Editing The Pen Addict 730/transcript (section)

== Uniball Success ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' At the end of the day, Uniball has hit home run after home run. And they don't know what to do. Yeah. They are flush with successful products. Yeah. Which is a good thing. Like, you know, I'll get asked, well, do you prefer the One Gel or the Zento Ink? And, like, I have my preferences and, you know, but it's like choosing between, like, your two favorite types of sushi or your two steak types or, like, they're all good. Yeah. Right? It's a good. They have a good problem. They're just confusing me with some of this stuff. And I think that is because they're suffering from their own success in a great way. Like, this is probably fun problems to solve. I don't know that they did this one right with the combo meal of the Zento refill just thrown into this packaging randomly. I don't get that. But I think it's just like leading, like I said, leading the witness to get the Zento name out there. So when they do the Zento P or do these other interesting Zento barrels, that it's going to be more normal and people will understand what it is because the One P has already been very successful.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's fun stuff to discuss. I appreciate Uniball answering my questions because not a lot of companies will do that. 2026 is the year of Uniball. God. I mean, they've been doing it for a long time. I mean. I know. But I feel like they've really, like, they hit a stride in the last year or so. Historically, I've always given them the most praise because they're willing to invest in ink formulations. Yeah. And then everyone else follows. Except with one exception. It's the Pilot Friction. They got pantsed on that one. Mm-hmm. And Uniball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Otherwise, there's no ink maker that has a better product lineup than Uniball and it's not particularly close. Yeah. Like, the Jetstream is literally the best in its category. You know, their gel pens. I think that's where you'll get the, like, the shelf gel pens. Like, say, the 207, the Uniball 207 versus the Pilot G2 versus the Sharpie S gel. They're not number one in that category. But they're specialty gels. Like, the One, the DX, the Signo RTs. Those are better than almost anything. Yeah. Yeah. It's great to see this. And so now I do have some answers. Like, I'm willing to just call the Zento is a, I'm going to, it's just a rollerball hybrid. And they've chosen to market it as more of a gel hybrid in the U.S. because it's going to sell more, just straight up. And I appreciate them, you know, with those answers. So, it's good stuff. Lastly, I literally did get those pens, which, you know, I guess I kind of buried that here. The, kind of the confetti, one P Zento. It's just, I don't get it. I just don't get it. It's great. Look, the P Barrel is so good. I can't believe I like that barrel. I didn't think. It's great. I would enjoy it. So, I never bought it in the beginning. And then I got to use it. And then I bought one. And now I think I have, like, three of them, which I don't need three of them. So, it's great. Yeah. That's it. It's, I appreciate Uniball's feedback. I did get some answers. And then everything else. Like, you know, it's a big business. And, you know, they got to keep things close to the vest. And I do understand that. But I think that's what's happening here is we're going to see some more P Barrel action across the lineup.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't like it, though. You know, it's just so weird to call it that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They, yeah, if you're going to do that, just give us the full name of what you've shortened it to, what you're using, like, this acronym or this initial for, right? Yeah. Yeah. Is it Patimo? Is it Petite? Is it, you know, it's a small barrel, right? If you're not familiar with the P Barrel. It's, I got to keep saying it because that's what it's called. But it's tough to say. Yeah. So. Not great. Because before you could just say the one P, which is, I don't, that's, okay. Don't think about that one too hard. But it's at least better than, yeah, I'm going to stop now.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Good stuff. Thank you, Uniball. You could do what I do. You know, the Zentop. That's what I like to think of it as, right? Zentop. Yes. Zentop. Yes. They should just call it that. They should call it that. I agree.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hey, where can you find some more Uniball products, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' At our friends and the sponsor of this episode, Enigma Stationery. They offer unique items made from in-house designs, along with top brands and hard to find imports. What kind of products are catching your eye, Brad, over at Enigma Stationery right now?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Can I lead with the hot dog pen? Yeah, we can lead with the hot dog pen. Okay, because I have a lot to talk about, but I feel like this has to be up front. So this was, again, where I was wrong. Uniball and not. House brand. Style brand. And not. So has the hot dog pen that I've been talking about a lot. And Enigma Stationery is making some embellished with mustard and ketchup, kind of like I did. But let me be honest, Myke, way better.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Way better, yeah. Because it looks like they're like screen printing on it rather than just, I don't know, using some pen that will rub off when you sweat.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So the San Francisco Pen Show is not this weekend as the podcast relates. It's in like a week and a half. So like the 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, something like that. They're going to have these at the San Francisco Pen Show. Incredible. If you're going to the San Francisco Pen Show, you need to go buy Enigma. You need to go check out these pens. And you need to check out everything else that they sell. So I was browsing through the site, as I always do. They have this new Lihit Lab. Lihit Lab has always made like cool, interesting, and very simple pen cases. I don't, there's probably something like this on the market. It's called the Altna tray. And what it is, it's a small zip up pen case that when you fully unzip it, it just lays flat like a desk tray. It's kind of like that nylon-ish rubberized material, silicone material. So like if you've ever felt this material. Yeah. So it zips up nicely. But then when you unzip it, it just goes completely flat. And like that is not a difficult design, but no one does this. And it's kind of useful for like if you're like doing like a portable desking or going to the cafe or something like that. Moving around to have wider access. This is why we like the stand-up pen cases to where you have like a fully zip pen case. And then you just roll down the top and you have like essentially a cup of pens. This gives you a tray. I think it's so simple. Like I'm surprised we don't see more of this. I actually really enjoy that design a lot. Another design I love is the Japanese and other Asian stationery makers are really leaning into the translucency on their plastic products. So like the Kutsua pencil sharpener is clear and you can see the inner workings. I love that they're doing this. Mixing in, you know, the full translucent products into these. Lastly, and I hope they have these in San Francisco because this will probably, this is something like I always would buy in person when I see this, like with Enigma and things like that. They have this, they do greeting cards and postcards, which y'all know I love my cards and postcards. I was just browsing through the site and just kind of cackled. And you can, you can get this one from me, Myke. It's called Dear Hancock is the company. And this one's called Your Old Babe. And it's an, and it's an old bay aesthetic. And it's just paint like hand painted print for like a happy birthday card. It says your old babe, but still spicy. Like I'm in, like I'm in on like how they think about these products. Like that's the perfect birthday card for me, which is my birthday tomorrow. So, you know, whatever. Yeah. No big deal. You can get that for me. But anyway, lastly, lastly, Myke, I just posted a review this morning. Well, not a review, just kind of like a mini look. Kiwi Inks Fairy Dust Ink. Enigma is one of the few retailers that carries Kiwi Inks. And I think it's just because Kiwi is so small, they don't really have the volume to get out there to a lot of retailers. So you can catch this Fairy Dust review. And Enigma has a bunch of the Kiwi Inks, which is an ink brand that I enjoy. So yeah, great stuff. And definitely go see them in San Francisco.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Go get that hot dog pen. I want one. Like it looks incredible.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It looks great. Really amazing. It solves the problem that I had because people are smarter than me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Well, unfortunately so. If you want $10 off on orders of $50 or more, take yourself over to enigmastationary.com slash penaddict and use the code TPA26 at checkout. That is enigmastationary.com slash penaddict. And to get $10 off on orders of $50 or more, use that code, which is TPA26. Our thanks to Enigma Stationary for their support of this show and Relay.

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

'''Myke Hurley:''' Shout out of the week.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You read it. No, I'm just kidding. And Ongden Boutry.