The Pen Addict 608/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	608
Title:	Turn the Nib
Release Date:	March 27th, 2024
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 608
Audio File:	Audio Episode 608
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 608
Length:	5353 min <br />0.883 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 608. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and Ooni Pizza Ovens. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sorry, Myke. Hi, how are you? I shouldn't be laughing this early. The countdown intro. So, I got to thinking how you always tell me is like, we don't have to do this, but you physically can't stop. I know, but you physically can't stop doing it and it's just beautiful.

Myke Hurley: Okay, so, for the, I don't know, 12 years we've been doing this show, every episode begins with me counting Brad down 3, 2, 1, and he presses record. Now, there are a couple of things of note here. One is like, back in the day, that was needed as a way for the two of us to record it, like press record at the same time. And so, it made it easier for me in editing. I had us around the same kind of time. Although, I record both of us, so I can like match it up, but it's an easy way of doing it. One of the things that's changed over time is because we stream live, I'm recording from the moment that we go live. We stream live on the website and also we have the Discord for RelayFM members. So, now it's kind of pointless, right? Because like, I always have like a couple of minutes extra. I also now have a tool that kind of lines up the audio somewhat automatically, which helps me. But the real reason I do it now is we've been doing this for so long that I'm worried if I don't do this, you might just not press the record button at all.

Myke Hurley: And so, at this point, we're kind of just, we're stuck. And it's the way that I know you've recorded is by doing that. And so, I don't have to ask you.

Brad Dowdy: And after doing this for so long, it just becomes habit. But so, what made me giggle this time out of, you know, the 607 other times you didn't, like, I didn't crack up at this, is that it was very, it was almost so robotic that you couldn't not do it.

Myke Hurley: Oh, I have a specific way in which I say there is a cadence and it sounds like if someone was to do a supercut of, you know, they don't have the recordings. But if people had the recordings, you would be able to do a supercut and I would sound the same every single time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I don't know why it struck me as so hilarious this time.

Myke Hurley: I guess I should, this is how it goes. This is how it goes. Three, two, one. Recording every single time. That's how it goes. Exactly just like that. I do it once a week, every week, the bread on a Wednesday.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So, that was our behind the scenes. That was my fault for distracting this, but I, for some reason, it just struck me as funny this time and it's, I'm a little late on that.

Myke Hurley: Well, maybe you're the one who's funny this time, you know?

Kaweco Sport Piston discussion

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, we have some fun and maybe funny topics to cover today. We have one topic that I want to hit first that is from a company that has made a product a long time ago and has revisited it here recently. And that is the Kaweco Piston Sport AL. So, Myke, this has been a much talked about wish list item for Kaweco to bring back into their lineup. They used to make, in the before times, probably like in the 1930s, 40s, 50s era Kaweco. I don't have the exact dates, but given that time frame, in the previous ownership of the brand, they made a very similar pocket pen to the Pocket Sports, like the Kaweco Classics that we all know and love right now. The little pocket plastic pens. They made them with piston fillers and in the modern company, you know, over the last, I don't know how long they've owned it now, 10 or 15 years. They have always kind of teased like, yeah, maybe one day we'll do the piston. And then it finally, they mentioned something in the past year or two that they were actively working on it and now it is launched. So, a couple of weeks ago, we got news of the Piston Sport AL and the thing that...

Myke Hurley: Just to correct you, it is the Kaweco Sport Piston, not the Kaweco Piston Sport.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Yes.

Myke Hurley: I'm not sure if that correction is necessary. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: That's an entire podcast on Kaweco naming conventions because... And it's mostly my fault. Like, it's not their fault. But there's lots of, hey, we're going to iterate on this one pen, so we have to keep inserting words in different places that I'm used to. Right? So, it's really the same. There does... It's the Kaweco and the Sport is the pocket style. And then the Piston is the mechanism. And there's just a litany of other Kaweco Sport options out there that we won't even get into today. So, the thing that struck me the most, Myke, when this launched, and I think was probably the main talking point from everybody, this is an aluminum barrel pen. Hmm. And even when the first images came out, I didn't even think that it was, right? Until, like, I started reading into it. Like, okay, it doesn't normally look like they're black resin, black plastic Kawecos, which I just assumed it would be. This is actually an aluminum barrel. And I'm pretty intrigued by that. Even more so, like, I wanted this pen badly to begin with. Any Kaweco Sport Piston would have been fine by me. The aluminum one did not... Was not on my checklist of things that I wanted to see. And I'm kind of here for it. I'm not sure that everyone likes it. Like, I get that. You know, it's a little... It's a way to take the modern way of Kaweco building pens, mix it in with the classic style of the Piston. You know, they have their classic design elements with that. I think Kaweco's clip is beautiful. Their integrated clip is beautiful. So, I like that aspect of it. And, yeah, like, this is just kind of a really good-looking pen. It's pretty expensive, right, for a pocket-sized steel nib piston-filling fountain pen. It's probably around, like, $165, you know, give or take, wherever you buy it from and things like that. But certainly not cheap. But, like, I am 100% getting this pen as soon as I can, which maybe this month. I don't know. I'm holding off... We'll talk about next week my Atlanta Pen Show prep. This is certainly going to be on the list. So, what do you think about this pen? As someone who's never really been into the Kaweco thing, right?

Myke Hurley: I mean, I've had them. For me, Kaweco was very much of a time, like, when I was, like, earlier on, you know? When I was exploring. Because it's a great little pocket fountain pen, right? Like, and they look so good. They have so many different colors. Like, it is a classic.

Myke Hurley: The piston is intriguing to me. Just because it's, for me, something new. I'm assuming that it is... There's, like, it's a twist mechanism at the end of the pen barrel?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So, one of the big talking points from this design is the use of a blind cap over the actual piston mechanism. So, what that means is there is an integrated twist on the back of the barrel. But that twist knob is protected by a little cap. And that cap threads on. And some people don't like that just for, you know, that's one more piece I could lose type of thing. It's, like, it doesn't affect the technical aspects of it at all. But it's just one more little piece that people feel like they could lose on the back of that. So, that's never bothered me. That's never been a hang-up of mine.

Brad Dowdy: But on a pocket pen, I actually see, like, okay, that's, you know, I could see why people would not like that for sure. Because, theoretically, you would be... This wouldn't be a desk pen, right? You would be much more mobile with a pen like this. And then having that little cap exposed that's just threaded on the back maybe could be an issue. Yeah, I don't know.

Myke Hurley: So, you remove a piece? Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So, you remove a piece to access the actual piston knob that you then twist to, you know, fill the pen to deploy the plunger up and down the barrel.

Myke Hurley: I think that that might be a good design decision. This is a pocket pen, right? So, ostensibly, a mobile pen lives in your pocket. Therefore, could be subject to a lot of movement. I feel like there is maybe more of a chance of accidentally activating the piston mechanism. That's exactly right. If it was built into just the body of the pen.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I think that they've made the right choice there. Yeah. So, I put another link in there where you can go and scroll down to, like, the 7th or 8th image. You'll see the little cap design. Oh, God. I mean, it's well done. This is a normal thing, right? This is not an abnormal design decision. A lot of... Some pens do this, but then if you take, like, a Pelican 101N, which is a similar pocketable type of Pelican pen, it just has the piston built in the back. No blind cap over the actual twist knob. Yeah. So, there's a couple different ways to do it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, no, that's the right call. I'm assuming one of the things that could be really beneficial about this product, and people might be really into it for that reason, is you would be able to get more ink in it than you would a regular Kaweco.

Brad Dowdy: Without question. Right. Now that you say that, I don't... What are they saying is the capacity here? I wonder if they list the ink capacity. Because short international cartridges, you know, obviously are pretty low ink capacity. Do they even list that here?

Myke Hurley: I wonder if I can find that real quick. I can't see it on any of the links that you provided.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, did a quick scan. So...

Myke Hurley: Evan in the chat is saying a milliliter, approximately.

Brad Dowdy: A milliliter. Okay. So, what would a short international cartridge be? It's got to be half or less of that, I think. Half or less. But we'll see. Yeah, I don't know. I don't have my words.

Myke Hurley: Google says 0.7 milliliters.

Brad Dowdy: Really? That's close to that. So, three quarters almost. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I thought it would be a bigger gap there. I thought it would have been more, to be honest. But that might... What that might tell you, Brad, is that there's actually quite a lot of hardware in the piston itself. But it is more, and it also allows you to be able to use any ink, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Easier, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, let's be real. I know you can fill a cartridge, but like, come on.

Brad Dowdy: I do. I mean, I just did.

Myke Hurley: No, but like, it is, that's more, that's like significantly more fiddly, right? I agree with you 100%. Yes. I would hazard that most people listening to this show have lots of bottles of ink. And if they have a pen that has cartridges, they'll probably just buy cartridges. Rather than getting a syringe and syringe filling an ink cartridge. But I mean, of course, you can use a converter. Yeah, I realize that now as I'm talking. You can use a converter in a...

Brad Dowdy: But those short converters are brutal. They get even less. They're just, they're like, they're fine if you have to have them. Like, I have one pen that really benefits from that. Otherwise, I pretty much avoid using them because they're much worse. They're lower in capacity than the cartridges in the small pens. Yeah. For sure.

Myke Hurley: It's, looking at, again, I'm just Googling around, but it actually, it's half a milliliter. So, if we're now, I think we actually have the right comparison here. Yeah. This is double the capacity of what would be the comparable thing that most people would use, right? Like, if you are using whatever ink from a bottle that you want with a Kaweco Sport, you're probably using the converter. Right. And therefore, you're getting half a milliliter of ink. But if you've got the Kaweco Sport piston, that's double. You've got double the ink capacity. And that is, that's quite cool, I think. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, as long as you're cool with paying five times the price for the opportunity to do that, right? Like, that's the trade-off.

Myke Hurley: Sure.

Brad Dowdy: So, but I think you're right about the hardware. That's why this can't be like a, this isn't like a bulk filling type of situation where you can carry around a lot of ink. This pen has an ink window. You can see the ink level. And I imagine the piston is right inside the line there that you can't see visually. You don't have a real, you don't have a lot of space for a piston mechanism to roam in a small pocketable pen. But I can't wait. This is at the top of my list of pens to acquire to test it out, try it out. Yeah. I hope it's successful. It's pretty expensive.

Myke Hurley: Because this is a pen that deserves to be in more colors than just black.

Brad Dowdy: A hundred percent. And this is what I talk about all the time is like, and I, you know, it's a recurring theme for me here on this podcast is let me see the next one. Right. I hope this does well so I can see what's next. Sometimes that works out well and we get to see like, you know, an expansion of the product lineup, new colors, new ideas. Sometimes it's just like, eh, not really much of a change, if any, at all. So, I hope it does well. And I hope, basically I hope the mechanism does well. And I don't really see why it wouldn't. So, I look forward to testing this out. So, there we go.

Myke Hurley: Brad, I have a great place that people can buy one of these from. Where can they check it out, Myke? Over at Pen Chalet. Because Pen Chalet, they are a carrier of Coveco products as well as many others like Sailor, Namiki, Pilot, Lummi, Pelican, Monteverdi. Actually, they have a list of brands that we could, it would take us an entire episode to list the amount of brands that Pen Chalet have in their offering, in their catalog. And they have products of all kinds. Whether you're looking for a new rollerball or a fountain pen. Whether you're looking for a bottle of ink or some accessories. They really have the whole kit and caboodle, I'm going to say. They're always running special discounts. Yes, every couple of weeks you can go and find new great prices over at Pen Chalet. As well as new styles of products. You're going to find new things being added. They believe in the best customer service that can be provided. They want fasted and they want it to be reliable. In fact, they back everything up at Pen Chalet with a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their high quality products. They sell internationally with great shipping rates. And they do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US. So, take yourself over 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 for this week's special offer. And to get the code you need to save 10% on anything over at Pen Chalet. Brad, what have you found this time?

Brad Dowdy: Oh my. This is one you're going to want to check out. I mean, you want to check it out every week. I mean, it gets me many, many times a year through what I see. I started scrolling and I was like, oh, look at all these great limited edition Benus that are available at really good price. And I kept scrolling, Myke. And then, boom. Platinum 3776 Sands of Komodo. This is way cheaper than I bought mine at. And I love this pen. Beautiful pen. Then you scroll down. The aforementioned Kaweco. The Art Sports are now available to PenAddict listeners at a wonderful, amazing, wow type of price. And then, something I've never seen on this page is a pilot vanishing point. So, Ron is up to something with the products on this page right now. And y'all should definitely, it would be worth your while to check out what Pen Chalet has going on right now.

Myke Hurley: It's very easy to do it. P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and use the password PenAddict. Thanks to Pen Chalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: All right. We got our shout out of the week, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Shout out of the week.

Blake's broadcast and Sailor 123 Fountain Pen Ink review

Brad Dowdy: Blake's broadcast. So, Blake has been in this hobby for a long time in different writing formats and different production formats. So, I wanted y'all to go check out Blake's broadcast because he does great video reviews over on Blake's broadcast YouTube channel. And you can find that at the site. We'll link in there. Also, wanted to shout out Blake. He is the person behind the Paper Mind whose notebooks I love and Myke whose notebook I recently misplaced for about three weeks in my own house.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I was actually enjoying Blake's recent review of the Sailor 123 Fountain Pen Ink, which is a super, super popular ink color. And I was like, you know what? This is, it's actually his notebook that I've been like tearing up my house trying to find for the past few weeks. I luckily found it in a place it wasn't supposed to be. It's one of those deals where I had a bunch of things out of my desk and it got scooped up incorrectly and filed away into a place where it shouldn't have been. And only until I kind of went through those things again did it appear. So, I'm glad to have my Paper Mind bank paper notebook that I use for a lot of reviews. Because it's a really good paper for reviewing all different types of ink. So, shout out Blake's broadcast, the YouTube channel. Shout out the Paper Mind, the notebooks that I love.

Brad Dowdy: Myke. Myke moved the ad around this episode because he knows I'm probably going to go not out of my mind here, but I'm really confused.

Myke Hurley: I'm thinking there might be a bit of a debate here.

Sailor 2Zoo fountain pen and its market positioning

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So, I'm up for a debate on the Sailor 2Zoo fountain pen. So, this just crossed my desk yesterday. So, in short, Sailor has done a cool thing. They are making a more entry-level fountain pen. And there's also a gel ink component, which we'll completely table that until the end because I do want to talk about it. But this is really about the fountain pen that they have launched. It's a treasure for writing pleasure, Myke. That's the tagline for 2Zoo. I like that.

Brad Dowdy: I actually do like that. So, Sailor has come up with a new product that they want to market to fountain pen curious users, right? Generally speaking, just looking at the marketing, this is for, I hesitate to call them beginners, but people that are fountain pen curious, right?

Myke Hurley: This is the Lamy Safari market. They're in the Lamy Safari market. In the Lamy Safari market. That's the easiest way to, I know it's a little bit more expensive, but that's the market they're going for.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, they've done a really beautiful marketing site for this. And the premise of the pen is that the nib, so this is a traditional fountain pen nib unit, the nib rotates, or you're allowed to rotate the nib and lock it into place at 10 degree angles kind of around the barrel. I don't know the correct descriptor, but they call it the rotating nib feature. It says, turn the nib at 10 degree pitches from standard position and adjust to a desired angle. So, they allow you to grip the pen. They have a molded grip section. Again, like the Lamy Safari reference is perfect here, right? The Safari is not for everyone because it has a molded grip. This has a molded grip, and it allows you to move the, keep your grip the same, fixed on the molded grip, and then rotate the nib around left or right, depending on how you grip the pen. To give you a better opportunity to have a good writing experience with the fountain pen nib. So, have I sold this okay? Yeah. Have I sold this well? Okay. So, yeah, it's interesting. You definitely, again, brilliant product page here that goes through everything. There's some videos and everything. And why do you think we're going to fight? Like, what are your thoughts on this? You're going to say you love it and you think I dislike it. Well, yeah, I have questions. Let's just say that.

Myke Hurley: The thing for me is there is a possibility here that this is purely like we need to stand out in the market, right? And so, they have created a USP, which maybe isn't needed, right? There is a distinct possibility, which I can't say one way or another until I've actually used this pen.

Brad Dowdy: Shaking my head vigorously.

Myke Hurley: Say again?

Brad Dowdy: I said I'm shaking my head. I'm nodding my head vigorously. Okay. You said shaking, and that threw me off. Yeah. Sorry. Nodding.

Myke Hurley: But for me, as a left-handed person, I could imagine a real benefit to this, where I feel like sometimes I have to really fight with a pen to get it to work, and especially things with molded grips. But I think that molded grips can be really helpful, especially if you're just starting out for the first time. And I think that's why Lamy have it, because it allows you to kind of learn a decent grip, but you don't necessarily have the right angle. Like, I'm on an overhooker, right? Yeah. And I wonder, what I don't know is, but I wonder, would something like this enable me to get a more consistent, better experience? Like, I don't know the answer to that, but I think it could. Yeah, I'd say there's a shot, right? It's kind of interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's super interesting. Some of their imagery on their website doesn't really help to show it. Like, they have this, like, before and after thing, and I can't really see any difference. But, like, I trust that there is a difference, but I can't really see it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's the office. I was going to call that out as, like, the office meme is, like, tell the difference between these two pictures, right?

Myke Hurley: But I think it might just be something that, like, it's just really hard to show. But I will, like, reserve judgment on this until I can try it out. But I can imagine some fun and some, like, interesting results in something like this. And I imagine it could result in a pen that is more comfortable for a lot of people. Like, I really, especially first-time fountain pen users. Although you do have the problem that if you get used to this, then you're going to mesh yourself up for other grips. But don't worry. Don't worry about that because all you're ever going to use is the Sailor 2Z. So don't even worry about it. So, yeah. That's my thinking. I could imagine that there is a benefit to this. But I can't say it one way or another because I've not used it.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And that makes the point, yeah, like, you've actually made the point that I wanted to bring up. And I'll caveat this whole thing with I'm very pro Tuzu. Like, I want this product to exist. I'm super pro that this exists. But as someone who's very experienced in this realm, it makes me feel like I'm being dense about this when I say, why don't you get the Platinum Preppy and just twist the nib, twist the grip in your hand? Because this is what a traditional non-molded grip allows you to do. It allows you to turn the nib and point it in the correct direction without telling you how to grip the pen. Molded grips are really comfortable, though.

Myke Hurley: They're really comfortable. And I think especially if you're trying to get to grips of fountain pens for the first time, holding a pen in a molded grip is useful. Like, there is a use to that.

Brad Dowdy: Like, do you think Taylor Swift would be able to use this pen? Like, not everyone has a traditional grip.

Myke Hurley: I have no idea what that reference is.

Brad Dowdy: All right. While I'm vamping here, you're going to go look up Taylor Swift writing grip. Okay. So, this is like, I just feel that this is good marketing, right? Like, I'm in. Like, oh, I've never been able to write with a... Oh, my gosh.

Myke Hurley: I used to go to school with a guy who wrote like this. Used to hold pens like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And everyone always made fun of him.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. There's a lot of abnormal grips out there. So, this is the problem with the Lamy Safari.

Myke Hurley: But maybe this would help Taylor, you know?

Brad Dowdy: It probably would, honestly. Maybe.

Myke Hurley: Teze, and we should, you know, mark it directly to her. Maybe it would be good.

Brad Dowdy: But my point being, she could use a Platinum Preppy and have the same experience. She would just have to rotate the pen in her hand until the grip gets in the right place. I mean, until the nib is pointed in the right direction, right? This is only a problem because there's a molded grip on the pen. And to the point that you made earlier is, well, if I learn how to write with this, am I ever going to be able to use another fountain pen that's not the Tuzu? Right? And you know the answer is no, right? Because you just rotate a traditional grip in your hand to the spot that you need. And so, like, I feel like I'm just being dense about this whole thing, right? Because it doesn't seem necessary at all. At the same time, I want this to exist because now we can talk about it. And now someone might try a fountain pen for the first time because of the Tuzu. And I'm here for that, right? But to say that this is going to solve the writing problems, like, in perpetuity, right? When you go to the next pen that has a round grip, you just turn it to where you need that angle to be. Like, I'm just kind of flummoxed by the whole thing in the, pardon the pun, but the heavy-handedness or the aggression of the marketing. It's like, oh, this is solving a problem. It's solving a problem that doesn't exist. It's giving someone a new idea, right? It's not solving a problem. It's putting a new idea out into the world. And that I'm very much for.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But this is what I was saying earlier. Like, is it that useful? I don't know. But what it is doing is it sets them apart. And sometimes that's what you need. Because why would you buy this over anything else, you know? Yeah. And so, there you are.

Brad Dowdy: So, I'm 100% into the Tuzu. Like, I just feel like. I like the look of it.

Myke Hurley: I love the look of this pen.

Brad Dowdy: So, that's one of the questions I had, Myke. Just outside of the technical aspects of it, right? Right.

Brad Dowdy: It's interesting to me that this is one of the most non-Sailor looking pens I've seen.

Myke Hurley: If you showed me this, Brad, I would think it was Lamy.

Brad Dowdy: If you showed me this, I would have thought Tuzu was a new brand.

Myke Hurley: Well, that too. That's what I think. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, I would. If you showed me this, I would believe that. I would think that was the case. But if you showed me this and said, which pen brand is making this? If you showed me the image, I would say that was a Lamy for sure. Yep. I mean, but look, maybe. I mean, if you look at most of their marketing for it, though, it's very Tuzu forward. Like, I think that they are trying. Like, their actual website, like, outside of the fact that it says Sailor at the bottom, you would not know that this was. Like, does it even have a Sailor logo on the pen? Yeah. I'm not sure that it does. So, I think on the nib, it does, maybe. But yeah, I think that they are trying to make this a sub-brand. And maybe this would be a brand that could spawn more products. And I think that that is very sensible for Sailor for kind of where they are.

Brad Dowdy: I completely agree. This is something that Pilot would do, right? This feels like a very Piloty type of thing. And I wonder if Sailor's seen some of, like, these Pilot sub-brand focuses that they've done. Not really in the fountain pens, in fountain penscope, but I'm talking about, like, the ILM, ILY, which, like, I mean, it does say Pilot on the barrels of those. But that's not the front branding. The front branding is the ILM, ILY. And this one, the front branding is Tuzu. And they're going to have these writing. It looks like they're going to have, like, displays and, like, you know, a lot of information and a lot of testers. Like, I'm assuming, like, in Japan, in the Japanese market, where they actually have space for these types of setups. I think it's going to be pretty cool. I think it's going to do pretty well as far as a product goes.

Brad Dowdy: One of the interesting things to me is that they're offering a gel ink pen option, which, honestly, I think adds confusion to what they're trying to do with the Tuzu. Because my first question with the gel model is, oh, does this rotate too?

Brad Dowdy: Right? Shouldn't that be my first question, given what you're marketing as the Tuzu? And it's not. It's clearly, obviously not. Like, there's no point to that. So it's just a standard gel ink pen. So it's like a mixed messaging type of thing. Even though I'm super interested and they're partnering, which this is one of my things that I find just crazy interesting. They're using, they're partnering with Pentel to use the Energel needle refill. I was very confused by that. Sailor makes gel ink refills. At least they used to. And maybe it might be a pre-plus thing. But Sailor makes gel ink pens. They're using the Pentel Energel, the LNR5 refill, which is the needlepoint 5mm black refill.

Brad Dowdy: It seems just counterintuitive to what you're telling me the Tuzu is. Oh, also, there's a gel ink pen. That's just normal. Right? So it's, yeah, it's interesting. So it should almost be like a separate product. But I digress. You know, I guess they have most of the barrel there. They're just adding the opportunity to do the refill. But, yeah, like my first question seeing that is like, ooh, where's the rotation here? Like, do I get to move this around somehow? Like, which would be pointless, which goes back to my whole reason for the, why does the Tuzu exist? Again, I am not being too hard on them. I'm happy this exists. I think this is, this is super interesting from a Sailor perspective for them to do something like this. And I'm here for it. Like, I can't wait to try this out. So I will be mostly interested in seeing how I can break it. And what I mean, what I mean is I have a very traditional riding grip and setup, right? So like the Lamy Safari, why I like it so much is because I just lock right into that riding style. So what I want to do is have that riding style, but then turn the nib and then just keep my same angle and do like opposite of what it wants. I want to make my comfortability worse, if you will. Like put it at a non-standard angle and see how it goes. Because that could be pretty cool. I could be down with that. But then again, I could just take one of my pins I already have and do it sideways. So there you go. Sailor Tuzu. So it looks like it's coming in April, probably. So I'm a little bit confused on the pricing. They don't list the pricing on the Tuzu official website. Sailor North America put it at $55 MSRP, which for them to, this is on their Instagram, to list it with the MSRP connotation at the end of the pricing makes me think it's going to be like a $45 street price. That's just assumptions at this point. When you do, in those same images, they were at a trade show and they had the boards up and they had the yen prices listed on there. When you do just like a yen to dollar conversion, it's more like $38. So my guess, like in the US market, it's going to be in like the mid-40s. But maybe, like 55 is a big ask, but we'll see. I mean, there's a lot of, quote, technology in this. You know, there's a lot of little manufacturing pieces that I'm sure add up to the cost. But I think it would do a lot better, like in 40 to 45 as opposed to 55.

Brad Dowdy: And then based on that yen conversion to USD for the gel ink pen, it looked like it was about $18, right? So it's just a real standard pen. So that's probably going to be like 25. So maybe like a 45 and a 25 thing, but maybe a little bit more. So no real clear picture yet. So at 55, it's going to be a tough ask, I think, just general. But I think maybe it's actually going to be more like 45-ish. So we'll see. But I'll definitely get one of these. I think they look cool. I'm glad Sailor's trying something different and new. And we'll see how it goes. So like I'm very positive to see what comes from the Tuzu in the long term.

Myke Hurley: Very cool.

Brad Dowdy: Very cool.

Ooni Pizza Ovens and their features

Myke Hurley: All right. Let's take our second break and thank Uni for their support of this week's episode. Ooni Pizza Ovens are the world's number one pizza oven company. They let you make restaurant-quality pizza in your own home, your own backyard, maybe even in your own kitchen.

Brad Dowdy: Maybe in your kitchen.

Myke Hurley: Ooni Pizza Ovens can reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit and cook pizza in a little 60 seconds. The high temperature is what will separate these pizzas that you'll make in an Uni oven from those that you make in a regular oven. Uni Ovens are super quick to heat up to get to those incredible temperatures. It takes just 20 minutes, which from my experience is enough time to get all your toppings ready. And you start getting your dough ready, get your first base ready, and you're good to go. Whether you love an authentic wood-fired flavor, whether you like the convenience of cooking in gas, doesn't matter what you want to do. Whether you like to cook with wood, charcoal, gas, or even electricity, there is an Uni oven that fits your need and lifestyle. Uni has designed ovens like the wood pellet-fueled Fyra 12 and the multi-fueled Karu 12G for maximum portability. It's made for those who like cooking on the go, camping, or getting out into the wilderness. But if you want both the convenience of gas and love the flavor of wood-fired cooking, Uni's Karu line has you covered. Because you can cook with wood or charcoal right out of the box and there's an optional gas burner for flexibility. You could change your mind down the line. You know, maybe you end up like just with a Karu to start with and then you maybe want to get like a barbecue or something. And you like a grill and then you get that as a gas one and then you can like mix between them. Or if you have like an outdoor heater or something and you use gas for that, then maybe like, oh, I can get the gas burner for my Uni Karu. There's also Uni's electric volt 12 pizza oven where you can make pizza both indoors and outdoors. This is the one that I have. I want to make pizza all the time now. I love this oven so much. It's so much fun. It's so great. It's so easy to clean in that it cleans itself. Like it really is. This thing is fantastic. I love all the features. I love that it has the little window on the front door so I can see inside and see how the pizza is cooking. It really is just incredible. Like I cannot believe that I'm able to produce pizza of this quality in my own home. Like it's really amazing. They're also for more than just pizza though. You can cook burgers, fajitas, buffalo wings and so much more. I have like the Uni app is really good. They have loads of like recipes and stuff and I have some saved in there where it's you're cooking other things rather than just pizza.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's what I need to work on this year is do the extra stuff. Do like sandwiches or just all the other fun stuff.

Myke Hurley: What I really want to do, so we have a sous vide and that's really incredible for cooking steak, right? But you've got to sear the steak at the end. Otherwise, it looks kind of weird. And I reckon that my Uni would be really good for searing because it gets so hot so you could get it done very quickly without like overcooking the steak. So I'm going to try that out. Ooni Pizza Oven Start at just $299 for free shipping to the US, the UK and the EU. And they also make a ton of accessories. Cast iron cookware, pizza peels, thermometers and so much more. Listeners of this show can get 10% of their purchase of an Ooni Pizza Oven. Just go to uni.com and use the code PENADDICT2024 at checkout. Ooni Pizza Ovens are the best way to bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. So go to OONI.com and use the code PENADDICT2024 and you'll get yourself 10% off. A thanks to Ooni Pizza Ovens for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Nodus Sector Dive GMT Pen Addict Edition watch

Brad Dowdy: All right. We have last call, Myke, for the Nodus Sector Dive GMT Pen Addict Edition watch. This is the watch we've talked about for a couple of weeks. With the collaboration with Notice, it has gone extremely well. Past any of all of our estimations on what we would do for this watch. And today's the last day to get it. If you're listening to this podcast on the same day it releases. Midnight Pacific on Wednesday, March 27th is when the pre-orders close. So this is in a pre-order phase. You pay half now and you pay the other half when it's ready to ship this summer. The watch is, like I said, blown past any expectations. Wes of Notice has found out how many pen addicts there are out there. He was at an event this weekend and mentioned that people who were just kind of more into watches have actually heard of the pen addict. And they just really like how the watch turned out. And it's been, I think, super interesting for him to see the possibilities of these type of crossover product collaborations. So it's been very cool. So, yeah, yeah, he's been very happy with it. And, again, as someone in myself who had no clue how this was going to go, I'm super excited about getting a watch, too. So it'll be fun. So last call today. So next up, Myke, this is a little bit of an advanced look at the Lamy All-Star 2024 limited edition colors because they're not officially out yet. But it's one of those situations where the products are physically at stores, as in they're being warehoused at retailers because I have seen live pictures of the products. But they're not available in as far as Lamy goes, as far as their releases go. Like, you know, they're not marketing them on Instagram or doing like the big pushes that we've seen yet. But the information is out there. So I felt like it was good enough to share. And what happened is our good friends over at Google cache some of the images of the live pages that were put up by different retailers. You can go find a little search in there if you want to see what we have in Fiery. Which is one of the two models. It's a red barrel with a red translucent grip and aquatic, which is a blue barrel and a blue translucent grip. What do you think about these All-Star colors?

Myke Hurley: They look good. Yeah. I think they're great. I think they're more than good. I say great. What I'll say, the benefit, like, sorry, the real, I think it looks like the grip sections are translucent.

Brad Dowdy: Definitely. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I just wanted to double check. That's how it looks in the image. That is what sets them apart for me.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yes. In the past, what the All-Star was, was a aluminum barrel. It could be a dark color. It could be a bright color, however they wanted to do it. And then they would just stick with their stock gray, kind of a dark gray translucent barrel. Like, that was the given that the All-Star was going to do. So they started mixing it in a little bit more. Some colors. Just like a year or two ago, we saw a red pin with a yellow grip. So that's what they've done. They've also added in black trim, right? So it's black clip, black nib for these, as opposed to the silver, which I think is an interesting choice. And it looks good. I actually like them a lot.

Myke Hurley: On the ballpoint, especially, which looks really fun, it matches the cone?

Brad Dowdy: The nose cone, yeah. The nose cone and the knock. The knock being like a black rubber. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So I actually... Yeah, they're all very good.

Brad Dowdy: I actually called out the ballpoint specifically because I thought the Safari ballpoints were super basic. And the All-Star ballpoints look way, way better. So I think those are going to be... I mean, no one... Not many people. I'm one of the few, like, Lamy Safari ballpoint lovers out there. I love this pin. Like, I have a genuine love for it. And it's... The All-Star one is going to be great. Like, I'm more excited about the ballpoint than the fountain pen. But I'll get the fountain pens. I think the fountain pens are good. You know, given the colors, it did save them from having to make matching inks. If they do come out with a fiery ink and aquatic ink, when they already make red and blue inks in their standard lineup, I think that'll be prime for some content there. So I actually kind of want them to come out with a fiery ink and aquatic ink. So that would be amazing. I have a question, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Why is fiery not spelled F-I-R-E-Y?

Brad Dowdy: That's something I thought about as I was putting down the fiery barrier. What... It's... You know, when you say fiery, when you spell fiery, like, you know, like in the case of this pen, it's spelled, you know, fiery, you know. And I don't understand why it's not spelled like fire-y. That's a really good question. That's a real problem I had when I was putting together the show notes yesterday. Like, I know how to spell fiery. Like, yeah, that's 100% how you spell fiery, but why isn't it F-I-R-E-Y?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: It should be.

Brad Dowdy: Like, because there's no word. There's fear. F-I-E-R isn't a word.

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think.

Brad Dowdy: So anyway, we digress. I'm the wrong one to be, like, talking about, like, grammar and spelling and things like that. But that... I had a real problem with that yesterday. And even though that's a word I've used, like, my entire life, fiery, I never questioned it. Now I'm stuck on it. Anyway, fiery and aquatic. That's the new Lamy All-Star. These are going to be... I wouldn't be surprised if these release this week.

Brad Dowdy: And no later than next week. Because they are physically at buildings ready to be shipped to you, like, as we speak. So I'd imagine they're going to release any day now. And if you're interested in that, check them out. I'll probably pick some up at the Atlanta Pen Show. Again, we'll save that pre-show prep for next week. But they will be on the list. And I probably won't be able to get the ballpoints at the Pen Show. Because no one carries the ballpoints because they don't sell. But except to me, I like the ballpoints. So there you go.

Myke Hurley: I'm really stuck on this now. The language.

Brad Dowdy: See? See?

Myke Hurley: Huh. Yeah. Should we do some R-TPA?

Brad Dowdy: Probably. Probably. I think we should.

Best pocket notebooks for fountain pen use

Myke Hurley: Jason asks, what pocket notebook, three and a half by five and a half, kind of like field note size, has the best paper fountain pens? By best, I'm thinking less bleed through, dries quickly, and for me, is extra smooth.

Brad Dowdy: Classic pen addict question that I've never had the perfect answer for, right? This is why the question keeps coming up. Because it's not easy to find something like this. In the past, you would have to go to some smaller makers who would do small runs. I'm thinking of someone like Pebble Stationery. We can put a link in there. But I haven't checked into them recently. But they would make small pocket notebooks, three and a half by five and a half. And they would use Tomoe River. They might have even done a Cosmo Air Lite one. So they would take these popular fountain pen papers and make them into pocket notebooks. For an easier accessible pocket notebook, Write Notepads have always used a very good fountain pen friendly paper. It's fractionally bigger than three and a half by five and a half. I don't have the exact dimensions. But, you know, add in just like a small fraction on each size, just being a little bit bigger, but smaller than like four by six.

Brad Dowdy: It's not like a super specifically feature set for fountain pen inks, but works extremely well on them. And then if you want to venture out into something a little bit bigger, you can get the Midori A6 notebooks. I hesitate to call those pocket notebooks, but I just have such a love for that particular notebook because I love the paper and I love the size format of it. It's basically like a, it'd be like a double, double thick field notes, right? Or maybe even almost like a 3X field notes. But it's around that same size. It's not purely pocketable though. I will freely admit to that. But I kind of think more people might want to consider some A6 type of notebooks when they're thinking about like having a pocket notebook option because it's a really compact size. Although like if you put it in your pocket and like it's going to be too big and bulky for that. So look at what Pebble Stationery is doing. Check out Write Pads. And then if you want to experiment, look at something A6-ish. Because A6 is, if you look at some of the companies that make A6 notebooks is where you're going to find some of your real fountain pen friendly stuff, right? You know, you can get some Hobonichis in that size. You can get Midori's in that size. Life in that size. Like all your Japanese brands that are good for fountain pens are going to come in A6 size. They just really don't make many smaller than that.

Myke Hurley: Do these companies use, are they using like specific good fountain pen paper or do they just use good fountain pen paper? You know what I'm saying?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So Hobonichi has actually made pocket notebooks before where they've used whatever Tomoe River they have in stock, which is now, you know, the Sanzanese. So they'll use that for their just traditional notebooks. Whatever main product line paper they'll use, they'll make some basic notebooks in. Midori uses their own paper, which is freaking fantastic, right? It's probably just like my favorite all around paper. And then most of the other Japanese companies fall into that same using their own paper. Life, Kukuyo, Styology, all of those brands will use their own formulations, which are almost universally fountain pen friendly.

Myke Hurley: Alan asks, why do the markups, like the price increases for imported pens, differ so much pen to pen, even within a single brand? Take the Pilot Metropolitan and the Prera. On Amazon or eBay, I can find them for roughly the same price. A Metropolitan is $20 to $25 and a Prera is $25 to $30. I assume that reflects the price in Japan. But when buying from U.S. retailers, the pens are priced very differently. The Metropolitan stays at around $25, but the Prera jumps to $60. Why?

Brad Dowdy: Another great question that I can't answer other than to say Alan's 100% right, especially I've been called out on the Prera like a lot. Like that one doesn't add up. The only thing I can say is when you ask or when you think about it from a retail perspective, their price is fixed. Like they don't get to make up whatever price that they want, right? They're buying from a distributor who has a rule set in place that says the price can only be this. So as of why you can buy a Prera for $25 in one place and then $45 in another place, that's always boggled my mind. The Prera is always one of my favorite fountain pens, and it is one of the weirdest priced pens that I've ever seen. They fortunately backed off that high MSRP a few years ago to where you can actually get them in the 30s now, which I think is much more reasonable. But for a time there, there was like a 100% markup difference depending on where you bought the Prera, which is just ridiculous. And it makes you wonder, like, I don't know if Pilot can control these things or not, but I mean, who doesn't want to pay $25 for the exact same pen that's listed over here for $50, right? So I don't have an answer other than the retailers are bound by agreements. And the sourcing of the other pens, you know, might be perfectly fine, but they may just not have the maybe more of a gray market situation, right? Like an Amazon or eBay type of thing where it's the exact same product and the product's perfectly fine, you know, not fake or counterfeit or anything, and they're just able to usurp the rules into making a better option for you. So, like, I really can't say definitively why. But the retailers, you know, again, this is buying through traditional retail channels versus gray market channels where you get the support and also supporting the businesses. But I do admit it's a hard sell when the price is doubled going through traditional routes.

Myke Hurley: I feel like you – I know people don't like stuff like this – but you just can't ignore if a market's wanting to pay for something, you'll charge it. And it might just be the simple fact of, like, for whatever reason, the Pereira is perceived that it could be charged at a higher price here and the market maybe bears out, so they do.

Brad Dowdy: I actually think that's what happened to the Pereira, and then people stopped. Like, they found the limit and they had to roll it back. Yeah. Because there was a clear time probably – it's been years. There was a clear time where the Pereira's were, like, $50, and it was a joke. I was really, like, adamant that that was just, like, terrible pricing.

Myke Hurley: But being an effective business is finding that. Yeah. Right? Like, what is that limit? Getting to it and then stopping.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. Like, now that it – then a few years ago, they started seeing them, like, you know, starting in the $30-something. I was like, okay, they're at least, like, back to normal. Like, for a minute there, it was really, really bad. So, yeah. It's – and the regional pricing stuff is always interesting. So, who knows? And it's always in flux, right? Like, apparently there's another Pelican price increase coming, right? Like, I tried to find some information on that before the show. Like, I've only seen, like, a banner image. Like, hey, Pelican price increase April 1st. I was like, well, is that a Pelican price increase? Is that a store price increase? I couldn't find anything about it. So, I can't really say what's happening there, but, like, the stuff is always in flux.

Myke Hurley: If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on the show, please send it in by going to penaddictfeedback.com. We have an all-ask TPA question coming up in the next couple of weeks, right? You wanted to do one? Next week. Next week. So, if you have questions for us, please send them in. We've gotten some great ones already that we'll be putting for next week, but please send them in. Go to penaddictfeedback.com. Whatever you want to know. Hey, look, you could just want to ask things about me and Brad. Maybe there's stuff you want to know about us. Sure. Ask it. See what happens.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely.

Myke Hurley: Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. Thank you to Pen Chalet and Ooni for their support of the show. If you'd like to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com and spokedesign.com. Brad is at penaddict, and he's also over at twitch.tv slash penaddict as well. You can find me at RelayFM. Like, this show is a part of RelayFM. You can find me on other shows here. By going to relay.fm slash shows, you can find other shows that I'm not on, but we have a wonderful selection of podcasts. If you want to add something new to your list, you can find my work at cortexbrand.com. You can find me online. I'm at iMike. I-M-Y-K-E. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.