there's a couple of things about this. Oh, wow. Right. Here's some controversial stuff for this. So, one…

Brad: And it's got an arrow in it.

Myke: Yeah. Well, one, you'll notice that it's not in the actual official coloring, because they can only have this in certain places. Because this is a company called, or an organization called Mission Win Now, which is one of the worst logos ever created in all of human history, because it just looks like Mission Win Now. It's so bad. Like, their actual written out logo. And Mission Win Now is a collaboration effort between Ferrari and Philip Morris, the tobacco company. Now, tobacco companies used to be the big sponsors for Formula One. Sure. Right? But when tobacco… Then tobacco got outlawed for advertising. Right? You can't advertise tobacco anymore. So, that was a big loss, actually, for Formula One. So, Philip Morris and Ferrari created this company, which is really nebulous of, like, fostering innovations for the future. But they don't really seem to do anything. Like, I can't… But so, they've created this thing together, and for some reason, an incredibly unknown reason, they decided that they were going to make the Mission Win Now coloring on the Ferrari this year bright green, which is horrific. Yeah. But also, it's not on the, like, official livery of the car. I think, one, because it's so ugly, like on all the imagery. But two, they actually cannot have this logo in every part of the world. There are some parts of the world where they take it off.

Myke: Terrible. That is terrible. Ruined the Ferrari car this year.

Brad: I mean, if you're going to make it that bad, at least, like, at least make it Italian green. Right? Like, make it the Italian flag green or something. Yeah. Yeah, actually, they could have gone away with that. It's just a bad logo and a bad location and a bad color. Right? Yeah. It's just a bad design decision. So, I looked at this. I looked at the main page, right? The 1 through 10 team list. I couldn't really think of any inks, but I thought of two pin things right off hand. One, the McLaren that you did the Fire on Fire ink. Like, just the main page image looks exactly like the roadie Bondi to me, which is a blue and orange pin. And that's, like, all I see when I look at that car. And second, if a pin company were to sponsor, like, to be the headline sponsor, not just, like, a side sponsor, of any team or any car, this Alfa Tari car, the way they have their logo looks like it could be something from Mont Blanc. Like, I could see a Mont Blanc logo being, you know, swapped out for Alfa Tari's main logo here on that car that looks like a Mont Blanc car to me. So, that's my takeaways from this. But I wish I, F1's one of those things that, like, I might slow roll into in a few years like I did soccer. Let me tell you. But I can only do so many things at a time.

Myke: I mean, if you're intrigued, watch Drive to Survive, the documentary on Netflix. Because that's what's getting so many people like us hooked on the sport now.

Brad: Exactly. Exactly. So, no, that's all I've heard. And I just haven't had time to do it. And, like, I'm super tempted. Just like I was super tempted by soccer and fell in head over heels. I know I would get that way with the way F1 works and operates, too. So, yeah, be cool.

Myke: And then let's bring this right back around to the beginning of the episode. All right. Given Sailor's recent price increases to the small and medium-sized pens, does that change their order in your top five 100 to 200 and 200-plus categories?

Brad: Absolutely. So, I haven't looked at these lists in a little bit. And they are ripe for disruption now. And that was the thing always with these lists is there wasn't a lot of change in this list because there wasn't a lot of movement or there was nothing new that necessarily came and took out these spots. So, you know, looking at the top five fountain pens from 100 to 200, it's the Platinum 30. This is what I had them ranked one through five. So, I had the Platinum 3776, the Sailor 1911 Standard, which is the small one, the Pilot Vanishing Point, the Lamy 2000, and the Pelican M205. So, this is a wide range. And there's a lot of options from 100 to 200. That's almost too big of a range. Sailor 1911 and Standard would be out completely because they're not in that price point anymore. Yeah, I think Platinum 3776 is still the best, probably in that range. But they're one price increase away from being over $200, right? Like, they're up to $180 something now, $188 maybe, where before they were in like $160s, something like that. So, you know, and...

Myke: I think my question to you is do you revise the entrance in the categories or do you revise the category amounts?

Brad: I think it's both. Like, I wouldn't revise the amounts to forcibly fit groups, right? I would revise the amounts because that's what the market says is a popular range now. Yep. Right? So, like, I think this range should probably...

Myke: If all the pens that were $200 are now $220, then... Right. You know what? Like, the market's changed.

Brad: Right. So, this range should almost be $150 to $300. Because sub $150, the only one in this list is the M205 now. Every other one has increased in price. Some all the way over $200. The others on their way, right? So, I think this is actually a bracket change. Um, and even then, like, the Sailor 1911 standard would not be on that list. Um, you gotta include things like the Leonardo Memento Zero. You know? Things like that. And then you probably still keep, like, the Vanishing Point and the Lamy 2000. Just because of what this list is trying to say. Um, you know, it's not a personal preference list. It's what, like, I would recommend in this list to people, you know, starting out in this hobby. And then that shifts the $200 to $500 price range as well, right? Like, the... Like, is that the proper... I've never liked that price range anyway. Because there's so much variance in there. And you're paying for different things. Because in that wide of a range of price, it's, like, the Pilot Custom 823 and everything else, to be perfectly honest. Right. In that price range. Which, that would still be the same. But, like, would I add something like the Montegrappa Mia or the Montegrappa in there? And the answer is yes. One of those would get added in that list. Because I think that's just a good recommendation pin to just jump straight into, you know, a pin at that price point that would give you a good experience, right? That's what I'm trying to solve. That's the question I'm trying to answer with these lists. It's, like, okay, I'm going into this price point. What's gonna... Where am I gonna get my money's worth and have that level of experience? And, you know, I think some of this stuff needs to be switched around.

Brad: And Sailor would probably make the second list. But I don't know if it would be... It might crack the end of it. You know, because I think you're starting to have a different value proposition for a $400 Sailor Pro gear than a, you know, $300 Sailor Pro gear. So, you know, it's something to think about and something I should explore. I need to explore a little bit more because I think it's time that these lists got shook up a little bit. Those two lists in particular.

Myke: All right. If you would like to send in a question for a future episode of the show, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA. Or you can use question mark AskTPA in the RelayFM members Discord. If you become a RelayFM member, go to Relay.fm membership or click the link in the show notes. You can sign up. You will get access to the Discord. Plus our wonderful specials, including me and Brad trying to build a Lego set for three and a half hours where I have the instructions and he has the pieces. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. Maybe you want to build along with us. Maybe you just want us on in the background and have that wonderful sense of joy and mild frustration for a few hours in your life. It's a big fun time. You can find our links for this episode at Relay.fm slash PenAddict slash 461. You can find Brad online at PenAddict.com. He is at Dowdeers. I'm on Twitter and at PenAddict on Instagram. Brad streams live on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. Eastern time over at Twitch.tv slash PenAddict. I'm at iMike, I-M-Y-K-E on Twitter and Instagram. I stream live every Friday over at Myke.Live where I build custom mechanical keyboards. You can go and follow me there as well. We'll be back next time. Thank you again to Canaleya, Penco, Uni, and Squarespace for their support of this episode. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad: Goodbye, Brad.