The Pen Addict 515/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	515
Title:	Peter Piper Picked A Pen of Pepper
Release Date:	May 25th, 2022
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 515
Audio File:	Audio Episode 515
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 515
Length:	6060 min <br />1 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 515. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Trade. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.

Brad: Hello Myke Hurley, how are you?

Myke: I'm good my friend, how are you?

Brad: I'm good, I am hanging in there. I am looking at pens, talking with pens, writing with pens, and enjoying my pens and I would like to talk to you about all of them. In one show, we're going to talk about literally every pen I own.

Myke: Alright, how are we going to do that?

Brad: It's like, I don't think I'm ready for this, nor is it accurate based on what's in this show document.

Myke: I know what's going on here.

Box Discussion

Brad: Yeah, so I got my big boy pen box, Myke. I got my Toyocacraft pen box 100, and by 100 they mean it holds 100 pens.

Myke: Yeah, I've been seeing this in Refill, your wonderful newsletter, and of course on Instagram. How did you find this?

Brad: People have been sharing them with me for a while. So, this brand, in the last couple years, I think they came to San Francisco Pen Show last year maybe. And the people who had purchased them or ordered from them or worked with them all sung their praises. You know, of craftsmanship, you know, it's a Japanese company where they hand make all these pen boxes. And, you know, they do a lot of different work, but not just pen boxes. But obviously, that's, you know, one of their focuses is the pen box. It's not like a one-off thing, like it's a big part of their company. And so, it had always been on my mind, you know, to, hey, I'll eventually get something like this. But, you know, deciding what, how big, you know, what type of style, how I'm going to use it. You know, those things take a while, right? Like I talk about when I make like the big decisions, I tend to go pretty slow. And then it just kind of works itself out into, hey, this is the one we're going to do. So, I went with the pen box 100 because I am going to, as asinine as this sounds, I am going to limit my personal pen collection to 100 pens. Which, we're not going to get in that today because that could be the entire show.

Myke: Yeah, I want to, because obviously, I want to dig into this. Like genuinely, I mean, I don't know how you feel about this. I would like to do a series of episodes where we detail the entire 100.

Brad: Yeah, I think we can do that. We will get there. But like, it's going to be a process. Just like buying the box was, you know, a process. And now how I'm going to use it is going to be a process. How I'm going to manage my personal library of pens is going to be a process. So, yeah, you will be hearing about this a lot.

Myke: And this is just like, this is 100 fountain pens, right?

Brad: Yes. Yeah. You know, there's going to be, there's rules.

Myke: We're not talking about Sakura Pigma Microns or whatever. No, no.

Brad: This is 100. At first, I said any pen with a nib, you know, like a fountain pen nib. But it's actually going to, there is going to be some like price limitations, you know, like over $50 or something like that, right? Because there's just an absolute pile of, you know, Twisbees and Safaris and Kaweco Sports and things like that, that I got to figure out what I'm going to do with. But the overarching theme is if I'm going to keep an expensive pen, I have to be willing to use it. So I need to, I need to sell the ones that I don't. And I've been doing that for years now.

Myke: I love this. This is one in, one out, man. Like this is an excellent system. You are inspiring me here. I have followed this account because from a craftspersonship perspective, this just looks like an absolutely stunning thing to own.

Brad: Yeah. If you don't want to spend money, don't go to Toyoka Crafts Instagram or website because you just look at that and just kind of drool. Like it's really, really nice. We'll have links in the show notes. You know, I have a link to me starting to fill up my box. What's funny is I think my boxes on their Instagram prior to shipping, there's a link in the show notes we'll have. Yeah, you can see it. It's the color, right? Mine's the one on the left of this image we'll have in the show notes. There's two identical exterior boxes, but there are the color trays, the cloth trays you can get. You can pick which colors you want, including picking a different color for each tray. And mine is the exact colors of the one on the left in the exact order that they're placed into the box. Therefore, I'm pretty sure that that is my box on their Instagram page there.

Myke: Baby. I just saw how much that thing cost.

Brad: They are very expensive. The shipping must be obscene. The shipping alone was about $140.

Myke: Okay. So you're looking at somewhere kind of all in about $600, $700.

Brad: It was, yeah, north of $700.

Myke: Now, what I will say, value-wise, right? You think about stuff, a lot of money. There are a lot of pens, individual pens going into this that cost $1 in $700, right? Sure, sure. And this is like really as incredible cross-personship as these pens are, right? Yeah. In some cases, more than, you know?

Heirloom Pens

Brad: The one thing I have never done in all my years of discussing pens is say that I own like an heirloom pen, right? I just don't believe in that thought process for my pens. I believe they're tools and they're enjoyable and I love them. But this is like an heirloom piece of furniture.

Myke: I think for something to be an heirloom, it has to be pretty substantial. In my mind, I don't really think a pen would be that. But yeah, so I'm going to buy, oh my God, this website. Oh my God.

Brad: I told you not to do it. Oh, it's too late. It's too late for me now. Yeah, yeah. Maybe you should come to the San Francisco pen show and then buy one to fly back with.

Myke: That would probably be cheaper. It's just like, oh, you could tell me I can bring an extra piece of carry-on luggage. Right, right, right. Here it is. I should put some snacks in there.

Brad: So I did an unboxing. We'll link that in there. It was literally a box and a box and a box to ship this from Japan to me. So the whole process of ordering was great. It was easy. It was simple. We'll talk about it more as we talk more about this box. But yeah, it's going to be an interesting project. The first thing I need to do is figure out which pens I need to sell to pay for this box. So that is first on the agenda.

Myke: I mean, the thing for me that would be a shame, and they do actually have some products that alleviate this, is you can't see what's in there. But if it's 100 pens, I mean, what else are you going to do, right?

Brad: Right. Yeah, there's plenty of boxes with windows. And those, to me, are singular. In the way I would like to use things, I would get a singular box with a window if that's what I wanted, right? There's no need for me to have a window on top of the 100-pen box or to buy a 60-pen box with three trays and a glass top. I like that one.

Myke: There's a 40 and a 60. So for me, it's your favorite 10 or whatever goes on top, and then the rest can go storage underneath. I like that. Or that you could rotate them around, stuff like that would be kind of fun.

Brad: Yeah. No. So this is going to be fun. So I started filling it up, and I'm just scratching the surface on this. We will be talking about this a lot over probably the next year, at least. At least throughout this year, maybe on into next year. It's just going to be a frequent recurring theme of how to reign in my library of pens while still admitting to myself that I own an absolutely absurd amount of pens, right? So it's a balance. It's a balance. One of the ways I'm going to help pay for this, Myke, is I launched a pen, and I'm just going to go ahead and need to get this out of the way about the order of the naming of the Pen Addict collaboration with Opus 88. So did I do it right or wrong? I don't know.

Myke: This is a very good-looking pen. This is a very, very good-looking pen. Yeah, you did it right here. I'll tell you that. Okay. The clear part, that's what sells it for me. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad: That's what everyone's talking about, the clear part. So Opus 88 is a brand that has kind of been on the rise in our community. They make a very affordable, it's not quite the term, but even we're talking like a $100 pen, right? It's very, very expensive, but reasonably priced compared to a lot of other things. And it adds value by having this built-in eyedropper safety system that most pens, you know, don't have, at least in this price range, or do they at least attempt to do. So...

Myke: Oh, man, the finial's sick. I hadn't seen a picture of the finial yet.

Brad: It's super subtle, right? Yeah. And it's kind of got some depth to it. Like, you don't... Like, this is a... It's not a loud pen because it's like bright translucent orange, like, which, of course, that's what it is. But, like, the additions I could have made to it, like, are very subtle, right? Like, I opted not to put, like, any Pen Addict stuff on the barrel, like, where the Opus branding is on the cap. They're like, do you want the Pen Addict to go there? I was like, no, let's just leave it with the finial on the top. And, like, I... This turned out so good. I'm very happy with it. You know, I was concerned about writing the Pen Addict X Opus 88 Halo. That's what I was worried about in the beginning. Like, if I... If that was going to set you down a path. But that's how the box packaging says it that way. So, I wrote it the same as what's on the packaging. But, yeah, I'm really, really happy with this pen. I had 200 of them in this batch. It's not necessarily limited. It doesn't mean I... I'm not guaranteeing I'm going to make more of these sell out. I probably won't.

Brad: And, you know, it's been off to the races since I launched them on Saturday to Pen Addict members. And I just wanted to point this out if anyone's interested. And it's a really, really cool pen. And you should become a Pen Addict member to get a super, super fat discount on this pen. On this already well-priced pen, you can really get it into a nice price range, if you will, Myke.

Myke: I don't think I've seen the discount. I haven't got my inboxes horrific, so I haven't gotten it wrong. Oh, man, that's a good discount.

Brad: Yeah. So, like, it's what we do for, you know, the Pen Addict members and their support to, you know, give back, you know, do something fun. And, you know, it's, you know, make a little bit money on it. But, you know, it's mostly, like, a fun project to get cool things into people's hands that want cool things. So, yeah. I had fun doing this, and Opus was just a joy to work with. One of the most efficient processes that I've ever worked on in regards of, like, you know, collaborating on a product. Like, this was just smooth, smooth from beginning to end. It was great. So, yeah. There you go.

Myke: Brad.

Brad’s Toyoka Crafts Box

Brad: Yeah. Brad. Brad. This is your baby right now. Brad. You sent this to me, so you have to talk about it.

Myke: What is Sailor doing, man? You told me. So, this thing just popped up a couple of days ago. Out of the ether. The Sailor Pro Gear or Sailor Professional Gear Knight to E4 Fountain Pen. The first in the Checkmate series by Sailor. So, I love this. It's like, here's two things that apparently exist in the world that I didn't know anything about. I didn't know this pen was coming. I didn't know it was a Checkmate series. This is a chess-themed pen. I don't care about that, right? Like, whatever. You know what I mean? Like, I don't care about it being chess-themed. The design of this pen is one of the best-looking Sailor pens I've ever seen.

Brad: This is what I've been looking for, like, from Sailor North America. This is where it's coming from. This is a North American exclusive. I've banged the drum for metal sections for a long time.

Brad: And hopefully, you like to see them kind of get mixed into any, like, the limited release. And then, you know, not everything has to be metal section. Not everything has to be standard. But, like, getting them mixed in. Because I like the metal section Sailor pens the best. They just, they're a good feel. You know, a good balance in the hand when you're writing with them. It's some of my most enjoyable Sailor pens have the metal section. So, I was glad to see that this was finding its way into the more limited edition series that they release pretty frequently. So, yeah. I guess there will be more in this series. Again, like, I'm not a chess person. You know, the pen design doesn't do it for me personally. But, like, I get, like, why people are agog over this pen. I think it's really good execution of an idea. And I love the colors. And I love the gray. And I love the gold. Like, everything about this pen works really, really well together.

Myke: This is an absolute knockout. This is a knockout. Yeah. Because it's not black, right? It's, like, brown. They call it charcoal. But the addition of the gold shimmer adds a kind of brownish hue to it. But then going all in on the gold is what I like.

Brad: I do, too. I love the gold section, right? Yes. Any of my gold sections, I have, like, the either rhodium plated or ionized sections. I don't know which is called which. I guess they've done gold sections before. I'm not sure. Like, I don't even have seen them. But this one looks amazing, right? Like, I'm totally into what they built here and what they designed. And I think they kind of knocked it out of the park. So, yeah, it's really great.

Myke: Because, like, we said it before. Like, the weighted section, like, the weighted grip section on a Pro Gear really elevates that pen. Makes it very special. And they've not done gold before, to my knowledge. Yeah. They've done different colors of silver, darker colors, that kind of stuff. I've not seen a gold before. Yeah. I love this pen. I love it. I'm not going to be adding it to my collection. Right. Yeah. But I, maybe at a different time, I would have. Right. You know what I mean? Like, if I was in peak, like, sailor frenzy, like I was a number of years ago, this would have been an instant purchase for me. Because I love it. Right. But I do have enough pens that give me what I want out of it right now. But, yeah, I think this is, there's 500 of them. I mean, really, honestly, the biggest thing, the biggest reason for me is it's $575. Sure. Sure. Knowing sailor now, I understand, right? Like, I know why it's that price. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But that's not an amount that I want to pay for it right now.

Brad: Correct. Yeah. Yeah. We're on the same page. Yeah. And we talk about this a lot. It's like, I love it. It's awesome. They did a great job. I'm not going to buy it. Like, we just can't buy all the things. And this is one you just, like, maybe you, in your case, you know, you wait and see, you know, does something crop up down the line that maybe allows you to buy this? Or it fits a need that you have or a desire or a want that you have, you know, later down the line. Yeah. There's going to be more in the series, too. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued to see what happens.

Myke: It's very strange to me a thing to be like, we're making a series of pens themed around chess. Yeah. I mean, you know, whatever. Like, you can make a theme of anything, but it just comes out of left field a little bit for me. But maybe I'm missing something.

Brad: No. I mean, Sailor North America tends to roll with the popular tides, if you will. Like, when The Matrix came out, they did a Matrix theme. Like, they did, like, an all-black pen. And they just try to kind of, like, follow the popular trends as far as what I've seen from their releases. So, yeah. Like, it's just, like, you know, part of the bigger overall uptick in the chess world.

Myke: I mean, they made a pen themed around chili peppers. I mean, I have one. You know what I mean? No, but they, you know, so it's like, it's just whatever they think they can make a fun thing out of, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's cool. And I have no criticism of that. It's just, like, a funny thing.

Brad: No, not at all. Like, I bought one of the pepper pens, right? Like, I mean, I bought it because it's orange, not because it was a pepper pen. It didn't have to be a pepper pen. Is that it? That's a TV show, isn't it? Pepper pen?

Myke: Peter Piper picked a pen of peppered something.

Brad: All right, let's talk about another pen, Myke. A pen that neither of us will ever own, nor should we, because it was a custom-made Jonathan Brooks Carolina Pen Company made, Myke, for fountain pen user extraordinaire Neil Gaiman. Man. Did you see this on the Instagrams?

Myke: I saw it this morning. I loved it. I loved this. I mean, we don't know the story. Like, I don't know if anyone will find out the full story of why this occurred.

Brad: Maybe I've talked to Jonathan in the background for the last month or so about this. He knows. But, you know, it's not my information to share. It's not my information to share.

Myke: But Jonathan was nevertheless commissioned to produce one of his masterpieces for Neil Gaiman and posted on his Instagram about his experience of being able to deliver this pen. And honestly, the absolute joy on Neil Gaiman's face is so good because he made a special pen for him, too, right? So, like, he was commissioned to make, you know, like a Jonathan Brooks special, right? And there's images of that on his Instagram, you know, like those beautiful acrylics. But then he also bought a Pilot 823, which is Neil Gaiman's favorite pen and did some custom Arushi work to that, too. Which is that's the thing that seems to have elicited the larger response from him. But, like, understandably, right? Because that's like knowing him and stuff like that. But then also giving him a special gift of something that he already adores. Like, oh, man, it's so good. So good. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad: And just the pure joy that whoever took these photos captured from Neil's face. It just how can you just not smile from ear to ear when you see this? You can tell he's going like, whoa, wow. It's like, this is unbelievable. And it's like, yeah, it's really, really crazy. I'm glad Jonathan got to do this and be part of this. And it worked out like he was down at Drumgools and went to Neil's show that he, you know, an evening with, you know, where he does like a speaking thing. And then got to go hand deliver the pens after the show or maybe before the show. But how cool is this that we've known, like, Fig Boot, we should probably put in the chat, like, Fig Boot has done some big interviews, like, with some of the big popular fountain pen people in the broader world, like Neil deGrasse Tyson. So it's fun to see, like, someone like Neil Gaiman, you know, as part of this world as well. So it's cool when you have, like, these big crossovers of people with, like, big profiles in the real world, like Neil deGrasse Tyson, or in this case, Neil Gaiman, and have this little crossover in our world. It's really fun to see their passion about the things that we're passionate about as well. It's just, it's really fun. So congratulations, Jonathan. This is just such a treat. And thank you for sharing it with us. It's really, really cool.

Myke: Yeah. This makes me feel really good. Like, this just makes me feel really good. I know, right? It's like, I imagine that makes him feel like. This is great.

Brad: Yep, it's great.

Trade Coffee Break

Myke: All right. Today's episode is brought to you in part by our friends over at Trade. When you become a Trade coffee customer, you can enjoy knowing that you've got the freshest and best tasting beans that you've ever made at home. And the coffee you'll be drinking will be from the country's best independent craft roasters, which also helps out those small businesses a lot, too. That is the perfect mix for me. I love coffee, and I love fun small businesses, right? And this is one of the things that I really love about Trade is it finds a great way to bring these two things together. They do a great job with their quiz. It's so incredibly easy to fill out this quiz that they have that asks you a bunch of simple questions about your taste profiles. Even if you think you might not know, like you like a good cup of coffee, but you don't know how to describe it, their quiz will help tease out those answers for you, and then they compare you with a great coffee. Trade's coffee team actually taste tests thousands of coffees to keep 450 different kinds live and ready to ship every day. Everybody has that one coffee that they love. Trade's going to help you find it. And Trade is so incredibly confident that they're going to match you right the first time that if they don't, for any reason, just give them your feedback, and one of their Trade coffee experts will work with you to send a brand new bag for free. So you know you're going to be looked after. You are going to get something you'll like. They will make sure of it. It just takes answering a couple of questions to get your own personalized variety of coffees delivered fresh to you as often as you like. It's really great, depending on how much you drink. And they've delivered over 5 million bags of fresh coffee with more than 750,000 positive reviews. Right now, Trade is offering new subscribers a total of $30 off your first order plus free shipping when you go to drinktrade.com slash penaddict. That is more than 40 cups of coffee for free. Get started by taking their quiz at drinktrade.com slash penaddict and let Trade find you a coffee you'll love. One last time, that's drinktrade.com slash penaddict for $30 off. And don't forget about Father's Day coming up. A Trade subscription could be the perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life. Our thanks to Trade for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad: I don't know how I'll ever get a bag I want to return from Trade. Here's my recent one, Myke. It's from Panther Coffee, Myke, out of Miami.

Brad: 60% of the time, it works every time, Myke. But here's the flavor notes.

Brad: Montgomery cherry, citrus, milk chocolate, bright, sweet, and silky. I mean, that's me. That's my coffee description. And this is what shows up based on the quiz that I took. And it's just glorious. So yeah, really, really good stuff. Mayor is this one. So Panther Coffee, Mayor out of Columbia. The beans out of Columbia. The coffee roaster out of Miami. One thing on the final thing on the Brooks Neil Gaiman pin. There is a podcast, which Myke was not familiar with, called As the Pin Turns, with several pin makers, including Mythic Pins, Brad at Mythic Pins. And, oh boy, I'm blanking on everyone who's on here. But anyway, Jonathan has joined them. Oh, sorry, Jason. Jason Neil Penworks started this podcast with Brad from Mythic Pen.

Myke: Also, Brad.

Brad: Yeah, also Brad.

Myke: Brad, the owner and maker at the Mythic Pen Company.

Brad: Yeah, Brad. Who lives like 40 minutes away from me. I'm just saying, like, you forget the name Brad. No, I was forgetting Jason's name. Sorry, Jason. But Jonathan has officially joined their ranks as of, like, five, six, seven episodes ago. So he's going to be talking about this whole process. So y'all should go subscribe to As the Pin Turns if you don't already. If you want to hear about more of the maker side of the fountain pen business, they have some really, really great conversations in the down and dirty of actually making pens. Because they're all pen makers. So Brooks will be in an upcoming episode talking about the Neil Gaiman pens that he worked on.

Brad: All right. Big topic today, Myke. Uh-huh. All right. And this is via Jamie, who emailed me out of the blue to ask me a question. Says, I've been listening to the Pen Attic Back Catalog, and I really enjoyed the personal top five fountain pen segments that you and Myke did in June 2012. Wow. And then five years later in June 2017. I'm not sure you've done another personal top five segment since then, at least basing on searching on the show notes. And next month, June 2022, will be five years since June 2017. I'd love to hear a segment about your and Myke's top five fountain pens as they stand now. So we're going to do that today, even though it's not June. This is the perfect timing for us to talk about or have to think about, be forced to narrow down, Myke, our five favorite personal fountain pens, which is not an easy task, as we will see. I have not listened to those previous episodes. I might be tempted. Maybe not the first one in 2012, but the one from 2017, I'd be interested. It's episode 260. I might have to go check that out after this and see what's up with that. But I thought it was time. I think Jamie was right. I think it's time to do this. So what do you think?

Myke: I love it. Let's do it.

Brad: All right. So I took this question very literal, right? These are my five favorite pens. Like, it's not the five pens that I would recommend the most. It's not the five pens that I would use the most. It's just my five most favorite pens out of the pens I own. And it was good timing for me as I just started putting everything into the 100 count box. I got my hands on all the favorite things and looked at them and had a memory refresh of like literally everything I own. So I picked five and these are in no particular order of this five. I don't know that I could rank these top five in a one through five sense. I think there's a clear number six, but I think these five, any of these five could be number one. First one is the Namiki Milky Way. So we'll have a link in the show notes to pictures of these.

Brad: If you're not familiar with the pens that we're talking about, I think some of these you're going to be very familiar with. But I don't have too many pictures of the Namiki Milky Way yet. I haven't done a proper review of it. I may never do a proper review of it, although I think I kind of one of these days I will. But it is my most expensive pen by double of what I've paid for other pens. That doesn't necessarily in and of itself make it a favorite or special that it costs a lot. But what it is and the style of pen it is and the artistry of the pen, which you're going to see a recurring theme here in my list. It really speaks to me personally. And it has a glorious fine nib. I only ever ink it with Pilot Orochizuku Tsukiyo, which is a great match for it. Another recurring theme you'll see here is I have a lot of favorite pens that really only get one ink put in them. It's just how it works. So, yeah, that is easily in my top five. Right along with my first Nakaya, the Nakaya Portable Ayo Tamanuri. If you're a longtime listener, you've heard me talk about this pen a million times. It's probably one of my two favorite writing pens. And my two favorite writers, the second one you'll see in a minute, both have a similar nib configuration in that they're a Japanese fine nib with a cursive italic grind. So it's just a wonderful, perfect writer for me. The way it fits my hand, the way the nib feels on the page, the way the output is. And it's definitely like my favorite Nakaya. And I have, I don't know, maybe five Nakayas. And this is easily number one.

Myke: Was this your first one?

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. So this is, so when did I buy this? I put the link in here. When was this review?

Myke: This review was all the way back in February of 2015.

Brad: 2015. Seven years. Mm-hmm. I went through there, that review, and it took me like a couple years to actually buy this pen, you know, at the time. You know, trying to commit to spending this money to a pen that I would use, right? The whole idea of that blog post was I was not going to buy a Nakaya unless I was committed to using it anywhere, anytime, putting it in my pocket. Not babying the pen, right? And I, until I got to like the mental place to where, yeah, I can set this pen on my desk and not worry about it, I wasn't going to buy it. And I finally got there. And it's been one of the best purchases I've ever made. So, third on the list, Pilot Custom 912 with the PO nib. This one has additional artwork, Makie artwork added to the barrel, which just adds to the specialness of this pen for me. It is really unique, not just in the way that the PO, the posting nib, fits for my handwriting style, but in the additional specialness that I added aftermarket to this pen, right? So, not all, most of these pens are, quote, stock pens, if you will. Like the Milky Way is like not something you commission. You point at it and say, I'll have this one. The 912, I got some work done aftermarket. Like now, a lot of people will, you know, get rotten, added by a book of Mundo, you know, things like that to take a favorite pen and then turn it up to 11. And that's what I did with the posting 912. That's why it is one of my favorites.

Brad: Next up, my, the Pilot Custom 823. Me and Neil Gaiman are like this, you know, I'm crossing my fingers. We're like, buddy, buddy. The 823 is, the 823 is just an awesome pen. It's the other fine cursive italic nib. They, again, the 823 and the Nakaya Portable with the fine cursive italic nibs are my two favorite writing pens just for how they fit, feel, function, all of those things. Like, it's really just, you pick it up, you start writing with it, and then you have to stop and, and, and just smile. Right. And you're like, yeah, like this is, this is it. And that's, you know, a lot of the, the nib work that's gone into it. You know, sometimes it's the ink choice. Like, I've got this great purple ink, Pilot Orochizuku Ito Murasaki, which is the Japan-only purple ink that fits really, really well in my clear 823. It's kind of the, that's the ink that's going to live in there now. And I'm using the, this is probably, right now, out of these five that I'm listing, this is the only pen that I have inked up. And it's one of the ones I use the most. So, um, it's just really, really good. It's easily a top five pen. Uh, last one, Myke, um, Pilot Murex. I got, I got these, the first four pretty quickly. Like, I was like, yeah, this one, yeah, that one, yeah, this one. And then I was like, the Murex is just one of the greatest pens ever. I, I have long stated that I would be sad if something ever happened to this pen, which means it was a good candidate to fit onto this list. So, um, I, I love the aesthetic. I've, I've often called it, if Apple, Apple made a fountain pen, this is what it would look like. Like, then this design is from 1971, right? It's just an older classic design. It's the simplest design out of these pens that I have. Um, but it's really fits my style and aesthetic and, and again, functionality. A lot of these, the, the recurring theme between all these is I enjoy writing with all of these pens, um, primarily. And then the looks are additive to the writing experience, right? So, um, that's my five. And I'm assuming you caught this or listeners caught this. Um, it took me a minute to catch this. After I pulled them out, four out of the top five were pilot pens.

Myke: That is interesting.

Brad: And I thought about this a little bit. Like, going in before I picked these, like, I thought, you know, maybe I'll have two pilots on there. Maybe, you know, my posting nib or, you know, oh, then the Namiki, the, the Milky Way. I'm, I'm counting that as a pilot, even though it's Namiki. It's the premium pilot brand. Um, the, oh, then, what about the 823? Oh, what about the Murex? And I shouldn't be surprised at this. And then I got to thinking about pilot overall and how I talk about pilot on the show and how I want them to do more stuff. Right. And how I'm kind of tough on them, you know, more so than other pen companies about giving me more choices of things. And then I realized maybe, is there a reason that there's no, no sailors on this list? Because I can get anything I want from sailor at any time. Any style, any nib, any look, any feel. I can just, again, like I mentioned before, I can just point at sailor and say, I will have this one. I can't do that with pilot. Right. They're, your choice is much more limited. And I don't know, I, I'm thinking more of where I want pilot to do more things and sell me more pens, but maybe it's a good thing that they do what they do really well. And I should back off a little bit. Am I making any sense in this? Like, sure. I did, I didn't consider any sailor pen except the sailor, uh, king of pen pro gear sky, which is my favorite king of pen. That would probably be like number six on the list. Um, I wasn't interested necessarily. It doesn't mean I don't like my sailors. I love my sailors. I own more sailors than pilots, I think, or I don't know. I haven't really counted, but I own a lot of sailors, but are the pilots more special because I'm actually limited in choice? And with sailor, I have freedom of choice. So it's not as special. I don't know if that makes sense at all. So I don't know. It's a, it was an interesting kind of thought I had when I was sharing all these pilot pens. But anyway, that was, that was just me thinking about something to think about, you know, what's better.

Myke: Like the, let's say the nine 12 and the eight 23 to really be that different to each other. Yeah.

Myke's Favorite Pens

Brad: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Like I'm, I'm giggling because like almost opposites in feel style statement. Like I'm, I'm staring at them.

Myke: But like if, let's imagine you had PO nib on the eight 23, would it be that different to the nine 12?

Brad: Yeah. I wouldn't like it as much. I wouldn't like that. I wouldn't like the eight 23 with a PO nib. I would like the nine 12 with a different nib than PO, but the eight 23, I, the, a PO nib is not like an all day writing nib. No, And the eight 20, the eight 23, I believe needs that. So no, I wouldn't enjoy a PO nib in the eight 23 as much as I enjoy it in, in the nine 12. So, so yeah, I mean, these are very weird pilot pens. I will admit that like my eight 23 is the clear version again. That's not an easy one to get. And I love how it looks with the purple ink in it. You know, the milky, the milky way, you know, is, you know, uh, a rushy and rotten and fancy and all of that stuff. And the nine 12 has custom additions to it. And the murex is, you know, 50 years old, you know, these aren't like your standard stock off the shelf pilot, but they're pretty close. They're pretty close. Like anyone can get any of these pens that I have minus the artwork I have on the nine 12. Right. It's not like I bought, you know, a limited edition of 50 sailor pen that I hold special because it's limited. And like, I, apparently that doesn't really check my box as much as I, I like to think it might check my boxes. So I thought, I thought it was just an interesting look after I pulled these five pens going, huh, that's a thought. So I don't know. It's just, it's just something I think about. So, um, just for the, the sake of extending this topic and you haven't even let you talk about yours yet. I did pull some non fountain pen favorites of just products that I love that I use practically daily or want them around. And that's one of them is the Ajoto pen, you know, in the non fountain pen category, I use the Ajoto pen as much as anything. Uh, the spoke pencil model four is like my most used pencil by a good long shot. The Musubi indigo denim notebook, which I'm going to finish here pretty soon. I guess I'm avoiding finishing it because I don't have another one, but maybe I'll buy one in San Francisco to be my next notebook. I love the bank paper and the feel of that notebook. And I actually put in washi tape in this list because I find myself literally using washi tape almost every day. So like if you give me all these fountain pens and then you give me this rollerball pen and this mechanical pencil and this notebook and this washi tape, I'm going to be a pretty happy little pen addict here. So pretty happy camper with, with what I've got going on here. So interesting stuff.

Myke: All right, let's take a break and we can get into a maybe more predictable, less exciting. I don't know. But nevertheless, it's my list and I love my list and everyone else can just back off. You should, I hope you love your list. I think I have a great list, but I don't, I don't know how, I don't know if there's going to be surprises in that list, but. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the only one platform for building your brand and growing your business online. You can stand out with a beautiful website, engage with your audience and sell anything. Your products, services, even the content you create. Squarespace has got you covered. There's so many things there, right? So that's what you can do with Squarespace. Look, if you want to build a blog, you can do that. If you want to make a store, you can do that. If you want to build like an introduction page to your company or brand and start an email newsletter to go alongside it, Squarespace has the tools. They really have everything. Even down to the little things like SEO. So you can use their suite of integrated features with useful guides to help maximize prominence among search results. This is important stuff if you want to be noticed online. And then you can also use insights to grow your business with Squarespace as well. Like if you've ever wondered, like where are my site visitors coming from? Where are my sales coming from? Which channels are most effective? Squarespace has to analyze all of that. Once you've got the data, you can improve your website, build a marketing strategy based on your top keywords or your most popular products and content. It's what I love about Squarespace. It scales with you no matter what it is that you want to do. You might start off with one thing and decide, hey, I want to sell some stuff on the side. You can enable the store functions, you know, and it's like, oh, now I've done that. I actually would love to have an email list. You can do that. They really have everything that you need to get started online. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. You can sign up for a free trial today with no credit card required. And then when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict and you'll get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict. And when you sign up, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. So thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad: All right, let's hear it, Myke. Let's see. Let me preface this by saying I might have, like, just thinking about your pens, I think I might only pick one of these, maybe two. Even though when you say it, I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. So what you got?

Myke: This wasn't difficult for me to do because I looked at what was in my Sinclair.

Myke: And they're all my favorite pens.

Brad: And that's what goes back and forth with you regularly. It's with me every day in my bag. Very portable.

Myke: Even though at this point, pretty much all of my pens are at the studio.

Myke: Now I need to bring inks here, actually, I think. I think I'm slowly moving to, like, okay, this is where my pens live. Like, they live here, not at home. Right, right. Because I was just realizing the stuff was at home, which is never getting used. So I've been rotating them out and actually just bringing more here. And I'm just trying to work out what the best long-term strategy for that is. But I have a Sinclair that goes in my backpack every day along with my theme system journal. And it has the pens in it. There is one pen on my list that isn't in the Sinclair. And I'll get to that in a minute. So the first one for me that I picked, I think, is I'm pretty confident. This is not ranked, but I'm pretty confident that this is my number one pen. It is the Platinum 3776 Galaxy Starlight, which I have a stacked nib on, as we spoke about on the show in the past. I adore this pen. I love this pen. I love everything about it. I love the journey that I've been on with this pen. I love the way it looks. You know, I love the feel of the Arushi. I love the way the Raden is, like, encased in it. I actually kind of love that it's had this weird life where the first pen, the first nib broke and it had to go to Japan. They sent another one. Now I've replaced the nib, but now I've cracked a piece off of the cap. Like, just a little piece of the, you know, like, where at the very end of the cap. I don't know how, but one day I just noticed that a little piece had come off. And it's kind of like, this is my pen.

Brad: Right? I think that's cool. Like, I mean, of course you'd prefer to not have that, but the fact that you're okay with it. Like, I was talking about, like, I'm not going to own a Nakaya unless I'm okay with getting a scratch in my Nakaya. Right? And it's like this comfort zone that you hit going, yeah, this is my pen. And you know why it's this way? Because I use this pen and I love it.

Myke: And I use it all the time. One thing that's very interesting to me, like, I was looking around at, like, listings for this pen because it is available. I think it's, like, doubled in price.

Brad: Yeah. You'll see that with different types of pens and based on when you bought them. I think you got yours right before Platinum went through, like, a pretty big price increase. You know, like, all the pen companies have gone through, like, decent size price increases. Platinum and Sailor stood out, you know, to have, like, a higher percentage increase. And, yeah, I think it's just a combination of factors with that particular one, too. Because it's harder to produce.

Myke: Because it's $2,200 right now on the Nibsmith. Oh. And I think I paid, like, most half of that.

Brad: Yeah, I was thinking it was even less than $1,000.

Myke: Actually, I'm looking at the wrong one, so that's why. I'm looking at the Izumo Rodden Galaxy fan.

Brad: Okay, that's a bigger pen.

Myke: That's a wider pen. Now I understand what's happened here. My Google searching did not produce me the right pen. And I was very confused. Because I started looking at the images. And I was like, that doesn't look right. It's a completely different pen. So, yeah. But I love this pen. I love this pen so much. It brings me joy to use. And it's, I mean, it's fantastic to use in general. Let alone, like, what I have then done with it since, you know. Yep. And I've been able to, like, to customize it more to my tastes. And I picked between five nibs and then found the right one for this pen. And I love it. I absolutely love this pen. It's like, it's just a joy. It's like a genuine just joy for me to use. I love it. Next one I feel like is pretty obvious. I think it's a pen that at different times I have said is either my favorite pen or the best pen that I own, which is the Pilot M90. Yeah.

Brad: Yeah. I love the fact that we are both ardent supporters of two very similar yet opposite pens, right? Yeah. These are the M90 and the Murex. Or I should say the Mu in relation to the M90 is the modern version of the Mu that came out for an anniversary edition at the 90th Pilot's 90th anniversary. But the Murex and the Mu are often talked about together, but they offer two different perspectives of design and writing. And we both respect the heck out of the other one. And I own a M90, and I love it. I will never choose the M90 over the Murex, and you're the exact opposite. This is the only one I want. I think that's pretty cool.

Myke: Yeah. This is the only one for me. Like, I love it. And it's just, you know, it's a pen that I feel like should not be as good as it is.

Brad: Yep. That's fair. Yeah.

Myke: It just, you just would feel like, you know, we put so much, like, stock and feeling into the nibs and how perfect the nib needs to be. And the idea that this is a nib made out of the body of a pen, like, it shouldn't be this good. You know, like, you look at other nibs, and they're like these little intricate things made out of gold or whatever, right? And then this thing comes along. And I guess it's a steel nib, right? Like, ultimately. Yeah. And it holds a candle to literally every other pen that I own.

Brad: Yeah, it shouldn't work, right?

Myke: It shouldn't work. Like, and something for me, which I find funny, like, again, we talk about, like, pen reliability and how quickly will it start to write. And then all these other companies have these slipkits. Nothing starts up faster than my M90. 100% of the time, it will beat anything else. Doesn't matter. I could have not used that pen for the three months. I pick it up, do one scribble, and it's good to go. I don't know why. I have no idea why. But it's like these little things just make this so special. I have a medium nib. It was funny because, like, I looked at it and I was like, did I even do nib sizes? And it's got medium on it. Like, it says it. It's in a different place. But I looked at it and I was like, I wouldn't be surprised if they only offered in one size, right? Because, again, massively complicated. And, like, I mean, I don't know how many more times I needed to say this, but Pilot, bring it back. I know. You are sitting on a literal gold mine with this pen. Everyone's going to want one if you do it. Just do it.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. It's a... What do you... For a long time, you were using the Purple Pilot ink cartridges with it. What do you use?

Myke: I've got Red now. Yeah. As a Red Pilot. That's cool. I'm waiting for those, the Orochizuku cartridges. Yep. Yep. To pop up because I would like to mix it up with some Orochizuku.

Brad: Same thing. Like, for my literal most expensive pen I own, when I get my hands on the Orochizuku Tsukiyo cartridges, that's what's going in my Milky Way. It just is. It just is. It just is.

Myke: It's so good. And the idea of the convenience there with the cartridge is like, yeah, I'm so into it. This is, for some reason, you know, just because this pen is so small, I don't want to put a converter in it because it's never going to take that much ink because I could get from one of their regular cartridges. The M90 is very clearly made for cartridges. It's a pocket pen. Yes. I agree with that. It is the only pen that I own where I post 100% of the time.

Brad: Yeah. You pretty much have to. I mean, technically you don't.

Myke: I can get by. But just because of the way this pen is built, the cap becomes the entire body. That's rare. Even in other pocket pens, it feels like the cap doesn't take up as much of the body of the pen, but it basically just leaves you with a grip section. That's all that's left. What a design. Oh, it's just a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece of pen design.

Brad: It's a better design than the Murex. I will grant that.

Myke: This is like, to go back onto what you were saying earlier, like this is the pen Johnny I would make. Right. Because it is like the pure essence of the pen. This is just like as simple as a pen design could be, also as complicated as a pen design could be, which is a funny mixture. Right. Like it is definitely both of those things, but it is just like it gets no better. It just doesn't get better than this. It just doesn't. Oh man. I love it so much. What a special piece. And I'm so thankful that I own two of these.

Brad: That was literally my next question. I think you have like, this is one you have a backup for.

Myke: Yeah. I'm still on my original and I have a backup M90 in a drawer that may never ever get used. I feel like if I did something to this pen, if I lost this M90, I probably wouldn't replace it. Yeah. Unless I had a real reason to, you know what I mean?

Brad: Yeah.

Myke: Yeah. Until pilot, get off your butts and make one of these. All right. So I wanted to put a canalea on the list. Mm-hmm. I had to really think about this. Just like visual wise, nothing beats canalea pens for me. Mm-hmm. They're very special. I had to think about it. Like, I really like my Hanukkah Lani. It's the one I have with the Milo Lay Band. Mm-hmm. But my favorite at the moment is the Haleakala Silhouette. Yeah. For a number of reasons. One, this was a special pen for me. I bought it at the DC Pen Show and accidentally ended up choosing the one that was on the cover of Pen World Magazine.

Brad: We love that story.

Myke: I love that story. I just love that that was the thing that I could have done. But Haleakala has a lot of significance to me because it's on Maui where I've spent some wonderful times with me and Adina. It's where we went on honeymoon. You can see Haleakala from where we were staying.

Myke: I love the yellow.

Brad: It is the least likely to think it would work as a pen design, but it is executed wonderfully. Right? Yeah.

Myke: If I told you that the colors are yellow, rose gold, gray, and black, it's like there's no way. But it works. Funnily enough, this is one that they do not have available right now. Okay. I don't know if it's sold out. I don't know if maybe it's gone from their lineup. I don't know. But I have to put some Instagram images in the show notes.

Brad: Oh, no. Do you need a backup of this one too?

Myke: I hadn't thought of that. Don't talk about it.

Brad: Just for the record, I don't think I have any backup pens. I don't think.

Myke: No. I have another stacked nib in this pen. This fascinates me. This is the Zoom one. This is the Zoom nib one, which is absurd. Yep. In the greatest possible way. But again, it's like they match so perfectly. I have one of the Sailor inks in this. One of the numbered ones, the Ink Studio inks. I can find out which one it is, but I can never remember the numbers. But it's a really great yellow. And it matches so perfectly with this pen. Especially where like, you know, yellow ink can be hard to see at times. But this one is vibrant enough. But then also with it being the really, really thick stacked nib, it lays down so much ink. It's always visible. But what I also like about this, even though it is almost like a marker pen, it's still really usable, really writeable. I'm using 770 in this. Okay. Ink Studio 770. Which is, yeah, I really, really love this pen.

Brad: I get it, man. It's a stunner. Okay.

Myke: Next is, okay. The next one is like, in my Sinclair, I have the King of Pen that we bought and we each sent to Jonathan. And he did something special with it. So I have Arushi on it, right?

Brad: Mm-hmm.

Myke: And I know I wanted to pick a King of Pen. But I actually didn't go with this one. Because I feel like I wanted to pick my first King of Pen. Gotcha. And one that I think more exemplifies my general taste of pens, which is the 1911 Royal Tangerine King of Pen. That makes sense.

Brad: I get, yeah, I get what you're saying there. Yep.

King of Pen Orange

Myke: This pen is amazing. And it is the color that I love.

Brad: It's orange. It is exceedingly orange. Yeah. In the best way possible.

Myke: You know, in that moment, I realized that the word orange has been warped for me by you. Mm-hmm. I say orange now. Mm-hmm. And that's you. Mm-hmm. So just wanted to point that out just for the record books. I just realized that I just on my own said orange. Mm-hmm. That's a Brad Dowdy right there.

Brad: Orange.

Myke: Orange. Orange.

Myke: Yeah. I love this pen. I love the color. It's like the Royal Tangerine, I own it in two sizes, right? Same as you. Do you own two sizes?

Brad: We own, I own two sizes, but our smaller pen is the different one. No, you have the L. I have the- You have the small. I have the small, yeah. Yeah.

Myke: And do you have the king of pen or the large?

Brad: I have the large. I have the king of pen, not the middle. Right.

Myke: So, okay. So we both have the king of pen, which is, I'm holding it now, it's almost like a weapon,

Brad: the 1911. The 1911 with the rounded ends, right? Yeah. Not the flat ends like the pro gears. It takes on a different meaning of king of pen. Yeah. That shape is-

Myke: And that's why I like the 1911 king of pen shape more, even though, like, you know, I have one of each. And I like the 1911 one more because it is the biggest, most absurd, right? What I love about Sailor's king of pen is the absurdity of that pen. And nothing shows it more than the nib. The fact that it is- And even the name. Yeah, I mean, yeah, for sure. But like, just the fact that they took the nib and just made the nib bigger, like, it's just something that's so funny to me about that. Like, you could give one of each of these pens to someone and it would look like, you know, once someone had a tiny hand and someone had a big hand, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is just like, this kind of really does a better job, I think, of summing up exactly what I love. So that's why I picked that. Then my last one is, again, like, it is a sentimental thing, but also, like, it's sentimental for two reasons. Because it kind of reminds me where I come from when it comes to fountain pens, but also is special. And it's the Jonathan Brooks Arushi covered Lamy Safari that he made for us a couple of years ago. This is just a joy pen. It really is. I don't use mine enough. And I have the left-handed Lamy nibbiness.

Brad: Yeah, that's cool. And do you like that? Yeah. Like, do you, like, it fits your writing style?

Myke: Perfectly. So much so that I forget that there's something different about it. The only thing about this pen, of every pen that I own, it dries up the fastest.

Brad: So we have probably lost some seal in the cap with the thickness of the Arushi. That will probably be why, then. It doesn't just straight up snap into there. No. And there's probably some air gaps, which that's one of the things you just deal with. Yeah, I mean, I deal with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, like, the Lamy Safari, the way the, and not even counting the feeds as well, right? The feeds are the most simplistic, finless, you know, non-saturated feeds. So, like, it's just a combination of a few different things from design to added thickness and things like that.

Myke: Yeah, I wondered if it was something to do with the nib, but that makes a lot of sense what you're saying. Because it doesn't really snap shut in the same way. Right. Right. Right.

Brad: And then, I think it's just a, yeah, and I think it's just, the Safari is just designed that way to not be the most inky, saturated feeds as well. So that probably doesn't help. So, there you go.

Myke: It is just, what Jonathan did to this pen, for this pen. It's nuts. It's breathtaking. It's nuts. You know? Like, and there is nothing better than on the narrow part of the grip section where he laid in the four dots, you know? Yep. Yep. Man is a genius. And he did beautiful work with those pens. And it is a treasure of mine to own. That's my top five right now. There's some weird stuff on there.

Brad: Yeah. I like that in your notes after you did kind of like I did, it's like, I kind of need to put the Mark I in here. Like, I kind of needed to put the Ajoado in here. Because it is such a frequently used pen, like, to have that type of rollerball, be it the Mark I or the Ajoado, both of which we love, both of those brands. Like, it's the same thing, right? It's the same. I have all these fountain pens. And, like, the list was designed to be fountain pens. But we have these other pens that we use very frequently. And we feel a certain way about these just basic black rollerball writing vessels that just really kind of check our boxes as well. So, like, I would want to have those. If I was limited to these five fountain pens, okay, sure, I'd be happy. But I'd like to have, like, a rollerball and, like, a couple other things with that as well, or a gel pen or a pencil, that kind of thing. So, I like that you put the Mark I in here. It's just, like, I really want to add this. And I was like, yeah, like, I do too. So, like, we're on the same page there.

Myke: Yeah, it's like, I love the Mark I, right? I own, like, five of them. I just, like, as a platform to be a pen, it's, like, as good to me as anything. But it just, and I wanted to give it, like, really my only special mention. But it just didn't, I couldn't knock any of those fountain pens off the list. Because ultimately, given the choice, I am always going to pick one of those five before anything, literally anything else. Yes. Right. But if I was to have a sixth, it would be that. Or if you were to say to me, you know, what about non-fountain pens? It's Mark I all day. Yeah. All day.

Brad: Like, I just talk about it so much. Like, I think probably one of the reasons why I do this is because I will pick up a pen and sometimes the pen I have to stop and it makes me smile, which I already mentioned in the show once. Like, these are the type of pens that do that for me. And I'm glad that they do. And it's just these realizations about how they make you feel, about how they make your writing look, about the people that made them, about the stories they tell. It's like, sometimes I just look at these pens and smile. And I am glad we got to put together this list.

Myke: All right. That's it for this week's episode of The Pen Addict. We'd love to know your top five pens lists. Yeah. When you send them in to us, you can send them on Twitter. Brad is at Dowdyism. I'm at imike. I-M-Y-K-E. And you can also follow us in other places. Brad is penaddict on Instagram. I'm also at imike on Instagram. Brad streams multiple times a week at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I'm looking forward to a stream that I'm doing this Friday, which is on the 27th. It's going to be at, what is it? It's 11 a.m. Eastern time. I'm going to be building a prototype of a keyboard that I'm very excited about. It's called The Mode Sonnet. And they have sent me a pre-production unit that I'm going to be putting together. Nice, nice. I'm really excited about. So if you have any desire for that, you should come and check it out. They make my favorite keyboards mode. So I think you'll dig it. So come and check it out on Friday at mike.live. Don't forget to also check out spokedesign.com, cortexmerch.com. And thanks to Trade and Squarespace for the support of this episode. Until next time, I'm Myke Hurley and he's Brad Dowdy. Say goodbye, Brad.

Brad: Goodbye, Brad. We'll be right back.