Editing The Pen Addict 489/transcript (section)

== Gift Guide Introduction ==


'''Myke:''' Fair enough. So every year on the pen addict, we do a gift guide. And every year on the show, we've had the wonderful Anna Ryan join us for it. Unfortunately, we couldn't arrange for Anna to be here this time. We could not make the scheduling work, which is a real shame. But we felt that we needed to do a gift guide of some description. So we're going to do a mini gift guide this year. What are the rules of the mini gift guide, Brad?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. So since it's just you and I this year, and I wanted to simplify it, right? So I built out four tiers of price points. And within those tiers, you can only choose a singular item, right? You can't, like in the past, we've built a kit, right? So, or sometimes we've built a kit, right? We say if you have $100, you can get, you know, this pen, this ink, this notebook, kind of like, you know, a starter kit or whatever. But this is the idea of, hey, in this price range, what one thing should I look at for, you know, a stationary fan or someone new or an artist? Like I said, like there's no, there's no rule on like the type of thing. Like you could choose all fountain pens. You could choose no fountain pens, right? It doesn't have to be for any particular type of user. We're not trying to solve for, hey, this person uses fountain pens on Tomoe River paper and fancy inks, right? We're not getting that specific. So we're just picking price points.

'''Myke:''' I sent my own mini challenge. Oh, did you? Which was to not pick an overlapping product category. So only one fountain pen, you know.

'''Brad:''' So yeah, I went first. Yeah, I went first. And I kind of did the same. Like I was actually thinking I might not even have a fountain pen. But it turns out that I did because I think there's a good one. But yeah, like if you picked fountain pen.

'''Myke:''' I did pick two fountain pens. So you can ignore everything I said.

'''Brad:''' Oh, you did. All right. Myke's a liar. He's already breaking the rules. Yeah. There was no rule to only pick one category and then not use it again. So let's start out. The categories, I'll read them all. I just did under $25, under $50, under $100, and over $100. So I thought that was kind of a good range to get a good amount of stuff.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I was very thankful for this because I feel like I'm always pretty bad at the gift guide, which is why I love having Honor. I'm sad that we couldn't do it this time because between the two of you, you come up really interested in stuff. And I'm just like, hey, have you heard of Field Notes? You know, that's kind of like my contribution each time.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I thought your challenge was going to be not to pick Retro 51 or Sailor. You actually succeeded, so I thought that was going to be your challenge. I purposely didn't do it.

'''Brad:''' Although that Retro 51 steam liner, that's pretty hot.

'''Myke:''' I don't think I've seen this.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, you should go look that up before we dig in here. But it's a train-based one. And, you know, all their travel and vehicle and planes and space ones are always good, and those are good. All right. So we're going to start in under $25. We'll go in order here. We can alternate who goes first. But under $25, I went with a notebook, specifically the Musgrave Pencil Co. notebook, which is just a design stunner. And I think it makes a great gift because...

'''Myke:''' It's a pencils only!

'''Brad:''' No, it's not. Pencils only! From... I have it on good account that it's really good with a lot of pens as well. It's not pencils only, Myke.

'''Myke:''' Get out of here with that pen.

'''Brad:''' No. But...

'''Myke:''' It's just pencils only.

'''Brad:''' I will say this. It's expensive, which makes it a good gift, which makes us like, hey, I don't want to buy this for myself, but will you buy this $22 notebook for me? And I think it just... The design of it is super clean and nice and a little bit retro-y, like in Musgraves, kind of like a throwback kind of way. It's got this beautiful yellow cover and reddish-orange print on there. It has a dot grid interior, and it's just nice. Like, I would... I think this is kind of like a great gift type of item. Like, it just shows up and, you know, someone who's into notebooks or pens, and they see this and they go, ooh, this is nice. I really like this. So, yeah, $22, Musgrave notebook. Very, very well done. I might even, you know, have to go shopping for myself for that one. I have not ordered those for me yet, but, you know, just saying, maybe I treat yourself. That would be Brad's treat yourself is the Musgrave Pencil Co notebook.

'''Myke:''' I have picked the most fun you can have for under $20, so I went even lower when it comes to stationery, and that is the TWSBI Go.

'''Brad:''' So, that was really smart. When you saw this, I was happy you put this in here. You are an unabashed TWSBI Go lover.

'''Myke:''' I am a big fan of this product. I think that it is a pen that all pen addicts should own because it's weird and fun, and you do not have another pen like it. You just don't. You never see springs. When do you see springs? No one sees springs in fountain pens. This one has one, and it's the main design element of this pen. If you don't have a TWSBI Go, you really should get a TWSBI Go because they're just really, really great, and they have tons of different nib options. They go from extra fine to stub 1.1, so it might be an easy way to try out a different nib size than what you've already used. They're fun, and I think a design like this also breaks down the barrier for somebody new to the hobby because it is not a fussy-looking pen. It is a very utilitarian-looking pen that is, I think, pretty forgiving, too. So I think, yeah.

'''Brad:''' To your point, I think why this is such a good pen is that if you know someone who's like a Mont Blanc user, right? You know the Mont Blanc users out there, and you drop this TWSBI Go on them, they're going to smile, and they're going to love this pen because it is so different from your classic fountain pens, and you could just buy this on a whim, and I think someone would love it who's not into this, who doesn't listen to the Pen Addict podcast, who's not really into this stuff, but kind of has an idea about fountain pens. I think this would just be the biggest pleasant surprise for a lot of people, so I thought that was a really, really good choice. Thank you. All right, so I'm going to make you go back-to-back here on the under $50 category. You go first. This is another one where I saw Myke's entry, and I just nodded my head. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Penwell Craftsman. Now, this is kind of a cop-out because, I'll be honest, the models that I like are more expensive than $50, but you can get one for $50, so they do the wooden one is $50, but I like the ones that are made out of, I think they're made out of stone, and I have one with a brass weight on the bottom, which is more expensive. It's like $89, but I think that this is a really nice addition to the desk in whatever material you get it in, and I really love this product. It's made by good, made better, and I think we've spoken about this before. I think it's a really great example. It's concrete, says Tony. Thank you, Tony, for the correction there. In my brain, concrete and stone are basically the same thing, but I understand why they're not.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I think that's a good argument.

'''Myke:''' And so, yeah, I just think these are super, super fun and a really nice addition to the desk. I think they're really classy, and if you're working on something and you want to put your pen down, this is a great way to put it, a great place to put it. So it's a really nice way to turn any fountain pen into a desk pen, but temporarily.

'''Brad:''' And I think it's a really smart gift item too, right? Like, I think, like, these may not be something that you necessarily buy for yourself, but I think the people who you would consider giving this to would thoroughly enjoy what these pinwalls are and what they do, and, you know, to have, like, a desk accessory, I think is always, like, a good gift item. Like, I went for an accessory as well. I went for a pen pouch on this one, specifically the Galen Leather Slip and Zip, which is a name. It's a great name. It's a four-pin pouch, and it's $43, and it's, you know, a leather pin pouch where it's a singular pouch with an insert for your pens, so you can slide the four pens into the rubber bands of holding, if you will, and remove them from the exterior pouch and, like, have them on the desk or, you know, wherever you're working, and then when you're done working, you can just load them back up into their little sleeve and then put it into the exterior pouch, zip them up, throw them in your bag, and I think it's a neat design as opposed to, like, your traditional, like, fold-over, you know, like, book-style type of cases, which we all love, right? But it's something a little bit different, and I think it's unique in that fact that it's a little bit different style of carry, and you can fit any types of pens in it, right? You know, fountain pens, regular pens. You know, you don't have to be a fountain pen person to use this, and it's really, really nice, well-made, and good stuff from Galen, so I really like them a lot.

'''Myke:''' This is a nice-looking product.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I think it's neat. Like, it's classic, but it's kind of got, like, a unique idea to it, and I appreciate that, and I think, like, any pen lover, like, both of those gifts, right, we're shopping for people who are into this stuff, and then we're giving them accessories. To where we moved to under $100, Myke, we both chose pens. I chose my one and only fountain pen here. The Kaweco student needs, I think we need some love for the student. We already give it a lot of love. We've given them a lot of love here on the show. It has gotten reviewed on the Pen Act several, several times, and for, like, a $60 fountain pen, this is probably focused at someone's, who's more getting into the hobby, right, who has dabbled with their Twisby Go's or their Lamy Safaris, and wants kind of that next step-up pen. This is a traditional-sized Kaweco fountain pen that is beautifully designed. It's classic. It's got modern colors. It has, you know, you can take the full-length ink cartridges, if you want, or the full-length converters, I should say, right? It's not the pocket-sized Kaweco that we all, you know, think of when we think of Kaweco. We think of pocket pens. This is a full-size pen, but at a really, really good price, and a lot of colors to choose from for a gift, and it doesn't break the bank. It's way under $100. Like I said, it's about $60, I think, something like that. I'm not looking at it, but I love the colors. I just got a red one in myself, so I'll be checking that out, but I love these from the moment they came out, and I think this would make, like, kind of a good classic gift for someone who is into this a little bit, and wants to kind of turn it up a little bit, so.

'''Myke:''' In my opinion, the only acceptable colors of this pen are the two-tone ones.

'''Brad:''' Yes, I agree. Yes, yes, yes. I'm specifically referring to the two-tone ones. They have solid black and solid blue, but all of the, I call them the music series, even though that's not really it, but the jazz, the soul.

'''Myke:''' Inexplicably, the Kaweco student has black, blue, clear, red, vintage blue, white, and vintage yellow, and then 20s jazz, 30s blues, 50s rock, 60s swing, 70s soul.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, buy one of the music-themed ones.

'''Myke:''' The music ones are the only good ones. I don't know why the student has a music line, but it just does.

'''Brad:''' Agree. And I don't know why the red cap is called 30s blues, but, you know, there you go.

'''Myke:''' You think it was right there, you know?

'''Brad:''' But they only do two of these a year, right? Like, this whole series didn't come out at once. They did two to start with, and then they did two more last year, then two more this year. Yeah.

'''Myke:''' So, like, the soul one was the only two-tone one. It was just called Soul. And then they put a number on it when they brought the other ones in.

'''Brad:''' So, yeah. So, yeah, the ones I'm talking about are the two-tone ones. Thank you, Myke. I think they're the best looking, and they're just great pens.

'''Myke:''' I've picked what I think is the best pen you can get for under $100, which is the Studio Neat Mark I.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Good call here. And I went the other way. I chose this pen for my next category, but this is the right answer, I think, for you in this category. Why do you love the Mark I so much?

'''Myke:''' Well, I can give you one. It's this. That's part of it. Nice. The beautiful sound it makes. This pen is built around my favorite refill, which is the Schmidt P8126. It's 26, right?

'''Brad:''' 8126 is the preferred. Thank you. They always ship. Most other companies ship with the 8127, but we talked them into the 8126 for this pen because it's a little bit finer.

'''Myke:''' A little bit finer, but same performance. P8126. And, you know, this is the refill that you'll find in Retro 51s, either the 26 or 27, which is just either 0.6 or 0.7 millimeter tip diameter. And just overall, this is just a pen, which is fantastically well made with just beautiful attention to detail to the point where most companies you see that have a retractable pen that uses this refill uses the knock that Schmidt created, which is terrible. Correct. It is spongy and looks really bad. You know, like, I think, and this is, different people think about it differently. I think there's like a retractable squire, like the Baron Fig squire. Mm-hmm. And I believe they use the Schmidt knock. Mechanism. Mechanism. That's what I was looking for. And what you'll notice is it has this kind of like silver cuff around the top. And that is the Schmidt mechanism. Like, that's just what it looks like. It's how it comes. So it doesn't look very good. Yeah, it's like a two-step mechanism. And it doesn't feel very good. So I'm looking through Baron Fig's website. I don't even know if they still sell that anymore.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I wouldn't have a clue.

'''Myke:''' So the squire is, I actually really like the squire as a pen. Oh, yeah, it's a great pen. I actually can't, I'm looking at the website now and I cannot find it. So maybe they write the right, oh, no, there is squire click. And they, honestly, in my opinion, like the squire click, it kind of ruins what is otherwise a really good looking pen by having the little silver cuff thing on the top. Anyway.

'''Brad:''' Buy the regular squire. Buy the regular squire.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, buy the regular one. Do not buy the click one. The regular one's great. The click one, I don't like the mechanism because the mechanism doesn't feel very good.

'''Brad:''' There's a reason why someone like Studio Need and other companies make their own mechanism.

'''Myke:''' But there's also a reason why this pen took an extra year and a half to get onto market. And it's because they were making their own mechanism. Right. It was incredibly difficult things for them to do, but I believe it was worth the work. I think that this pen, I'm very confident this pen would not have had the success that it has had if they would have used the standard click mechanism. So, yeah, I really, really like the way this thing comes together. It's absolutely fantastic. And it's why we're making a Cortex version. It will be on sale in limited quantities in December.

'''Brad:''' Awesome. It's a really cool pen. Lives on my desk as well. And I couldn't recommend it enough. It's a good gift. It's like a good surprise gift for someone who you don't even necessarily have to be into stationary. Like people who are like into tools and toys. Definitely. That's the kind of stuff. And that's what I picked. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I picked for my over 100 is the Tactile Turn Stealth, right? So they just sent this to me, I don't know, a few weeks ago. And I'm just completely enamored with it. I like everything that Tactile Turn does to begin with. But this Stealth model with the all black and the red bolt mechanism. Love the red. So here's the unsnapping of the bolt. It's really nice. It's a really fun thing to play with. The interesting thing about this, well, before I get to that, they have the clip has like this like digicam, you know, kind of stealth radar looking thing on here. It's really cool.

'''Myke:''' I just read this.

'''Brad:''' What?

'''Myke:''' Did you read this? Like this is one of the most interesting and weird and cool things I've read on a pen page before.

'''Brad:''' Read it, read it. Because I mean, the pen is literally in my hand. So you probably read it. But what do you got?

'''Myke:''' A subtle glow. For the first time ever, we're offering an optional tritium back finial. Tritium, tritium? Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that gives off a green glow without needing exposure to light. The low energy beta radiation isn't powerful enough to penetrate the skin and is completely safe for everyday carry, commonly used in watchmaking and gun sight applications. Just that wording, I've never read. Like, don't worry. The radiation in this pen is not harmful to you. I've never read that before.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. So between like my COVID booster shot and my tritium radiation here, my bat signal is like pumping right now. So yeah, I have the little tritium little add-on on the back end of the barrel. You don't have, it's an optional piece, right? It's like, it's a $50 upgrade. I actually don't know that it's worth the price because tritium glows in the dark, but it's not like light sensitive. So you don't see it like in the daytime, like sitting here at my desk holding it, you don't see a green glow unless I turn off the lights, right? So it's a cool- They've been doing a great job with their- They really have. Their seasonal releases. They really have. And the best thing about them is, right, they're limited only in the timeframe that they're available to order. And they run them for like three months. Like you have like three months to decide, hey, do you want this pen? And then it's kind of going away.

'''Myke:''' They're really, really different.

'''Brad:''' Yes. They're very well thought out, very well put together. I like stories, Myke. And they put together, you know, something unique with this one. And just like they've done with the past releases that I keep holding off on, holding off on. But I have the standard length. And then, you know, this is not a cheap pen, but again, this is like fits that tools and toys category. And like good fidget stuff. I'm sitting here clicking it as well. So it's the model I have is a hundred. The model I have is like 200 and something dollars, but you can just get the standard non-tritium version for $179. And I think it's totally worth it. It's a great writing pen. I just got some Pilot G's refills to put in here, which I prefer over the Pilot G2 refills. So I've been using it a bunch. It's been in high activity on my desk. And I think it would make a great gift. You know, if you're like, that's a pretty expensive gift, right? Like this is a kind of a fancy pen. And I think it's just really well done and worth the money. I love it.