The Pen Addict 550/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	550
Title:	An Oddly Enjoyable Fountain Pen
Release Date:	February 8th, 2023
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 550
Audio File:	Audio Episode 550
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 550
Length:	6363 min <br />1.05 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 550. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley, I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad. Hello Myke, how are you today? I'm very good, my friend. I'm very good indeed. Episode 550. It's just a good one, getting up there, you know.

Brad Dowdy: It's a big number, it's a big number. We have crossed the threshold where we only celebrate maybe every 100 or so, maybe every 250 episodes now. We're into the big number range.

Spymaster pen follow-up

Myke Hurley: We should hopefully provide the last piece of follow-up in regards to the Spymaster pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you want to celebrate the number 007?

Myke Hurley: I wished.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: So, they have, since the last episode, somebody, some agent, some double agent over at Montegrappa, has added my name to the quote. So, it now says Myke Hurley, The Pen Addict.

Myke Hurley: Still nobody has contacted me or told me that there's a pen on the way, so I'm going to assume this is the end. No tracking number has been sent. No, nothing. Well, not yet. But... Yet. Still none. So, we can probably assume this is the end of this saga, unless someone wants to surprise and delight me, you know what I mean?

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. Well, like, we've gotten a little bit to the source, and, you know, they are who we thought they were kind of situation, which is great. Like, I love every minute of this. We have our own spies. So, this has been a great bit of stealth marketing for the 007. Accidental. Accidental. But still love the pen. Still love what it is. And we were talking offline. Like, I'm already interested what's next, because we talk about how well Montegrappa executes this, and how it surprises us that they can do this, like, five times a year, where they have just these wild creations. And, like, yeah, like, that's Montegrappa's thing, and they do it as good, if not better than anyone. And we both really appreciate what they're doing as a company. So, it's pretty cool.

Narwhal Pens rebranding discussion

Myke Hurley: Yeah, definitely. I also got some follow-up from Colton. So, we referred to what was previously Narwhal Pens as Narwhalur, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And we weren't sure how to say it. Colton wrote in with a link to a Reddit thread on the Penshalay subreddit, saying, and this is from Penshalay, so this was posted by somebody at Penshalay. So, it was, like, on their subreddit. I want to just read this. Narwhal is Narwhalur is Narwhal, the name mystery. Ever since Narwhal Pens changed their name, I've been unsure how to pronounce the new name, N-A-H-V-A-L-U-R. So, when Frank visited their offices, it says yesterday, so this was a couple of weeks ago, actually, I asked him about the pronunciation issue. I know the word Narwhalur is the Icelandic orthography of the English word Narwhal, but I just wasn't sure how to pronounce it. When I asked Frank, he said it's pronounced Narwhal. So, basically, the brand's name went from Narwhal to Narwhalur, but stayed Narwhal. So, I suppose I'll stop using random pronunciations in videos. Narwhalur's. So, the way you pronounce that word is Narwhal.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, technically, no, but from an Icelandic point of view, no, that's not how it's pronounced. But from a brand point of view, that's what Frank has said all along from the beginning. It's just hard to look at that word, how it's spelled, and say Narwhal, but, like, I'm fine just saying Narwhal over and over again. Like, it's fine. It's just spelled a different way. Except that's not how you pronounce it either. It's, like, impossible for us to pronounce.

Myke Hurley: This is one of those things where this is, like, totally fine written down, right? This is no issue. Right. Because it's just what it is. You just read it, and you read it in your brain. It doesn't matter. The issue is when it comes to stuff like what we're doing, where we have to try and say it. And it's like, well, it is Narwhal technically. Right. We can't call it that, because it's not that. Right, right.

Brad Dowdy: And, like, when I get a box with, like, the new word mark on it, it's like, ah, that kind of breaks my brain to say Narwhal, even though, like, I'm pretty good at it. Like, I'm just going to keep going with Narwhal.

Myke Hurley: So, we will probably continue to butcher the Icelandic and say Narwhalur. But I just thought that was interesting. And I actually, maybe I'd forgotten, but I knew it was an Icelandic word. I did not know it was the Icelandic word for Narwhal, which obviously makes sense. But there you go.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And I've gotten the pronunciations, like, and we've gone over this a thousand times. Like, I've got the pronunciations. There's other pronunciations online. I have someone that speaks Icelandic recorded how to say it. And it would just be impossible for you and I to say it. Even they were having difficulty saying it. Sometimes. It's a very difficult word to pronounce correctly.

Myke Hurley: I found this, like, with some languages. Like, I have this Romanian where there are just sounds that Romanian people can easily make with their mouths that I cannot write. Right. Right. Like, I just can't do it. So, I can't. This isn't really pertinent to Romanian. Although it comes up a few times. But in some languages, like in Spanish or whatever, I can't roll my R's. And, like, that's just a thing I can't do. Like, I can't produce that noise. And there are sometimes you can try your best, but you won't succeed.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like, this word has, like, this very tricky, almost like an oosh sound at the end, which is just, it's not, it's hard to produce for someone who's not, like, a native speaker. So, yeah. Very interesting. Lovely. All right. Let's get into a kind of a little bit of a follow-up from one product we got asked about last week. I said, let's hold and talk about it this week. And that is the Schoen Design Monarch nib. And then I also kind of want to tie in some other reviews of products I've done and the team has done on the blog recently just because they involve products that we get a lot of questions about.

Introduction of the Monarch nib by Ian Schoen

Brad Dowdy: Let's start off with the Monarch nib. So, now that Ian Schoen has released the first batch into the, like, the January buyer's hands, at the Philadelphia Pen Show, if you were on the first round of orders for the Monarch nib and you were able to be at the Philadelphia Pen Show, you could do a pickup there. And Kimberly from the Pen Attic blog, who writes at the Pen Attic, was there and had ordered one. So, she did a review up on the blog. And it's fantastic. Like, I love everything about this. I knew I was going to like this from the jump. Like, this is the kind of interesting creation and experimentation that we like to see as consumers of interesting stationery. Ian's trying to... Solving a problem is not the right word, but he's trying to create something that's really technically difficult, right? He doesn't want to just make, like, your simple basic nib. He wants to put his engineering brain stamp on it. And the Monarch nib is what he's come up with. And it looks like he's executed extremely well, right? Like, Kimberly's review is pretty much glowing, which I would expect. So, if you're not familiar with the Monarch nib, we'll have a link in the show notes to go read Kimberly's review, where she shows off her handwriting with the nib and the different line types she can create. It's a wider nib. You know, a line width. You know, it's like a standard medium, almost a broad type of line width on the page. And which is why I've held off on the first round, because there will eventually, talking with Ian, there will eventually be some finer nib options, which I'll wait for. But I always love to see these types of things support this kind of creativity, even though it's, like, it's really, really expensive. You know, like, it's $400 for the nib and a pen barrel, which, like, I think it's completely fair, like, knowing what goes into this. But that doesn't mean it's also not very expensive in the same hand. And I want to see, you know, again, like, we talk about this with a lot of different products, most recently the Curidas. I want to see round two, because I love what I see from round one. And, like, I am excited about the future of a product like this and seeing, hopefully, someone able to continue to make what is really, like, a very technically challenging product, a very expensive product. And see how it goes for shown design in the big picture. So what were your thoughts reading through this review yourself? Like, did you, is this something you're even interested in?

Myke Hurley: I'm interested in the result. Because it looks like an ink distribution that I would enjoy. Like, it looks chunky and round. Like, I really like the lines that Kimberley is able to produce on these pages. Like, this interests me. This definitely interests me. I would love to, this would just be something that before I buy, I would love to try. Exactly. Just to make sure that it works with my handwriting. Because, again, it's like, and I don't know, but if Kimberley's left-handed or right-handed. But you just, I'm just never sure. Okay, so I'm just never sure about these things, like, a new thing like this, until I try it. Because sometimes I come across, like, some really weird edge cases for being a lefty and with my overhook writing style. So, yeah, I'd like to try it. It looks great to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it looks like something, like, initially, like, is more suited for you from a line perspective than me. But I would be the person that would be more, like, risk tolerant to just go ahead and jump in where it would make sense for, like, you to wait and see. Mm-hmm. But, like, we each have our own reasons to, like, both wait and see. Like, I think this is kind of the prime example of, hey, let me be patient and get the opportunity to try this. Because it's no small sum of money, for one. And for something that may not be, like, a really great solution for just my general writing or your general writing. Things like that. So, it's kind of one of those very important to try before you buy situations, right? Unless you're just, unless you like to be on the bleeding edge of things. Which, like, generally, I'm good with that. Like, there's a lot of times where I'll just go in blind to a product and just go. And, like, I'm good going first. This one, I'm okay with going second on or third or whenever. Like, I'll get the opportunity to have, like, a more perfect writing nib for myself. I didn't want to get the first one and say, yeah, this is great. Except I'm not going to use it because I don't like the line width. I'm willing to wait.

Myke Hurley: I think that's perfectly fair.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, I know Ian will be at a lot of pen shows this year. And hopefully, even if at pen shows he's not, if you're lucky enough to have a pen show nearby you, I bet you can go to one and maybe, you know, pen shows after dark. There might be a monarch nib or two floating around the table for you to test. Like, that's what I look forward to, getting able to test this out. But in Baltimore, I believe Shown Design will be there. Yeah, they will be at the Baltimore pen show. So, I will test them there, if nothing else. And maybe I'll end up with one of the standard ones. But I'll be looking forward to the next round way I can get a finer nib. Maybe it will go right into my Peak Fountain Pen, which is a Shown Design model. So, this specific one is called the Peekaboo because it has a little ghost to reference the material, which, as I explained in my review, it's like Ultim, Myke, that has become a popular pen barrel material. You know, the amber translucent Ultim that was used basically in, like, medical device and part manufacturing. Peak is a similar type of plastic, right? It's a really durable, you know, material that's really not designed. It wasn't originally designed, obviously, for fountain pens. It was designed for small parts in mechanical devices that needed to last a long time and wear well and things like that. And people discovered, oh, hey, this actually makes a pretty decent pen barrel as well because it's really durable. You can make it with thin walls and you can, you know, shape it into, you know, traditional fountain pen shape. So, I wanted to be sure to...

Myke Hurley: Polyether ether ketone.

Brad Dowdy: Thank you. So, aka Peak. Peak. So, Peak. And then it has a little peekaboo ghost on there, which Ian lasered into the caps, which I think is just a fantastic little touch because, let's be just straight up, I mean, a lot of people probably think this pen is just completely ugly, right? Like, it's this taupe brown looking thing. That's the color of the plastic. Ian didn't say, hey, this is the color way we're going to make in these pens. It's not like an acrylic where you're mixing up colors and ending up with, you know, the color, the end result color you want. Like, this is the color of the material, right? Ultim comes in the amber color and in a black color. Peak comes in this taupe brown color. You know, and I refer to it as, like, 80s computer case color, right? It's that kind of beige-y brown. It's not beautiful, right? But in a fountain pen format, it's pretty killer. Like, I really, really like it as a color once I get in a nib that I like and have a certain ink color coming off of it. The entire package of the Peak pen I'm all about. So, again, this is one that I was willing to wait on, right? I didn't jump at the first batch that came out. Oh, let me see what people think about them. And I was able to get mine secondhand, right? Which I'm very prone to buying pens on the secondary market. I don't mind doing that whatsoever. Especially for something like this that's just going to be, like, the ultimate durable pen. Like, I'm not worried about its condition or anything like that. So, yeah, it is an oddly enjoyable fountain pen. If you are into kind of, like, the weird kind of tech behind fountain pens, even though this looks like a traditional basic round fountain pen, it's made with something kind of cool. And you have a little story to tell. And you had a question that I referred to a lot in the review about how light this pen is. And it could be too light for some people, right? I think that was your concern.

Myke Hurley: That was what I was going to ask. Because you mentioned the weight of the pen. Was it 15 grams? I feel like I would pick that up and it would hit the ceiling. Like, it would just leave my hand.

Brad Dowdy: And that's with the nib and a full ink converter in it. It is airy. It is an ultralight pen. Same with the Ultem that Shone makes. Ian has thin walls on these barrels. Like, something like my Kasama pen has a thick Ultem wall. So, it's got a little bit more density to it, right? Well, these are very thin walls. And you're able to manufacture these thin walls because of the durability of the pen. It is an ultralight pen. And it is going to be too light for some people. I made an odd comment, but I thought it was appropriate not saying that they're in the same category of pen. But they're in the same category of feel in the hand as a Nakaya, right? So, like my Nakaya portable, I've always said how it just kind of fits in your hand and you don't realize it's there because it's so light. It's airy. It's hard to describe that feel in words. And the peak is the same feel, right? Not in the Arushi, like the warm Arushi ebonite finish, but just in the same technical aspects of being an ultralight pen. And this is one of them. And I think some people will find them to be too light. So, it's just an interesting material. I like this kind of stuff. Like this is one of my type of things that I get into when I see fountain pens in non-standard materials. That's kind of one of my like focuses that really piques my interest right out the gate. And I'm glad to have this one to go alongside my Ultem. I also have the shown design Ultem as well. And it's funny. I kind of prefer the peak, which is surprising to me. So, it's a great pen and a very unique type of feel. Again, not for everybody. But it's something pretty cool that I very much enjoy. And I think that's kind of the theme with this third review I wanted to talk about here at the beginning of the show. Not for everybody. The plotter. The entire plotter system. It's not for everybody. Like I'm very clear on that. That more so, unlike the Monarch or the Peak, even though they're expensive products. Like I think people can understand the pricing on that. I think the plotter does have a little bit of a higher barrier to entry just like mentally. Right? Like I'm spending how much on a notebook setup? Right? Like you're probably spending $200 to get into the plotter system. Right? Because you have to pick up a cover. And they're usually leather. They're working on some non-leather versions that I've seen at San Francisco that hopefully are coming out this year. And then you have to add all the accessories. And you just end up buying this whole a la carte system. And it ends up costing you a pretty penny. Like I said, I've got over $200 into mine. The thing is, Myke, I use it literally every day, many times a day. So is it worth it to me? Absolutely. It's been worth it to me. Right? But I get the pushback on the pricing. Like it is not a product for everyone. And I will absolutely hand raise to that. It is not for everyone just because of the barrier to entry. What I like about, let me back up. Mine was a bit of a process to get into the right size. So I had the A5 size originally. I thought, okay, you know me. I love A5, everything. Give me all the A5s. And what I found with my original plotter was that it was great, but I never chose to use it as much as I would some of my standard A5 notebooks. It was my Hobonichi planner that was also an A5. It was just like one more A5 on top of the stack of A5s that I got, and it kind of got pushed aside. Right? It wasn't good enough to be an all-in-one system for me. And it was never unique enough to push all these other things aside that I was already using. So my A5 plotter, like I sat on it for like a year and used it off and on, like trying and trying. I was like, this is expensive. This is good. I enjoy it. Why doesn't this work for me? And then the more I started to see from plotter and the more sizes I kind of got looks at from different people and how people were using different things, the smaller sizes were exactly what I was looking for because I was looking for more portability in my plotter or in a notebook that I wanted to use. And this kind of came up at the same time as I was using my A5 Hobonichi Cousin 2022 as my planner, which is a one-page-per-day planner. I was kind of winding down. Like I probably may have had a good seven months run with that, which is pretty solid. And then I just kind of like one page a day was a lot for me. So I went back into my all-time favorite kind of planner layout, Plotter has, which is a two-page-per-week layout, which I used in my William Hanna before that. I've used in Traveler's Diaries before that. And I found that having a little planner system in this thinner, it's called the Plotter Narrow notebook, along with the regular notebook pages, which were just good for notes, like just jotting down notes, ideas, brainstorming lists, things like that, as opposed to having like a one large A5 notebook to write all these things down. That was good. And then I could add in like a monthly calendar and I could add in a, you know, to-do list little pages that I will just have like these one-off, hey, do this, that will go in the list. And I ended up building this notebook that is now perfect for me, even though it took me quite a while to get there to figure it out. And so I kind of wanted to break that down in a blog post. So I have that out there on the blog now. So, yeah, it's an interesting product. This is like a perfect for me product. In the end, I got to pick out, you know, it was a little bit cool for me because I was at the San Francisco Pen Show and they were building, you know, notebooks there. And I got to pick out the leather and I got to pick out the hardware and I got to pick out the inserts all there. So it was my little Build-A-Bear factory at the San Francisco Pen Show this past summer. And I've used this. This has been my sidekick ever since. It's great.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to have to legally, you know, on sidekick, we're going to have to have some commentary.

Brad Dowdy: It's probably because that's fresh in my head. Like I can literally see it. Well, no, I can see it.

Sidekick notepad and paper size discussion

Myke Hurley: The reason we call it sidekick notepad is because enough products already exist with the name sidekick. Yeah. I had a few questions for you on this. One, what is this paper size?

Brad Dowdy: Which standard paper size does the portal conform to?

Myke Hurley: Oh, wait a second. I'm sorry. Is this a unique paper size, Brad?

Brad Dowdy: It's A5 Slim-ish.

Myke Hurley: Oh, there's an ish in there. Oh, I see. I see. Okay. Also, you chose a two millimeter grid.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Your handwriting does not conform to that, my friend. I don't know if anybody's told you. No, no. Why did you choose the two millimeter grid?

Brad Dowdy: I like that better than blank or line just to have some kind of structure there.

Myke Hurley: Oh, do they only have two millimeter grid then?

Brad Dowdy: No, they do a five millimeter dot and then they have a blank. Okay. I don't think there's lined. So, there are choices. I like, like, we've always talked about grid, like, throughout the history of this show is I look at it as more of a blank page, right? Yeah. So, like, I can forego seeing the mass amount of lines on there. Yeah. What about the dots, though? Like, why not? Yeah, the dots are cool. Like, why not dots? No. Yeah. Like, I think I would choose dots maybe next time just as something to try, just for variety. Yeah. So, yeah, it's dot. Oh, they do have a rule. There's a six millimeter rule. I haven't noticed that before. I can't have a rule. So, yeah, you can get. Yeah, I can't. I greatly dislike a rule paper. I can't do it. I just can't do it.

Myke Hurley: I don't know why people like it. I don't get it. We're going to get it. No more power to you. Yes. Everyone can like what they like. Me and Brad just don't get it.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I get that for like bulk writing and copying. Like, if you need the alignment for that. But just the way you and I use notebooks, that would be. I would use literally everything else in the world before lined. That was my choice. So, like even reticle, which reticle is not my favorite. Because that one actually doesn't disappear on the page like grids or dots to me. Reticle is a little bit more intimidating. But lined is just the worst.

Myke Hurley: So, what's the name of this refill that you're using that you got the pictures of here? Like, what do they call it?

Brad Dowdy: The size is called narrow. Right. The refills. So, I have the two millimeter grid sheets. I have a to-do list sheet. And then I have the planner sheets, like the weekly schedule sheets.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, that's the one I think that's sold out right now.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that's a great format for me. I first used it in the traveler's notebook has like an undated style of that, you know, that you would use. This is similar to the traveler's notebook, right? Where you have a cover, then you build out your inserts. So, the traveler's version was an undated one, but it had seven days on the left and then blank on the right. And this one just happens to be dated. Like, when I had the William Hanna, it was dated on the left and then blank on the right, which is good for how I like to lay out my weeks. So, yeah, it works for me there. But, yeah, you got me good on the sizing standards.

Myke Hurley: I was listening to you talk. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: They do all of this design themselves, like all of these different inserts and stuff. I can't fathom how this – I think I said this when you first were talking about Plotter. I can't understand how they manage this. I don't get it. Right. It's so fascinating to me.

Brad Dowdy: It is, but think of Plotter as a sub-brand of a larger company. So, the overarching company is called Design Fill. Guess who they own, Myke? Midori. Yeah, okay. Guess who they own? Travelers.

Myke Hurley: They have the ability, right?

Brad Dowdy: They have all of these, like, massive skew systems that they've done for these other brands.

Myke Hurley: I look at this and I'm like, how do they have the design power? Right. But I guess if they're, you know, there is, like, a team of people that they would need. To design just the layouts of these products. Like, this is hard stuff to work out.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, there's not crossover, even though Design Fill as a brand has all of those sub-brands, right? There's – each individual brand has their own unique designs, like you're saying. These are all uniquely Plotter designs that has to have their own team. Yeah. And they were doing it for three or four years in Japan before they had the USA launch, which is when I've gotten into it. Yeah. So, they've only been around five years as a total brand, but much of that was started in Japan. So, they had kind of got the groundwork handled, like, on the front end in Japan, got everything going. And then have moved into the U.S. market, which is, you know, where I'm buying from, like, the Plotter USA site. But it is a sub-brand of a larger company who is well-versed in having the system type of notebooks and setups. Like, there's other brands under the Design Fill name that aren't even available in the U.S., just Japan only. And even some more higher-end than Plotter, if you can imagine. Hmm.

Myke Hurley: That's fascinating.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So, I'm digging it. I'm all in on that. So, like, I use that. And then I have just, like, an A5 journal, like, my everything notebook. And, you know, that's kind of, like, the majority, where the majority of my writing goes these days. Then I have some few just, like, scrap notebooks laying around, you know, just, like, on my desk, you know, have the Sidekick or just, like, a notepad and things like that. But, like, as far as, like, my bound, where all, like, the work goes or where all, like, the ideas go, yeah, it's pretty much this plotter now. And I'm glad I found this non-standard size. Some enjoyment from the non-standard size. I guess I need to shut up now about that. You've really made me consider my life choices up to this point.

Myke Hurley: That's what I'm here for.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Pen Chalet. They sell the very best products from all of your favorite brands. Whether you're looking for a new fountain pen, maybe you want some inks, maybe you want some ink refills, not just bottles. They also sell refills. You're looking for accessories, you're looking for a new mechanical pencil. It doesn't matter. They have it. You can go and take a look at their vast and ever-growing offering over at Pen Chalet. They are an authorized dealer of all of your favorite brands. They run special discounts twice a month, including closeout specials every two weeks as well. So you're always going to find new products being added and new discounts as well. Pen Chalet believe in fast and reliable customer service. They want you to be happy. They have low prices on high-quality pens, but they also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. They sell internationally with great shipping rates. And if you're in the U.S., you'll get free shipping on orders over $75, which is very easy to get to at Pen Chalet. But we can save you some money. As always, if you go to PenChalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com, and click the podcast link at the top of the website, use the password PenAddict to get a code that you need to save 10% off anything over at Pen Chalet at any time, and also to feast your eyes on a cavalcade of offers available to you as a Pen Addict listener.

Brad Dowdy: There's a ridiculous deal on the Diplomat Arrow right now. So it's not only a ridiculous deal on the Arrow itself. It's a gift set. It comes with a bottle of ink and a pen case. And the price is so low. This is one of the pens we're going to talk about. Update to my top five pens page here in a minute. But on the top five fountain pens, $100 to $200, I have the Diplomat Arrow in at number five. This price puts it in a very unique place on that list. So if you've ever considered the Arrow as a pen, you're never going to see a price as low as this one. They also have the Diplomat Traveler, which I haven't used, but it's a more entry-level price point Diplomat pen. And I've had good luck with pretty much everything from Diplomat's lineup. So that's very cool. Interestingly enough, one you never see marked down at all is the Kaweco AC Sport. That's the carbon fiber inlay models of the Sport. They just don't go on sale that much, and not that I've ever seen, to be perfectly honest. So that's a really cool option here. And, yeah, gosh, I'm still scrolling down this never-ending list. Oh, the Diplomat Magnum, that is their real entry-level fountain pen. And we're talking like a price that's just like an add-on type of price if you're looking for a good quality entry-level fountain pen on the Diplomat. I reviewed that on the blog. I reviewed it very, very well. It's just really great quality. And that's something you want to try for yourself or try as a gift for someone just because the price is so great. So, yeah, great stuff out there on Pen Chalet right now.

Myke Hurley: P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website. Use the password of Pen Addict to get your hands on these special offers. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for their continued support of the Pen Addict and Relay FM.

Updating the top five pens page

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke, so I have been working for a few months on updating the top five pens page from top to bottom. Like, you know, I started probably like last fall, last winter, doing some of like the really challenging like fountain pen categories. Like I think those are super challenging because of the variance in those categories. There's a lot of change. And so as the months have gone, I have been updating all kinds of lists on here. And we're pretty much down to the last batch that I wanted to do, even though I'm going to have a couple more updates. But these are probably kind of the last ones that are worth maybe like discussing individually. So the multi pens top five list, the ballpoint pens top five list, and the mechanical pencils top five list. All categories that I enjoy using, working with. I find the multi pens list to be interesting when I went to go update this. That unlike the ballpoint list or unlike the mechanical pencil list, there hasn't been a lot of change in here. There hasn't been a lot of innovation. It's been mostly re skins of existing products, right? Hey, this product's good. Let's make another color. Hey, this product's good. Let's do another collaboration. And so on and so forth. There are there were a couple of new ones on the list.

Brad Dowdy: And a new kind of ranking. And I guess, long story short, I'm rethinking how I think about recommending multi pens, I guess, is the best way to say it. So in the past, like I've had the Hitec C Colito at the top of the list. And it's just uniquely great. It's a great multi pen. It's a little bit more specific than what I now have at the top of the list, which is the Jetstream 3 color. So what the Jetstream 3 color offers is ease of use. It is simple and extremely high quality for a great price. I think it's like under $10. You get blue ink, black ink, and a pencil refill, right? And it's the Jetstream ink. And the Jetstream ink is awesome. And you get the options to have, you know, the two ink colors and the one pencil. Insert. It's built really well. And it just works. Like you just pick it up and go, right? So it's, I found that it's probably a better recommendation to make than the Colito, which requires a little bit more work. So the Colito is still on the list. Don't get me wrong. But I think I was, the more I thought about this, the more I thought about how just classic, like the classic Bic 4 color is. And people like the ease of use of a multi-pen. So I even went simpler with the number two choice, which is the Tombow Monograph Multi 2.

Brad Dowdy: Just like the Jetstream 3 color, this one has two colors. So you get like a black ballpoint and a .5 millimeter pencil. And it's even cheaper than the Jetstream. And it's just built so well. And it's so enjoyable to use to just have a pen and a pencil in one barrel that looks cool, feels great, is going to be durable, is high quality writer. And, you know, that's kind of new for how I'm thinking about this multi-pen category, right? I just think, like, ease of use has really kind of ramped up for my thought process behind these. Third on the list is the Colito. The Colito might be the coolest one on this list. Because you can get, I don't know, there's 20 different barrel options from three color to five color, you know, different plastics, different styles. You can really customize it, you know, to your style. And, you know, whether you want, like, an all-black stealth look or a hot pink translucent look, you know, you can do all kinds of things. And then they have, I don't know, another 20 or 30 refill options, right? This is the build-your-own style of Colito, where the first two pens, you just get what you get. This one you build. Which is fun. You buy a barrel, you buy your inks, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they have so many colors, too. Like, I remember doing one of these back in the day. Like, and you can buy a ton of extras and swap them out really easily yourself. Like, the Colito is my favorite in this category for that reason. Just because it's, like, you can really kind of go wild with it. Yeah. Even though, you know, and I also think that, like, it's the most comfortable high-tech C, like, to hold and use. Because they make the barrel a bit chunkier and stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's probably still my personal favorite. Like, in my old IT job, I lived off the Colito, right? Because I would have, like, my notebook. And then I would have, like, a three-color pen where I would color coordinate my notes. And I could pick whatever colors I want. And, you know, I could get, like, a blue-black and a sky blue and a pink. And, like, that would be my colors. And then I'd have a different three-color with, like, lime green and yellow and regular blue or something like that. So, yeah. Like, it's really cool. Like, it's definitely the most unique multi-pen. And it's a little bit difficult to recommend because you have to say, hey, here's all the things you need to think about when you go buy a Pilot High-Tech C Colito. If you're down with that, awesome. And you should also buy extra refills because you will burn through them like nobody's business, right? These gel ink refills, you just fire through these smaller capacity refills. So, it's still great. The fourth item on the list is the Rotring 600. This one is a little bit different. So, multi-pens have this kind of entry-level price point like these two that I mentioned up top, the Jetstream and the Tombow Mono. The Colito is not overly expensive. Like, you can get into a Colito for probably less than $10. Like, if you just bought the least expensive barrel and three refills, probably $10 or $12. And then you have companies that like to make the larger metal barrel multi-pens. You know, Lamy has a great one. And there's some other companies that have, you know, your $50 to $100 higher-end style of multi-pen. And the Rotring is up in that category for quality. But price-wise, it's $46 when I reviewed it. And, like, I thought that was extremely low for, like, the quality of the pen and what you get. And compared to the rest of the market, I thought it was pretty cool. So, I've enjoyed using that one, like, pretty continuously. It's just a neat pen. You know, I love Rotrings. And, like, the 600 style is just great. And to see that translated into, like, a pen like this is pretty cool. It's a classic. Yeah, it's a classic. And, like, Rotring is doing, like, they're on this, like, I don't know, this modernization kick where not everything is just silver or black anymore. So, like, the one I reviewed was blue with the red markings. So, like, they did the original 600 mechanical pencil and that blue with red. And they did the red one and they did the green one. And now they're transferring those colorways into these products. And I think it looks fantastic. So, last one is one that I need to review. And it's the Pilot Juice Up 3. So, this is more in line with the first two, the Jetstream 3 color and the Tombow Monograph, where you just buy, like, a preset type of pen. But this has the great Pilot Juice Drink, Juice Gel Ink refills. Also, Juice Drinks don't drink the ink. I'll probably not do that. But, yeah, like, it doesn't have the broad options like the Colito. Again, like, no one's going to beat the Colito. Like, there's the Uni Style Fit, which I just don't think is as good as the Colito. But you get the Juice Up. It's a thinner barrel, right? So, one of the challenges that I always have with the multi-pens is if the barrel gets too wide, right? There's a balance, right? You have to give up some of the barrel diameter to fit the multitude of refills you want to put in there. But there is a tipping point where it gets too wide. So, the Juice Up just does a good job of keeping a narrower barrel than some of these other pens. So, yeah. That is my multi-pin breakdown.

Brad Dowdy: Ballpoint pens. I say that the multi-pin didn't have that much, like, you know, new technology in there. Even though it kind of does. There's, like, some new shapes and designs. You can kind of say that with the ballpoint pen, too. There's, like, a little bit of change in there that I like to see. But the ballpoints are really, like, it's your stalwarts are here, right? The Jetstream is number one. Like, and there should just be, like, a line of demarcation after that, right? It's Jetstream's number one, and there's everything else. The Pilot Acroball is Pilot's attempt at the Jetstream, and it's good. Like, I really like how the Acroball writes. You just have way more options in the Jetstream, and I think the ink performance is a little bit better, even though I thoroughly enjoy the Acroball. Well, the Zebra Blend is Zebra's Jetstream idea, these hybrid ballpoint inks. And it's a newer pen. I shockingly like the barrel marketing that they're putting out there for this. I'm like, okay, fine. It works. It's very nice. It's very comfortable. It is very limited in options, even less so than the Acroball. So, if Zebra leans into this over the next few years, like, it could be up there in number two. They have a long – anyone has a long way to go to compete with the Jetstream. This is – out of all the lists, I'd have to go look at them all. Like, this is one of the biggest outliers from number one to number two around. Number four, I have to have the Big Crystal. Like, we talked about it last week in that Pick'em game that we played. It's uniquely great. Like, it's great. Like, I just love the Big Crystal. I love using it. I love the looking at it. I love the idea of it. I love the simplicity of it. I love the ubiquitousness of it. And I would recommend it. You know, it's the first ballpoint ink on this list that's not a hybrid ballpoint, which is what most people don't really care about that stuff if they're just grabbing a pen. But that's how good this pen is, right? If you're not in the hybrid ink category, I think you're picking the Big Crystal. It's that good. And then I capped off the fifth selection with the Fisher Space Pen. I think it has to be there, almost on a technicality, right? It's so good at what it does. It's like the jet stream of the pressure refills, right? Like, if you need the pressurized refill for certain writing situations, there's nothing that's better than the Fisher Space Pen. And I think it makes the list because once you get out of these top five ballpoint pens, everything else is the same, right? It's just like, okay, do I like this design of this pen? Because the refill is just going to be the same as literally everything. Like, I love the Caran D'Ache 849. If I was making my own list, it would probably be number two behind the jet stream, right? If I was making Brad's list, but this isn't my list. But I love that pen. But, you know, it's in the same category as everything else. The Parker Jotter is another one, right? It's a classic, great ballpoint pen. And super awesome click, Myke, as we very well know. And it's a great pen. Like, that could be someone's number one pen. Just like the Caran D'Ache 849 could be my number one pen, right? It just doesn't make a recommendations list. Like, the Caran D'Ache is like $25 for like a base one, right? That's, it's just not going to make my list over, you know, when someone's saying, hey, give me a good ballpoint pen that I can just use every day. Hey, you know, I'm a student or, you know, I just need to take notes in the office. But if they say, hey, I like ballpoints. I want something with a nicer barrel. Then we start getting into, hey, take a look at the Caran D'Ache 849, things like that, right? That's not what I'm trying to solve here. So, those are good. Last one, Myke.

Brad Dowdy: Pretty, I don't know, pretty light turnover in the mechanical pencils, even though I do think there is some cool stuff happening in the mechanical pencil range. And this might actually be maybe even more over the next couple of years, some transition in and out of these lists. But it's really hard to beat the top three on this list, which is the Rotring 600, which we refer to in the multi-pin category. The pencil has been around longer. It is the mechanical pencil. It is the mechanical pencil, right?

Brad Dowdy: But I get the fact that it may not be as far ahead as number two on the list as, like, I think the Jetstream is ahead of the Acroball because of the price, right? It's a $30-plus mechanical pencil. It's worth it. It's worth every penny. It has withstood the test of time. It has withstood everything. Like, it is really one of the best stationary products ever made. Number two on the list is the Pentel Sharp. And you could have the same arguments with that, except it's a plastic barrel pencil. It's about $7 or $8. It's been around for 50 years. It's just hard to beat these types of pencils, right? And, you know, ranking them one or two, I'm always going to recommend the 600 over pretty much anything else as far as a mechanical pencil. But I do have to consider, like, okay, maybe not everyone wants to spend $30 on a mechanical pencil. Like, I get that. Then you start to look at the Pentel Sharp. Number three is the Uniball Kuretoga, right? You can get the base-level Kuretogos for about $6. They're fantastic.

Myke Hurley: Did you consider the Dive?

Brad Dowdy: I did not. Okay. I did not consider the Dive. I think it is one of the unwritten rules of the top five list is ease of acquisition. And I'm not going to recommend something that people just can't go out and click a button and arrive at their house, right? So, in the Dive, if I was making my list, right, that's kind of the breakdown. Okay, what's Brad's personal list versus what's Brad's recommendations, right? The top five pens page is a recommendations page. The Dive would not make my top five pencils either. So, it's just not that much of a game changer. It's interesting. I'm glad that it exists. And I hope they keep working on it. I don't need the Dive.

Brad Dowdy: I rarely reach for the Dive. It's like sitting right here. And I like it. And every now and then, I'll grab it. But I just tend to go for like a skinnier pencil. Like, it's tough. But the base, Kuretogos, yeah, it's great. And if you want to argue that that's number one, sure. Like, I'm not going to argue. Like, these top three on the list, I think they're pretty interchangeable. Number four is the most underrated mechanical pencil. It's the Tombow Monograph Shaker. It feels so good to use. Like, it's just built like a tank. It's like $6. And it's got a shaker mechanism. It's got an oversized eraser. And it's just, it looks cool. It works great. I absolutely adore that pencil. And then I couldn't have a recommendations list. Kind of like the Fisher Space Pen for the ballpoint list. The Pentel Carry on the mechanical pencils list. I think it gets, I recommend it because I think people should be aware of it. Right? People will say, hey, I want to buy a nice mechanical pencil. Okay. Well, they're expecting to see something like the Rotring 600 or the Uniball Kuretoga. But, hey, this thing over here is just as good as all those. And it's really different. Right? It's a Captain Mechanical Pencil. It's a weird looking thing. It is. But I think it deserves it. So, it's just, it's a great, great pencil. And it's only like $15, $16. Like, it's not crazy expensive. Right? It's not like a $50 mechanical pencil or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah. This list, this, out of a lot of the lists on here, this one could be like a top 10 mechanical pencils because I think there's a bunch of good stuff. Like, I've left off the Pentel Graph Gear. There's actually two models of the Graph Gear that I like. I like the 500 and the 1000. I like the Pentel Smash is a personal favorite of mine. The Uni Shift Pipe Lock is a personal favorite of mine.

Myke Hurley: Some of these names, man. What is going on in mechanical pencils? You say the Uni Shift Pipe Lock?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Great name. It's kind of like the, what's the friction I'm about? The Ball Knock Zone. Ball Knock Zone. Ball Knock Zone, baby. Yeah. Come on. That review's coming up. We'll talk about that one next week. I'm going to be reviewing that one next week. Ball Knock Zone? Ball Knock Zone. It's on the list. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: It's actually called, in English, Ball Knock Zone? Correct. Or such as a translation? That's what they called it.

Brad Dowdy: Correct.

Myke Hurley: Ball Knock Zone. All right.

Brad Dowdy: So, that leaves, we should end it there. That leaves, I need to update the wooden pencils category. I need to make some, I need to work on that one a little bit more. I need to test out some more things. After that, I think I'm about done with this list. It's been a big, long, long project. And, like, it's one of those lists that as soon as you're done, you want to redo it again. So, well, we're not going to jump right into that immediately. But maybe not too long.

Myke Hurley: Ball Knock Zone.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Coming soon.

Brad Dowdy: All right. A couple of other news items. And then I want to get to, like, maybe one STPA this week. Shout out of the week, Myke. Yes. One of the goals, one of the goals with doing this was to broaden the scope outside of blogs, which was the original idea of this. So, you know, we can have YouTube channels. We can have podcasts. This time, I want to do, shout out an Instagram account. And this is from Clarissa. Many of you might know as the Snowy Studio. So, I got to meet Clarissa at the San Francisco Pen Show. She was just a joy to be around. And her Instagram feed is just drool-worthy, right? So, like, these are the kind of accounts and shout outs. Like, I want to give to people to go, hey, check this out if you haven't seen this before. And maybe give them a follow. In this case, it's Instagram. Some other cases, it might be a podcast. Sometimes it might be a blog. Sometimes it might be a YouTube channel. So, it's fun to be able to mix in and show, like, all of these great accounts. Like, all these great Instagram accounts that we talk about from some time. So, go check out the Snowy Studio on Instagram. And big shout out to Clarissa, who has been, like, super awesome to finally meet and get to talk to on occasion. So, she's great.

Discussion on the Turkey-Syria earthquake

Brad Dowdy: We obviously had a big world event with the earthquake in Turkey. Turkey in Syria. Turkey in Syria. Just a huge, huge, horrible event. Just very disastrous.

Myke Hurley: One of those just, like, absolutely can't wrap your head around. Kind of. It's just a horror. And ongoing.

Brad Dowdy: Like, it's not stopping, right? There's just aftershocks. And in our little world, you know, I know a lot of people are fans of Galen Leather. And they have reached out to say that everything is fine with them. And I just wanted to point that out because I've gotten a lot of emails. Hey, have you heard from Galen Leather? Hey, what's going on? And, you know, I did want to inundate them with questions. And I didn't know exactly where they were located in the country. You know, relative to, like, the epicenter. But they're safe and sound. And they're just trying to process it all right now. So, they've made an update on Instagram. I just wanted to point that out for everyone who has been asking and keeping them in their thoughts. And they're going to be coming out with some information on how you can help in the coming days and weeks. You know, once they get back on their feet and just, you know, wrapping their head around, like, the seriousness of the situation in that part of the world. So, our thoughts are definitely with them. So, I wanted to make sure to point that out. So, you know, it's something to think about.

Brad Dowdy: Lastly, the California Pen Show is coming up this weekend. This is the new California Pen Show outside of L.A. Or actually in L.A. I think it's by the L.A. airport. So, this is the new owner, new promoter of the show. So, I'm looking forward to hearing from attendees and vendors alike how this show is going. I have high hopes for it, knowing who's involved with it. And it looks like it's getting some good feedback. I know a lot of people are planning on attending. A lot of vendors planning on going. So, I look forward to hearing more from that in the coming weeks. I know Kimberly, who writes for the Pen Act, will be out there. So, we'll have some feedback from the show from her directly. And I know she doesn't hold back. So, I look forward to getting her feedback and hearing from anyone else who's at the show. So, if you all have any feedback, definitely let us know.

Myke Hurley: All right. Before we finish today, I have an Ask TPA question you wanted to get to from Andrew. Andrew says, when selling pens, how do you approach pricing when the pen was obtained at remarkable price? If it was a gift or free, can you sell it?

Brad Dowdy: This is a great question. And I told Andrew I would tackle this on the show this week because I'm getting ready to sell a bunch of pens from my collection. So, the number one thing to keep in mind when I talk about this is my rules only apply to me. Right? I'm in a unique situation. So, you know, I have a lot of access. I'm sometimes able to get deals and discounts. Sometimes I get given things.

Brad Dowdy: I'm also, don't buy and sell pens for a living. Right? Right? So, my job is not, I'm not a pen salesperson. Right? I'm not looking at the market, buying products to resell. Right? I'm buying things to test out, see if I enjoy them for myself, you know, keep a lot of them. And then sometimes, you know, a pen doesn't fit my particular needs. I'm fine selling pens. But I'm not ever, I don't ever buy products looking to sell them. But sometimes you kind of fall backwards into some really good deals that you don't really intend to at the time. And sometimes something happens like with Conant. Right? Like I have a Conant that I bought at like a completely fair price. I don't use it. And now, guess what? Like I didn't know that Conant was going to pretty much vanish from the earth. And the price of these pens went through the roof. Right? So, how do I price something like that? Another example would be, which prompted Andrew's email, is like I bought a pen at an auction for like a very low price compared to what it sells for on the open market. So, how do I approach this? So, let me tackle the last part of his question first, which is the easiest part. If it was a gift or free, can that be sold? My rule for me says no. So, those are always pens that I give to people or use for giveaways. I have never sold a pen that I've gotten for free for anything. Like that is a hard, fast rule for me personally. Right? If I was given the pen, it can never be sold for money. I can use it for a giveaway and give it away to somebody. Yeah. Right? Or anything like that. But I will never ever, under any circumstances, sell a product that was given to me for free. So, that one's easy. The second part is the price question. So, there's two different kind of things. One is sometimes I can buy a product at a discount. Right? So, let's say I buy a $200 pen for $150. Right? Whatever. Like someone gave me a discount or whatever. I will resell that pen at close to like the price. I will base how I sell that pen on what I paid for the pen. Right? So, if it's a $200 pen that I paid $150 for and I've used it a little bit and, you know, I might sell it for like $125. Like I don't ever, I'm not looking to ever necessarily make money on the pens that I sell. I mean, of course, I don't want to, I'm not going to sell it for $50. Right? But like I don't try to, I will never kind of take those discounts to my advantage if I go to resell a pen. Right? That's not something I would ever do. It's just like that's the gift or free part. Like it's just not negotiable. Right? I got a good deal. I'm going to pass the good deal on if I go to sell this pen. And then kind of the third category is, hey, I got a pen at a remarkable price. So, like the Conant example, I paid full retail price for that pen. It just so happens that now that pen is just like shot up in value for whatever reason. Right? Inaccessible type of thing that people like. Or like I just like lucked into like a good auction price. I will, it's not as defined, but I kind of tend to split the difference there. Right? So, I will never try to capitalize fully on the hype price of a pen that I paid like a normal price for. Right? Let's say I bought a Conant for $400 and now they're selling them on eBay for $1,200. Well, I might sell it for like $700. Right? Because I'm going to get more than I paid for it. And I'm not going to like sell mine for like $350 all of a sudden. But I'm going to put a reasonable price, reasonable non-price gougy price on it. Just because of like, I don't need to. Right? It's, I'm not in the pen selling business. I don't, I'm not out here trying to extract every dollar I can in a pen sale. Right? But like some people who run, say like a used pen business or like a resale pen business. I'm not talking about a retailer. Right? I'm talking about just someone who like buys and sells pens. Like in the secondary market, like they would be trying like, and have every right to try to extract the most value out of their purchase to their sale price. Right? I have never been in that, that, you know, situation. That's not something I'm trying to do. So I've bought a pen at a fair price. I've enjoyed it for a while. For whatever reason, it doesn't work for me. And if it happens to have like all of a sudden been like a really expensive pen, like I'm not going to go out here like at the top of the market. I'm going to, I'll charge something like much lower than you would expect, but still much higher than like I paid for it. That's just kind of how I look at those things. So I hope that's just kind of a general answer to that. I hope I handled the question appropriately. If you have more questions about that, let me know or some more specific instances. But that's generally how I, and again, this is literally only my rules, right? Like it's just, that's just the way I operate with this type of stuff. You know, I'm not a retailer. I'm not trying to, you know, extract the most profit from a pen, like in a resale business or anything like that. I'm just trying to like, if I was, if I had good fortune, I'm trying to pass the good fortune on to someone else is generally how I look at it.

Myke Hurley: But this is something, you know, if you want to know more about it, want to get more kind of thoughts about it, then you can send in some feedback and go to penaddictfeedback.com. If you've got additional questions, you want maybe more answers or maybe, I don't know, maybe people looking for advice for themselves rather than just what your approach is. It's always a good place to go. And you can send in your Ask TPA questions there always. Penaddictfeedback.com is a great place. You can email longer questions to hello at penaddict.com.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, if you need us, you need us to be part of your documentary, that's where you email us.

Myke Hurley: You have to give context for this now. I'm going to read an email that me and Brad received. Well, Brad received it and he forwarded it on to me. Where is this? Oh my God, I've got like a thousand emails today. All right.

Myke Hurley: Hello, my name is Blank and I'm a researcher at Blank. We are currently producing a documentary on King Charles for National Geographic. I'll say that part. While searching for archival media, I came across your podcast episode 531, Royal Pen Content, about the leaking pen incident that King Charles had. We are interested in licensing a portion of this episode for use in our show. The network requires we get usage rights, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're on a bit of a tight budget and be willing to pay to license this clip. Additionally, if you do have any other audio clips on the challenges Charles will face when becoming king. Specifically, how he will handle Andrew. How he was blocked from attending COP. How he will handle the fallout from Harry's book and Netflix show. We may be interested in licensing those as well. Please let me know your thoughts. Now, like this was going okay. And then it just, it just really goes off the cliff. This one.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. It's like two separate emails. And one is like, hey, we ran across this clip. We would like to use it. They didn't say specifically which clip. I imagine it's not a flattering clip to the king. And then we went into, also, what are your thoughts on the monarchy? It's like, no, no, that's not really what we do here. I'm good.

Myke Hurley: No, thank you.

Brad Dowdy: So, anyway. So, yeah, that's how we get feedback chat. So, penaddictfeedback.com. Hello at penaddict.com. If we need to be in your documentary, yeah, let us know.

Myke Hurley: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Pan Addict. If you want to find links and show notes and all that kind of fun stuff, you can go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 550. If you want to find what Brad's up to, you go to penaddict.com. Spokedesign.com. Brad streams three times a week over at twitch.tv slash penaddict. You can find me here on RelayFM, hosting many shows, and also at cortexmerch.com. Thank you to Pen Chalet for the support of this episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.