The Pen Addict 712/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	712
Title:	Three Barrel Flavors
Release Date:	April 16th, 2026
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 712
Audio File:	Audio Episode 712
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 712
Length:	4848 min <br />0.8 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 712. Today's show is brought to you by Enigma Stationery. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Cheerio, Brad.
Cheerio, Myke Hurley. How are you today?
Cheerio, mate. This is a conversation from before we started recording where Brad told, said to me that I have to say cheerio to my cheerios every day. But I don't do that. I just eat them.
Yeah. I thought that just might be like a legally binding thing.
Cheerio.
In the UK.
Yeah.
That's a good greeting, that. Cheerio.
Yeah, it is. It is.
Cheerio, and honestly, ciao. Like, you know, for, you know, goodbye, you know. I know it's not British,
I'm just saying, in general, greetings, ciao. Ciao's a very solid one.
Maybe what we've identified is that the best greetings are the ones where you can say the same thing for hello and goodbye.
True.
Which both ciao and cheerio work.
Yeah, aloha.
Aloha is another good one.
So, there we go. This is a new rule of the pen addict. The best greetings are the ones that can be used for goodbye and hello.
Yes, yes. Well, I'd like to say hello to all of our listeners. Welcome past the shenanigans section of the podcast. Let's get into some fountain pen discussion, Mike, right from the jump.
Big topic last week. I kind of knew it might be the pocket fountain pen discussion that had some very, it wasn't just a pocket fountain pen discussion.
It was a very, like, restrictive design discussion for a short, unthreaded, capped fountain pen.
So, we found several options and not a lot of, like, absolutely, this is the best one. Just some, you know, you have to make some exceptions or some sacrifices when you're thinking about these pens.
So, we got a lot of feedback on this, which we asked for, which was great.
And a couple of things, a couple of them came up many times that we missed. So, I wanted to go through some of these.
And also, get us ready for a future episode. And you'll see why here in just a minute.
So, a couple of the first ones I got were the Monteverde Dakota, which I hadn't heard of before.
And when I was looking at it, I was like, what is this pen?
And then I finally saw, it took me a second to find a capped picture of this pen.
And it actually kind of looks like the Pilot E95.
Kind of that long, short style where it's, you know, which a lot of, most, all of these pocket pens are.
That's the idea of a pocket pen, that they're short when capped.
And then when you're uncapped to use them, you make them until full-length writing instruments.
So, Monteverde Dakota, I haven't seen that one, nor used that one.
And then multiple people.
So, the first, that was from Urban on Mastodon.
Shout out Mastodon.
And John, also on Mastodon, along with Urban, recommended.
And some other people recommended, which we'll get into in a second.
The Tom Studio Pocket Fountain Pen, which I haven't tried.
And it's just, you know, like a standard aluminum barrel.
I believe it's aluminum.
Is it aluminum?
I say that now.
Yes, it is.
I think it's aluminum.
Yeah.
Um, standard, um, just sleeved, kind of faceted cap.
A little Kaweco-ish looking cap, but then a rounded barrel.
And I haven't tried it.
They came out with this one last year.
Yeah.
And it's like $90.
The other thing we were trying to do was inexpensive, right?
We don't want to have to overpay if we lose it.
That was actually the hardest part.
All of these were reasonably expensive, right?
I think the cheapest ones were maybe like $60.
This one's $90-ish.
Um, so yeah.
Um, let's go through the feedback and then we'll, we'll hit this little tidbit at the end
here.
So why don't you say, why don't you go into some of these other feedbacks?
Yeah.
So on the Tom Studio, uh, someone called Tom.
I don't know if this is the Tom.
It seems a bit suspect to me.
The Tom has chimed in.
Of Tom Studio said, I want to recommend Tom Studio Pocket Pen 2.0 to the fountain pen of
a slip cap search.
I have the 1.0 and I like it a lot.
It's $85 but feels sturdy in hand and comes in fun colors.
Takes standard international cartridges and I guess it would take a Kaweco Mini Converter
if desired.
So I do own one of these.
Um, I bought a bunch of Tom Studio products.
Yeah.
A while, a while back.
I think his last name is Studio.
Yeah.
Mr. Studio.
Yeah.
I don't like this pen.
Um, okay.
I, I, I don't.
Elaborate.
I don't like the way it feels in my hand.
Uh, I don't like the balance and, and of it and I don't like the size of it even when
capped.
It just, I mean, this is, I think it suffers from the problem for me.
That basically all metal pocket pens suffer from, which is a significant balance problem.
Um, the, the weight just never feels like it's in the right place for me.
Um, and I tend not to like a pen with, uh, that is, um, what am I looking for here?
We put the cap on the back.
There's a word we use for this.
Posting.
Posted.
Thank you.
And it just, it just doesn't feel right.
The balance just isn't there.
Their products are really nice there.
And I really liked that the colors are great.
If you buy it directly from them, you can actually choose all of the colors that you
want.
So for like the body and the, and the cap very nicely made.
It just doesn't work for me.
So the design element here that you're talking about, if you compare this to a Kaweco sport
and you have the same kind of setup or a short pin when it's closed, and then when you uncap
a Kaweco, it sleeves onto the barrel deeply further down.
This one sleeves onto the back end of the barrel in a shorter fashion.
So there's more weight towards the back of this pin, which could lean into some of the
issues that you're seeing.
Yeah.
They actually, on their website, they show an image of the Kaweco next to the Tom
Studio.
And basically the, the, the, the tip of the nib on the Kaweco when it's cat, when it's
posted, it's about where the kind of the nib begins in the Tom Studio.
So you can see it's quite a, quite a bit bigger.
Wow.
That's an aggressive GIF.
Yeah, I know.
But yeah, I think, I think that is your, you've correctly, you've correctly hit on what my
problem is, but I do feel like for me, pocket pens are much better made of plastic or some
kind of acrylic because I feel like they just don't, then they do not suffer from the
balance issue.
The, the caps being the size that they tend to be, I think is the issue that I find that
if I post them, it's like, this just, this isn't right.
This isn't how you would make a pen normally.
And I think that that, the way that that balance then just sits just doesn't, just doesn't fit
for me.
And the Tom Studio suffers from that, especially because it's made of aluminium.
Yeah.
I'm currently hypnotized, Mike.
I know.
I looked at that for way too long.
Um, but yeah, so I can see that.
I would like to try that for myself because that does look like it would, an issue that
would present itself almost immediately to me.
I was like, oh, this is just, this is just back weighted too far.
So, all right, let me go with the next one and then we'll swap, swap, swap these up.
So Lindsay says, regarding the listener who wrote in about looking for a threadless pocket
pen, I want to suggest the TWSBI swipe.
Well, it's not technically a pocket pen.
It's fairly small and very lightweight and fits in 90% of the pockets I wear.
It's less than $30 and has a satisfying snap cap.
It may not look like much, but mine is surprisingly delightful to use and I bring it everywhere
with me.
It's probably both the cheapest pen in my collection at most use.
Fair point here.
Um, it's in that, uh, Pilot Prera category, but cheaper.
It's bigger than the Prera.
This is a legitimate full size pen.
So, which is why I didn't kind of consider it, but it does solve just the pocketability
and durability.
But if I was going like the swipe route, then I'm, I'm, I'm including like Lamy Safaris and
things like that.
Other pens with like snap caps and, and just the full size pen.
So swipe independently, a good pen.
I'm actually curious.
I want to see for all the updates TWSBI has done, especially with the Eco and some of the
580s that swipe's just kind of falling off.
The swipe and the go kind of came out at the same time.
Um, they made a couple of extra colors of the swipe, nothing really of the go.
So I'm, I'm just curious if they're going to continue this because the swipe was a very,
very good deal and a very good quality pen.
Um, but like kind of like the Prera, is it like, does it actually fit in this category?
Maybe, maybe.
All right.
Next one from Ian.
You want to hit this one?
Yeah.
I got it.
Ian says, I thought I'd share a little bit about what I know of the history and design
and the design of the Pilot E95S.
Is this the Elite 95S?
Yes.
Yeah.
Okay.
So yeah, finish this and I'll go.
Okay.
Sailor created the short, long design in 1963, responding to the Japanese fashion of the
time where men's shirt pockets were small.
Later in 63, Platinum copied the design with Pilot following a year or two later.
Yeah.
So this is the feedback I was looking for last week.
I didn't know who did it first because they all, Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor, especially
like in the 60s, were all cannibalizing each other's like long, short designs or short,
long designs.
Um, no one was cannibalizing Pilot's Vanishing Point, which came out around the same time.
No one could handle that back in the day, but these, these short pens all kind of came
out in the same range.
So Sailor did it first.
That's good to know.
Right.
And still, uh, great pens.
So the, the Pilot, the, um, original name, or at least the popular name of the vintage
Pilot, like at least like when the, like the 1960s and 70s versions that I was buying was
called the Elite.
So when they remade it as a stock item and updated it, you know, to a modern style, they
took the, they just called it the E95S instead of the Elite 95S.
But I think it's still, the E is probably means elite.
So.
Did they have an Elite 95?
I don't recall.
Cause the S would, would denote small, right?
So I wondered if there was like an Elite 95 and an Elite 95 small.
Yeah.
Good question.
I don't know that one.
Okay.
You don't need to know.
It's not important.
I just, it's just an interesting name really.
Like it's got so many names, this product.
Yeah.
I don't understand.
So Pilot, the naming conventions, the numbers are not as easy to decipher as like a Pelican's
number convention.
Like I thought for a while.
Yeah.
Vibes.
I thought that it had something to do with like, I thought it had something to do with
like years since launch of Pilot.
Like what I am, I'm lost on that.
I'm sure if there's a chart somewhere that says why they do all this.
And I just can't remember what it was.
I bet if a CY or Jacob have that chart.
I'm sure.
I'm sure.
Tattooed to them.
Probably.
That'd be my experience.
So Matthew said, and I'm very personally curious about this one out of all this list.
Another small pocket fountain pen with a snap cap is the Muji compact fountain pen.
It's only available in white with an extra fine nib.
I mean, hello.
But it's only $19, writes well, and it's pretty durable.
I can't find this product.
I found, oh, okay.
I can't find it.
So I found it immediately.
So let me get you a link for it.
But I, for some reason, I didn't put the link in the show notes.
I can't tell what this is because I was like, is this the, um.
I found a Reddit thread.
No, I got it.
I got the page right here.
Thank you.
Let me put it in the show notes.
I couldn't find it today.
And you can pop it in the Discord so people can see.
I didn't audit that link.
So I just pasted it so you can re-audit that link.
Um, so I can't tell what this is totally doing here, but I, I've been sent this before.
I do not have one.
It's interesting.
Um, it's very Muji.
This one, even more so than like their copy of the Platinum Preppy.
This is a super Muji fountain pen.
Just white, plain.
It looks like a Penco pen to me.
Yeah.
Um, if y'all are familiar with that baron Penco and high tide, that type of plat, just straight
up plastic barrel, plastic clip, nothing special, which is why it's like $19.
Um, that one would be interesting to try.
It still looks really big when posted.
So there's a picture, there's an image of someone writing with it in hand.
It doesn't look compact at all.
It looks huge.
Yeah.
This pen looks massive.
So the reason I can't find it, it's not available in the UK.
So every search that I had was just taking me to the UK store, but that's a full size
pen.
What are we talking about?
It's crazy.
Yeah.
I thought like just the, the images alone, I was like, okay, I can see the compactness
here.
Yeah.
But like, if you look at the standard international next to it.
Yeah.
There's no, that's quite a bit of space around that.
Yeah.
But it is.
Yeah.
This would be a nice one to, to get in.
It's, this is one where it is actually pretty compact when it's capped and aggressively
large when it's posted.
How are they doing this?
It looks so big in this hole in the, in the show notes.
It's massive.
Yeah.
That's the first, I just saw that picture.
That's pretty crazy.
That's hilarious.
Maybe that person just got really tiny hands and they just chose, they chose poorly.
Yeah.
Not, it's not small.
All right.
Let me do this one from John that I'm going to let you do the next one, which, which switches
topics because this one here, John, we mentioned last week, you hit the nail on the head with
the Nemisu N2.
So I have the N1 and titanium, which is, which had the smaller number four Bach nib.
The updated N2 has the standard number six nib, which is an improvement, but the killer
feature of the N1 and N2 is that the O-rings allow you to just adjust how far down you post.
Interesting.
Push it all the way down and it's around 123 millimeters.
Or if you just overlap the lowest O-ring, it's a generous 145 millimeters, completely
customizable length.
So John and chat and Mike, I would like to report back that the listener who submitted
this question listened to last week's episode and bought the Nemisu M2.
Oh, so that was right.
I do feel like that was a great suggestion.
I think I picked that one up.
I think you did.
Cause I was, I couldn't find like the right Nemisu.
I had a different one.
Yeah, you found the titanium and that was, that was, and then I was like, oh, but what
about the, was it the Nova pocket or something?
We were talking anyway.
Yeah, I think so.
But then when I was kind of knocking around on the site, I was like, well, they have an
aluminum one.
Yeah.
Which was 60 pounds.
Yep.
And that's the one I was looking for, but I couldn't find it and you found it.
So that was the one.
So before we go on, the person who submitted the original question and these very specific
answers did say they bought the Nemisu M2, but this might not have been a properly worded
question from them in the first place.
So I have more work to do, which means we have more work to do as, as a podcast.
So, uh, next week I'm going to clean up the topic and re-ask it and I think it's going
to be even as difficult as that was.
I think we're in for a challenge because at first thought of the new question, I don't want
to do, I don't want to say the question yet.
Cause I don't want all the feedback before, before the episode, I, I haven't come up with
an answer yet.
So that'll be a good, that'll be, that'll be fun.
We'll do that next.
I'll save that next week just cause I didn't have time to, uh, to fully dig in cause it's
going to take some work just like this one did.
So we appreciate all the feedback on this and this is great.
And this just goes to show this is not an expansive category of products, right?
This is a like single digit options here, um, for a very specific product.
And, um, it's fun.
These are fun types of challenges.
I like this stuff.
And I, especially the feedback from the listeners is super, super important for, for this cause,
you know, we can't think of everything and a lot of people have a lot of different experiences.
So this is fantastic.
Tomas wrote in and said, a couple of things I'm surprised did not come up on the show
last week.
Number one, Colt Pens have the Lamy Safari Kuru Toga now in stock.
Last time you mentioned it, I'm not sure if it was available in Western Stationers.
And number two, Sailor are discontinuing a massive amount of studio inks, including a few that
Mike will be upset about.
Yeah.
So, uh, on both counts.
So on the first, uh, the first part, the Kuru Toga, I did see that at Colt Pens.
I might have to order one.
I've ordered one.
So I have both the Safari Kuru Toga and the Wood Kuru Toga on the way because they have
both of those.
I was hoping they would have a dive, but they don't.
They have the Advance and I couldn't remember what that did.
It's, uh, it's, it does both.
It, it twists and extends.
So it rotates.
It has the double mechanism.
I don't like that one.
I'm not, I'm not a Kuru Toga Advance person.
Like, okay.
It's too much.
Is it going to write for me next as well?
Yeah.
It's some hokey pokey type of situation, right?
Like it's all, it's a hokey pokey pencil.
It's just all over the place.
I'm not sure that I'm keen of the look of the Lamy one, to be honest, but I want to
try it anyway.
That's one of the, the, the great issues with the Safari lineup as a whole, not even just
the pencil.
Yeah.
But I'm very excited about the Wood one.
That's the one I really want.
Do you, do you want me to, I've, I've, I've said things about the Lamy Kuru Toga Wood.
I can't remember if I've said them on the podcast.
Do you want me to, do you want me to tell you now or do you want me to wait?
No, tell me now.
It's, it's my favorite Kuru Toga.
Yeah.
I think you have told me that before.
I think it was one of the many reasons I wanted one.
And so I couldn't get the green one.
They didn't have that.
They only had the gray, I think it's steel.
Yeah.
It's like a blue.
It's like a blue steel.
Yeah.
I want the green one.
At least mine is.
But they don't have it.
Yeah.
So great, great pencil.
I recommend the roulette the most because it's the most price.
It's the most features for the price.
The roulette has like a knurled grip and a metal barrel.
And it's like in the low teens, dollars wise.
Okay.
The wood is my favorite to use.
It's a little bit narrower than the roulette.
So, okay.
So the second part, Sailor Ink Studio, this popped this week.
And honestly, I'm surprised it's lasted this long.
I always thought it was a limited thing to begin with, even though they made so many inks.
But it's not going away.
They're going from like 100 inks to like 50 inks.
So they're basically thinning the herd.
They make so many inks anyway.
Like this doesn't even register.
Like I get if like your favorite color was discontinued, like you're going to be mad.
But like going from 100 to 50 and or 40 and they're making like 10 new colors.
Right.
So like they're just adjusting.
Like I get an ink lineup of 100 inks is kind of crazy.
So and that doesn't count like every other Sailor product lineup.
Here's the actual Sailor page on that.
I'll put that in the show notes so we can link that.
So people can see if their favorite, favorite colors are getting discontinued.
I wonder if that means like your favorite, like orange and gold.
I don't know.
What was it?
770 or something like that.
What was your.
So what are they saying in the images?
Is it.
So I sent you the picture.
This is the discontinued list.
Why is someone.
Why three of them in red?
They got a box.
Oh, I don't see the red ones.
Oh, I see the boxes.
Yeah.
I don't know what the boxes are for.
Okay.
Yeesh.
What is that?
I don't know what that means.
And it's not translating that piece on the image.
I was looking at the top where it just has a number listing.
Oh, okay.
If this is one of these.
773.
Yes.
773 is going away.
That's the good orange.
I.
That's rough.
I'm not even going to look.
I don't need to know.
Okay.
So it was two.
It was just two.
770 is the really nice yellow.
That one stays.
773 is the really nice hot orange.
And it's goes.
But then they're adding colors to it.
So like.
This is really.
I'm really confused about what this web page is supposed to be showing me.
Because you just told me.
I think that's staying.
But it's on the.
It's on the graphic.
So is the graphic what's left?
The graphic is just all the colors.
I don't understand.
But this is one of these things.
Because I don't want to know what my favorite inks are that might be going away.
There's nothing I can do about it.
I'm going to live in bliss.
And then when the time comes that I run out of these inks.
Which will be a long time into the future.
Because of how many inks I have.
I will get something else to replace them.
Yeah.
I'm not going to say it's a non-issue.
I don't want to.
I don't want to disparage anyone's favorite ink that's vanishing.
But like going from 100 to 50 in the context of just sailor inks is totally fine.
Like we're going to be okay.
Speaking of being okay.
I'm going to tell you a place where you can go and you can be really okay.
Oh let me get ready.
That's our friends over at Enigma Stationary.
They offer unique items made from in-house designs along with top brands and hard to find imports.
We love Enigma Stationary because they do great collaborations to create their own like one-offs.
And you know low what am I looking for?
Like low availability limited edition.
Exclusives.
That kind of thing.
Exclusives.
But they also bring in a bunch of really exciting stuff.
Really awesome stuff.
Lots of little fun trinkets.
Fun design products.
Their curation is very good.
I think that's probably our favorite thing about Enigma Stationary.
But Brad, do you want to call out some stuff that you've found that's really interesting?
Yeah.
I made an order.
And this message is just for Dan at Enigma Stationary.
I got my tweezers.
Oh yeah.
So the Hello Arts detailed tweezers.
So Dan yelled at me when they were back in.
He's like, the tweezers are in stock now.
And then by the time I went to get them, they were out of stock again.
But they're back in stock.
They're back in stock.
And I got them.
So I didn't exactly say what I was doing here.
This is an order I've placed with them recently.
So some things that I like and some things that I wanted.
I got the Kakamori Mini Nib Holder in Ocean.
Which they do like five colors of these.
And Kakamori is known for the bullet nibs, right?
That everyone does like the ink samples and swatching with.
And they have a blue one.
I got mine's Ocean.
So it's blue.
They have blue, orange, green, some natural colors.
Things like that.
I got an Eric Small Things acrylic stamp.
It's called Stained Glass.
But it's like a bunch of stationery items on the stamp.
And it's really neat because I like stamps.
And this would be good to go on like notebook and postcards.
So it's got what?
Like an ink bottle and a pencil and a fountain pen nib and an envelope.
It's like a big.
It's kind of a big stamp.
I like the way this looks.
Like just the object is very pretty.
Yeah.
Which you usually don't get on a stamp.
Usually it would just be like a flat top.
Like printed on the top of what the stamp is going to be.
But it's actually the stained glass part is kind of a handle as the way I read this.
And then so I got the round one in the middle there with like all the stationery items on it.
So that's super cool.
And I got wax beads melting spoon.
Mike, I've been slacking on my.
I got some wax when I was at Papier Plume, but I just got the stick.
So I need the spoon.
So a Niggum Stationery has like all your wax steels and stamps accessories.
So I got the spoon so I can use my wax that I bought properly and melt them in a more safe way than what I was doing.
I was making fire and it was not good.
So I got some things to help me with that.
So, yeah, I got lots of cool things.
It was actually hard deciding like all the different stamps.
And there was I will say there was one washi that I'm I'm missing out on.
Let me find it.
I think it was called Business Frog.
Yeah, there is Business Frog.
I wanted Business Frog very badly.
But Business Frog, I can see why it's out of stock because Business Frog rules.
And the Business Frog is like having a coffee.
He's got a coffee mug with a tie on it.
He's at the water cooler.
Is that a conference table?
It may not be he.
Let's not gender the frog.
That's a great point.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like the frog's got the calculator, the frogs, the frogs actually making bank.
He's got a he's got like Brad, we're not gender in the frog.
Yeah.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
What is the what do you call it when you have like a stack of $100 bills and like there's
some slang for it.
But the frogs got like a stack stack of Hundys there.
And giving them to you.
Yeah.
And then the keyboard's on fire.
Is that got something to do with the money charts going on?
So we need we need Business Frog to be back in stock so I can get.
What was the frog from the app?
Oh, it was the Hobonichi app.
Oh, what was its name?
Was it Froggo?
Froggo.
Yeah.
Froggo.
I miss Froggo.
Froggo.
Froggo had some things.
Froggo had some things to say.
I miss Froggo.
I think Froggo and Business Frog would get along like really well.
Pretty well.
Pretty well.
I wanted to call out.
You mentioned Eric Small Things already.
But while we're talking about the wax stuff, there are some Eric Small Things wax seals.
And there's one of them that's a fountain pen with a lamp next to it.
I almost got that one.
Yeah.
That was on.
I had all the tabs open.
That was one of them.
And I was like, oh, should I?
Should I?
Should I?
And I waited.
Yeah, there's always next time.
We got to wait for Business Frog to get back in stock.
Yeah.
So now you're going to wait for Dan to text you and say Business Frog's back just like
they did with us.
Yes.
Good stuff.
If you want $10 off on orders to $50 or more.
Oh, I use my code.
Good.
I don't think you're supposed to.
Go to enigmistationery.com.
Why not?
Because it's you.
It's on the page.
I click the link that the podcast told me to click.
And it says, here's your code.
Okay.
Well, I'm pleased.
If you want $10 off on orders of $50 or more, even if you're Brad Dowdy, go to enigmastationery.com
slash penaddict and use the code TPA26 at checkout.
That's enigmastationery.com slash penaddict to get $10 off on orders of $50 or more with
the code TPA26.
So thanks to enigmastationery for enabling all of this and their support of this show and
relay.
You're telling me I can't use my own code.
I think, but like, here's the thing, right?
So the code is a discount, right?
For enigmastationery.
And I got it.
Yeah.
But enigmastationery is already paying you.
I'm business frog.
Okay.
You know what?
This is how business frog gets the stack of money.
The fat stacks.
By taking some money from the front and the back.
That's right.
Okay.
I've got, that's why he's got the calculator.
Oh, sorry.
Not, not Jenner and the frog.
That's why he's got the calculator.
You brought it up.
You business frog, like calculating, calculating.
You got to get it.
Business frog is about the front end and back end.
Yes.
So we got to get it both.
Shout out of the week, Mike.
Shout out of the week.
Kristen Brooks at Fountain Telling.
So I don't think you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Kristen.
I have not.
Who is, is wonderful.
And they make just like wonderful materials.
And then have branched out into making fountain pens.
And their style is like totally my aesthetic.
It's very like cool witchy vibes.
And, but like, you know, some basic stuff too.
But just really, really has fun with the materials and the products and the designs.
Either making fountain pens or making blanks for other makers.
Just really, really cool stuff.
So Caroline, Caroline Foti, who writes the Meet Your Maker posts.
On the Pen Addict, this was this month's Meet Your Maker.
It was Kristen at Fountain Telling.
And if you're not familiar with Kristen and their story, go check it out.
And go check out their wonderful work.
And I actually have a pen from Kristen that I'll be reviewing here.
One of the Willow models here in like the next month or so.
So I am looking forward to that.
So yeah, Kristen's doing great stuff.
All right.
A couple little, well, one little topic here.
The Pentel Graph 1000, Mike, is a mechanical pencil that I have reviewed before.
And I bought again because Lemonade Edition 60th Anniversary Edition, Mike.
And that's what you do.
And I got this pencil.
So I've been on a mechanical pencil kick, which I want to do, you know, once or twice a year.
I'll just get on a run of like, okay, here's all these new mechanical pencils.
Let me try them all.
And I was going to do kind of like a group interview.
A group interview.
A group review.
Hello, pencil.
How are you doing?
Do you advance or do you just turn?
Group review.
And I was like, you know, I have enough to say about individual products.
I should just do them individually as I feel like instead of doing one like giant group review that kind of kind of get get lost in the sauce when you do that.
So out of this group of pencils, this one stood out to me in how it felt compared to like what I like in a pencil.
And it really like checked a bunch of boxes.
So I'm going to, I thought I would just review this one individually.
And then I ran into some really interesting ideas about the existence of this pencil.
So the Graph 1000.
So this is a Pentel product.
And in my opinion, I think Pentel makes just kind of the best like classic mechanical pencils, right?
Like this is the Kuretoga is a different category.
When I talk about great mechanical pencils, there's the Kuretoga and there's everything else, right?
It's a different product to me.
Yeah, it's that good that it's kind of...
And different, honestly.
But yeah, but I feel like it's, yes, it is that good and that different that it's not really fair to compare it to the other items in this category because they'll never win.
Right.
So there is like the Kuretoga category, then there's everyone else, which is where this one is.
So this is more of an entry-level engineering style pencil for Pentel.
And it's their step up from the Pentel Sharp, which is the pencil that I always rave about.
It's one of my favorites of all time.
The Sharp has like a tapered barrel and a conical tip and a plastic barrel.
So the graph has now, well, not has, like this is a 60-year-old pencil.
The graph took out the conical tip and put in the engineering tip, which is like a visual aid for like engineering drafting.
It's better for like rulers and writing against things.
So it's just a different setup that's called the engineering tip.
And it has an aluminum grip section with some like rubber gnarly, I mean, some rubber bumps on the grip section and then a plastic upper barrel.
So it's an ultra light, thin, narrow pencil, which is kind of my jam, but it feels very strong, very durable.
And I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this pencil so much so that it's a product that I've used before and reviewed before, but I was compelled to review it again because every time I pick it up, I was like, oh, this feels like exactly right.
Like it's done that well.
That's how much I like it.
But there's a big caveat on this pencil in that, so this particular one, I bought a 60th anniversary edition.
So it was a little bit of a premium price.
It was $16.
The standard, yeah, so expensive.
The standard model of this exact pencil is about $12, $11.75.
And honestly, there's not much visual difference in this.
It's, this, mine is basically like an all blacked out one in them.
The other one is mostly black with a little bit of trim elements, the standard one.
And then they have a more colorful one that's the same Graph 1000's called.
So this one is called, I love the name of this one.
This one, the full name of this one is actually called the Graph 1000 for Pro.
For Pro, like for professionals.
The other one is the, the more colorful one, Mike, is the creator style.
It's not for pros, it's for creators.
That's when you get like the blue barrels and the red barrels.
That's creators.
So if you're a pro, you have to have a black pencil.
And if you're a creator, you get the colorful pencils.
$12.50.
So basically the, the Graph 1000 for all intents and purposes is a $12 mechanical pencil.
So I wanted to compare it to their most famous drafting pencil, engineering pencil, and that's
called the Graph Gear 1000.
So not the Graph 1000, the Graph Gear 1000.
And I was like, this is a pencil people love, the Graph Gear 1000, the upgraded one.
It's historically important.
It's been one of the most popular mechanical pencils ever.
And I was like, well, let me compare it to this and let me see the price on this.
Cause I think it was like a 25 or $30 pin and I pull it up and it's $12.
And that's where the Graph 1000 kind of, I went, oh, it was kind of like a womp womp sound
sound because the Graph Gear 1000 is a far superior product at the same price.
I felt kind of sad at the end cause I love this pencil so much, the Graph 1000, the all
black Graph 1000.
And I couldn't believe that the Graph Gear was the, the, the full metal knurled barrel.
But it doesn't look nice though.
That's my issue with it.
It's like an alien pen.
So this, so the Graph Gear 1000 gets put in the Rotring 600 category.
Okay.
Okay.
For style and design.
And I thought they were close to the same price.
The Rotring always was more expensive, but I thought it was still more like a $25 pencil.
I, but I've never liked the Graph Gear 1000 for how it looks.
So I'm with you on that.
But people do.
It is that popular of a pencil and it has all of the options.
It has three millimeter, four millimeter, seven millimeter, nine millimeter styles.
Right.
And you can get the different colors.
You could have a whole suite of the Graph Gear 1000, which is like, you know, when you're
an engineer and doing this engineering stuff, um, that's, that's helpful.
So, um, to that point, I got a great comment on the review and we'll, we'll end it with this.
Um, because I got really confused here by the end of this and the pricing.
So this is a comment from Gregory on my review.
He says, thank you for the review, Brad.
I always love hearing your thoughts about writing instruments.
The Graph 1000 for pro and the Graph Gear 1000 are for different use cases for those of us
who are nitpicky about our writing tools.
That's all of us listening to this.
So I knew I was, I'm in on this comment so far.
A lot of folks don't like the wobble of a retractable lead sleeve.
The Graph Gear 1000 does a good job of minimizing the wobble, but it is still annoying for professional
drafters and artists.
The Graph 1000 for pro solves that problem, but it will mostly sit on a desk.
The Graph Gear 1000's retractable sleeve makes it useful for travel and pocket carry since
the sleeve won't break or bend.
In conclusion, the Graph 1000 for pro is for professional quality precision and the Graph
Gear 1000 is for mobility and general use, at least among those of us who are serious about
our line.
So I thought that was good feedback.
Despite a, if you're just looking at it from a straight value proposition, the Graph Gear
1000 just is, is, has all the bells and whistles and it's the exact same price, but the Graph
1000 for pro might be the better overall pencil for like technical work.
So that was my conclusion there.
So I, I just, I ended up talking about this so much because I find these types of things
interesting within product lineups, right?
Where you have like similarly priced products that are very disparate in, in what they're
offering and what they're selling and trying to understand these differences and to get
someone who actually uses these, you know, as a work tool to say, here's exactly why, like,
I'm okay with this and explains it like that.
So I do appreciate that feedback.
That was great feedback, Gregory.
So there you go.
I'm, uh, I'm done obsessing over this pencil.
So now I feel better about the, uh, the four pro Graph 1000 and why I like it so much
because I, I am not, I don't really care about retractable, um, lead pipes on mechanical
pencils because I'm not, I'm not beating them up and moving around and traveling with them.
So I'll stick with this one because it looks so much better.
Yeah, it does look much better.
I much prefer it.
I don't, I really don't like the way the Graph Gear looks.
I think it's weird.
I never have.
I think it's very weird.
That's the, the, uh, I, I see you Graph Gear 1000 fans.
Like I, I appreciate you and how much you love that pencil.
Yep.
Um, and so yeah, like keep loving it.
Like it's a really, really good pencil.
It's just not visually for me.
So like if I'm going to use that level of pencil, I'll just go to the rotary or stick
with this, with this, um, all black, um, Graph 1000.
So yeah, interesting stuff.
So, all right.
You want to get into a little bit about what we're using here?
We haven't done this in a while and I've got, I've got a bunch of new things in.
I kind of, uh, I kind of refined this down to like, uh, which I do sometimes.
This is my trifecta of products from fountain pen, ink, and paper.
Okay.
So like one of each that I'll work together and I'll really, really, really good, um, products
that I'm enjoying that I really haven't either reviewed or, or want to spend some more time
with.
So I recently picked up the Visconti Mythos Persephone fountain pen.
I may have mentioned it on the podcast before, but I've really, uh, just kind of
gotten into inking it and using it.
So this is Visconti's entry level or one of their entry level products, which I actually
appreciate them doing.
They started doing this a couple of years ago and these pens came out and we've reviewed
one on the blog.
Uh, Sarah reviewed the Athena model.
These feel exceptional.
So that's what got me with this pen, not just the looks like looking at them on a computer
screen.
They look really, really good.
Um, and I finally, over the past year or so, anytime I've been in a show, I've always
been drawn to the materials and the feel of this because it's kind of a matte satin finish
on these bright acrylics.
Isn't the right term.
I don't even know what material this is.
Yeah, it's acrylic.
Um, but the way they're finished makes them feel different.
It's very satiny and it really works with the trim.
Um, so I picked up the Persephone model, which is a purple, pink swirl with kind of a gun
metal-ish trim, right?
Clip, cap band, grip section, and a fine steel nib.
It's really good.
Like, you know, this is kind of like the price range we're looking at now with steel nibs
and then a steel nib plus something unique in the barrel, right?
Not just a, like, the Sailor Casual L, which looks like the 1911 always has.
This is, you know, it's got some fluting in the barrel, right?
It's got some textures.
It's got some, you know, embellishments.
It's got a little bit of something, right?
Just a little bit.
Um, and the nib's great.
The, I can't stop picking it up.
I love the material.
So, I don't know.
I'll, I'll be reviewing this one soon.
Okay.
Again.
Um, but, like, my thoughts are, like, super positive right now.
And I knew Sarah liked it when she reviewed it.
She asked to review it.
It had to be last year, at least.
It's been a while.
These are not brand new pens, but I think they did add some colors recently.
And yeah, they're, I'm kind of impressed.
Um, so I'll, I'll finish up my review.
We'll talk about it more.
So, I have it inked with.
That was a little bit of a challenge because it's a very colorful pen.
And I at least like to compliment it.
So, I chose, uh, and I gotta say I nailed it.
Van Diemen's Nightfall, which I've had for a while.
And I've had inked in other pens, but I've never properly reviewed it.
It's a dual shader.
And a lot of times when you hear that as an ink person,
my first question, at least, is, well, can I read this?
If I put it in a nib on the page, right?
Is it going to be too light?
Like, is it going to, is it too busy showing off how cool it looks
to be useful to write within a nib?
And this one's plenty, plenty legible on when you're,
when I'm writing with it.
So, and you get this cool character.
So, it's kind of a neat match to the pen.
Um, so that's going to be fun to look at.
And I think the thing I wanted to talk about the most today
is actually the paper.
And Canopa's paper keeps rising to the top of the pile on my desk.
From a performance, from ink performance and writing performance,
it's been the paper I want to test the most things with now.
And the thing, the one that ends up being the one that I enjoy the most.
So, it's in a couple, you can get it in a couple different formats.
I don't have the A5 Yote book.
This is a Yamamoto paper, Canopa's is, who, you know,
I speak very highly of, you know, for years.
So, the A5 notebook, I don't have.
That's like your standard A5, you know, 200 page bound notebook.
Canopa's just comes in plain, just a plain paper, blank format.
No lines, no grids, no dots, anything yet.
I'm using the bullet paper version,
which allows me to hole punch them
and put them in my personal size plotter.
So, it's more just, the bullet paper is just a smaller pad style.
But I'm going to end up having to get a notebook.
I hope one day I can get them in like a graph or a dot grid at least.
Just have a little bit of formatting instead of blank, but.
Did they do that?
No, not yet.
I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually do, but who knows.
It's just a very, it's kind of going to be like my bank paper replacement.
You know how I always like really heaped praise on bank paper.
Just on, I never have to worry about the performance
and I get like good ink color representation on it.
Canopis is kind of solving that for now.
Even though there's plenty of other papers that do that,
I keep reaching for the Canopis.
I'm like, oh yeah, this seems to be the one, doesn't it?
Lastly, when I'm not using fountain pens or mechanical pencils like the Graph 1000,
I cannot stop picking up the Secure Pig of a Micron 03.
Always have, always will.
The funny thing right now is I have three barrel flavors is what I'm calling it
in the exact same pen, which is pointless.
So I have the standard, which is, you know, the famous Micron tan barrel that everyone knows
what a Micron looks at because this weird tan that they use, but you know what?
That's what they're known for.
I have the new Eco Barrel, which is the green one that they just came out with.
So I wanted to test that one out to make sure that the ink formulation and all of that is
exactly the same, and it seems like it so far.
That's my initial take.
I assumed it would be.
I would assume it was just the barrel and their initiatives to do a more eco-friendly barrel
because these are all disposable pens.
And lastly, I have the Blue Barrel, which is the Japanese model.
So it's got the Japanese text on it, and I think it was made more for the Japanese market.
So someone sent me these, all in the 03 size, which is my favorite size, all in black ink,
which is my favorite Micron ink.
And so it's the exact same pen in three different flavors.
So, and I don't know, I'm kind of happy about that.
Very nice.
I don't have a particularly novel selection here.
Some of the things I talk about literally all the time.
What I actually consider to be, at this point, the goated combo of the yellow sidekick pocket
and the yellow Leichtum-Dregafell pencil.
They just look so good together.
I gotta get that pencil back out.
I use it all the time.
Like, I keep, you know, I use the lined notebook more than anything else
because if I didn't, I wouldn't, which makes, it's like weird.
Like, I wouldn't use the lined notebook, so I make myself use it.
100%.
So it ends up actually being my most used of the pocket notebooks, which is funny.
And then I've really been enjoying two orange pens recently.
My Orange Mark 1.
This is one of the limited edition ones that they did.
This orange barrel with a silver knock.
It's the one I keep on my desk right here.
I just wouldn't have reached for it.
Really good.
And also the 1911 Royal Tangerine King of Pen, the Sailor.
Man, Orange City.
Yeah.
That King of Pen, oh man, I love that thing so much.
It's legit.
It's my favorite King of Pen.
Absolutely it is.
So I think I prefer, in the regular sized pens, I prefer the Pro Gear shape.
In the King of Pen, I prefer the 1911 shape.
Yeah, I buy that.
Makes sense.
It's a good, that's a good big shape.
Yeah, it feels good and it also looks more ludicrous.
Which, if you're going to go for a King of Pen, you've got to lean into the fact that it looks just not right.
But, and that orange on the Royal Tangerine is so hot, it's kind of, it's very perfect, right?
And that is paired with Fire on Fire, of course.
Sweet.
I was going to ask, but I wasn't sure.
I thought you might use something else.
But no, that's a great match.
I think that's what I always used in my, I had the small 1911 S, but pretty much only use Fire on Fire in that.
Yeah, I have the small as well in the, I bought the small first and then it was at a pen show.
I got a really good deal on the King of Pen.
Yeah.
Yep.
And now, unfortunately, the 1911 King of Pen, you're not going to be able to get with the Golden Nibs anymore.
That was the one.
So crazy to me, but whatever.
Rough, rough is right.
All right, if you would like to get the show notes for today's episode, you can find them in your podcast app of choice.
So you can go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 712.
If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict, spokedesign.com as well.
You can find me here on Relay at theenthusiast.net and at cortexbrand.com.
Thank you to Enigma Stationery for their support of this week's episode.
Until next time, say goodbye, business frog.
Goodbye, business frog.