Editing The Pen Addict 519/transcript (section)

== Bamboo Pen Discussion ==


'''Myke:''' Wow. This bums me out, this pen. This pen, talk about it and I'll talk about what bums me out about it.

'''Brad:''' The story's good. All right. I think I know what you're going to say. So, we'll see. We'll see if I'm right. The Panda Conservation pen is out from Retro 51 and they've done these in the past to where they support the Smithsonian Zoo and the Panda Conservation efforts. So, there's always kind of a Panda themed Retro 51 available. They don't do one every year, but they've done different ones in the past. I don't believe they do one every year, but they've definitely had previous versions of this pen. And see, I think this is the coolest one, coolest looking one in a while. And I want you to say what you're going to say and I'm going to see if I'm right.

'''Myke:''' The bamboo pen is killer. That's exactly what I thought you were going to say. I have it. They have a Retro 51 made of bamboo, which had a panda stamped on it. That pen is awesome. Yeah. And this one is just a Retro 51 with pandas on it, which is nice, but it's not the same for me. I feel like that one is a very, like it's one of my favorite Retro 51s and I think is a very special pen that I think does a better job of like telling the story. So, that's what I mean. Like, I like that they're continuing down this trend, but I would have liked them, I would like them to just keep pushing on, they keep making different bamboo pens. You know? I hear you. Put this panda design on a bamboo pen.

'''Brad:''' Yeah.

'''Myke:''' Right? Because the other one is like very small, the panda stamping. And I would like to see them like try and find a way to burn maybe a more of a design into the wood. That would be my idea. Ideal.

'''Brad:''' So, the original bamboo one is one of the best of all time. Yeah. Like, Retro 51s. Like, it is just known for just being awesome. It's bigger than the other ones.

'''Myke:''' It's like it's interesting in that way. It's not the big shot. Right. Like, sits in the middle because they had to use more material, I guess, to make it work properly. And it makes it, even though it's bigger, it's lighter. It's a fantastic pen.

'''Brad:''' The size is why I think this one's probably going to do better overall. Yeah, maybe. And it's just, it's, this is a very Retro 51 style. Like, it's, it's, it's not flashy or gaudy, but it's, it's bright and colorful and fun. And the hardware looks great. And the story is great. Like, I think I really, really like this one. And it is different than the bamboo one for, for a lot of reasons. And, you know, maybe they could have stayed down that path and had just like the bamboo series for the Panda conservation project. But I really, really like this one jumped off the page to me, which is pretty rare. These days, there's so many retros that kind of that come out now. It's like, okay, there, there's one. Okay, there's one. I was like, oh, this one actually made me stop for a second and go, hey, that's pretty cool. Like, I really, really kind of dug, dug this one a bunch. And I'll be interested to see what the feedback is, is like for it. I think it's, it's going to do extremely well.

'''Myke:''' It's going to do great. It's like when they do the cat ones and the dog ones and the donut one. It's going to do great. Yep. I just.

'''Brad:''' I'm here. I hate fair. I completely fair. And I'm not disagreeing with you. Again, it's like, I feel like something's lost still. Yeah. Also, if you think about the original bamboo one, and like, let's say if we, you know, do like this type of pattern on the bamboo one, well, now we're charging like 80 and $90 for it, for a pen probably. Right? Like we're getting. Right, but it's so special. Maybe. Yeah, I agree. But then. It's so special.

'''Brad:''' Is this connected?

'''Brad:''' Then, then I don't know if it does as well at the Smithsonian Zoo store. You know, like if this is on the store shelf at the zoo store, which one are the kids grabbing? I promise you they're grabbing this one.

'''Myke:''' Is this where they're making most of their sales though? At the zoo store?

'''Brad:''' No, no. They're retail. Straight up retail. Yeah. So, just a point. But I get what you're saying. But this one, this is the first time in a while that I've actually, one has really stuck out to me. And I think it's a cool design. Cool. There you go. Still, I will ride with you on the OG Bamboo style though. It's a great pen. Great pen. I did a finally mic. Yeah. On the blog, which is what I do pretty frequently. It's kind of how I roll on product reviews. Especially on like super ultra. Not popular, but super. I don't know. Kind of things that people want to know about. You know, I'm not going to rush into something like the Kaweco premium steel nib review until I get some time to spend with the Kaweco premium steel nib. Like we've talked about this when it launched last year. And I got one, I don't know, earlier this year. At the beginning of the year. So, news has been out on this a while. The product has been out on this for a while. And just to recap what it is, is Kaweco makes a nib that fits into their sports series. The number five size Kaweco nib that they're calling the premium nib. And I had a whole bunch of commentary on that. I'll even have to, we'll have to find the episode number that we first talked about this in. Trying to sort this out. Why are they making this? What is Kaweco telling me? Because generally, they do have a bit of a stigma on their stock nibs. That it's, you know, kind of a roll of the dice. As I said in this review of the premium nib. That, hey, it's kind of a dice roll. Am I going to get a good nib or not? And I was like, well, is the solution to charge me more for a better nib? Maybe? Yeah, I don't know. It's like I'm delimited on the existence.

'''Myke:''' It's 481 is where we spoke about it.

'''Brad:''' Gotcha. Thank you. So, like, I'm delimited on is this a good thing? Is this ridiculous? It's like, why are they doing this? And my conclusion after using this for months, like, I've been actively using this, is that I adore this nib. It's an awesome nib.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad:''' I don't know that anyone needs it. Like, if you're a Kaweco superfan like me, you buy one and you move it around to different Kawecos you like. Like, I think that's good. How much does it cost? It's $45?

'''Myke:''' Yes, that's ridiculous. Honestly, it's ridiculous to me.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. And I get that. Like, I totally buy that argument. Like, if I think about it, like, they're telling me that their Kaweco sports, like all the classics, you know, the basic plastic models, which is Ice Sport, Classic, you know, there's a million, Skyline, there's a million different names for the same type of pen. And they all run about $25, right? And they ship with a steel nib. And generally speaking, those nibs are okay. Right.

'''Myke:''' They're fine. The pen you're using, the Kaweco Steel Sport, is $111.

'''Brad:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Myke:''' That pen should come with one of these, in my opinion. Right. It shouldn't cost $45 for me to buy another steel nib. Like, this wouldn't be a problem, I feel like, if Kaweco's nib experience was perfect. Mm-hmm. If you, like, because this is like a thing you talk about in the review, we spoke about it a bunch of times. Kaweco is one of those pen brands where you have to hope you get a good one. Mm-hmm. Like, you don't always. Twisby used to be more like that. I feel like they're not like that so much anymore. Or, and, you know, we talk about the Lamy 2000 as being a particular pen model where it can be complicated. But Kaweco's in general, like, if I'm spending $111 on a pen, right, with a steel nib, I don't then want to spend it over $45 to get a nib that I know is going to be great. Right. Because now we're into $170. I mean, that's just not for me, you know.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I thought there should be a delineation from the pen product side, not just the nib side. Kind of, I'm basically agreeing with you that, okay, we have these Kaweco Sports and they come with these nibs. And now we have the Kaweco Premium lineup, which are all the metal barrel nibs should all come with the premium nibs. Right. And, I mean, charge me, you know, requisite pricing for it. You know, I'm not saying sell it to me at the same price. You know, there's going to be some premium to what they cost now. But I guess they're just so dialed into those product lineups. Like, a lot of these product lineups have existed for five and ten years, right? The Kaweco Brass. Yep. Like, if you're all of a sudden just going to, you would have to say, okay, we're winding this product down and we're replacing it. And they're all going to ship with premium nibs and we're going to charge 25% more or whatever the price is.

'''Myke:''' I hope they are planning on doing that.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I would be into that. Like, yes, that's the decision. Not saying, hey, our base level pen, we're not sure if the nib's good enough. So here's, spend $45 and we're going to sell you that one that we tried harder on.

'''Myke:''' Honestly, it's just wild to me that a pen brand that ships steel nibs has a premium steel nib. Like, that just doesn't make any sense to me. Like, it really doesn't. It's like, I don't get it. I can't think of this existing before. Like, premium steel, right? Yeah. I've never known of a steel nib upgrade. Like, that's wild to me. It's like, no, that's the standard. That's what I'm, that should be in my purchase. If I want to upgrade, then I'm going to a different material. Like, I'm not sticking around at steel. That's crazy.

'''Brad:''' Or a grind, right? Like, Estabrook offers upgrades, but they're special. Yeah, but that's a different feature, right? I agree. I agree.

'''Myke:''' I find this really, honestly, I find it quite disappointing that it exists as an option. Like, it feels a bit, I don't know. I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. It just doesn't sit right with me at all.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. To me, the marketing is, we tried harder with this one. That's not the marketing I want.

'''Myke:''' We actually sat down and made it work.

'''Brad:''' And I will tell you, the nib is awesome. Like, so that's the dilemma. It is, what they built is great. Just in general, a good Kaweco is awesome too, right?

'''Myke:''' You get a good Kaweco nib and you're having a great time.

'''Brad:''' So, yeah, it's very, very interesting. It's an interesting skew in a product lineup that I am very, very curious. I'm very, very curious on how this is going.

'''Myke:''' My feelings about Kaweco as a brand has changed so much in the last 18 months.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Is it the sunglasses?

'''Myke:''' No, that's like whatever, right? Because that's just like an ego thing, which I don't have a problem with. But it's like the special editions that they've been doing, the way they've been marketing them, like the way they are treating the visual design of their products with these very strange fonts that they're putting on them when they've previously been so consistent and so like perfect, you know?

'''Brad:''' Yeah, they had a real design shakeup.

'''Myke:''' In a bad way. Well, they made mistakes.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. Like they had to correct. Yes. Like they made a decision, say this is our decision, and then six months later go, oh, no, we are not doing that anymore. We're going to do this now.

'''Myke:''' And then stuff like this, it's like, I don't know, there's something weird going on over there if you ask me.

'''Brad:''' All right. All right. Yeah. No. But, you know, technically, to wrap this up, awesome nib. I shouldn't have to discuss. It should not exist. Right. It should not exist. Well, it should, just not as a separate product. Right. Right. So, interesting stuff from Kaweco. Hey, they keep it interesting. They keep the content coffers full here. Yeah, we appreciate that.

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