Editing The Pen Addict 191/transcript (section)

== Ink Tasting ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we're going to go from like things that are like the worst thing ever to maybe the most awesome thing ever. And that's ink tasting. How did this happen?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Oh, well, yeah, I nearly choked there. Uh, well, it was kind of an accident. Um, because, you know, sometimes pens do weird things and splatter ink on your face and your ears and you get it all over your hands. And somehow ink just ended up in my mouth. And I was like, what is that? And, and it occurred to me, oh my goodness, there is an entire different profile of inks that we are all ignoring. Now, another one of my awesome skills is that I have an excellent sense of smell and taste. So I was like, I am not going to waste this. So I figured I would just sample the inks and see if different color. I mean, the dyes must taste different. The, uh, the other additives that are put in there must change the flavors. And I was really surprised. Most inks are really salty or rusty. And my favorite ink is Visconti turquoise because it's sweet.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's amazing. I, I haven't gone there yet. And every time, every time I see you talking about it, I was like, I need to probably do this. I just haven't brought myself to do it yet.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I have been warned against doing it. I'm sure. Uh, apparently it's really bad for, well, it's not bad. Ink is not safe to ingest. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So let's have our Surgeon General's warning here. Um, do not try this at home, please. I don't want your, uh, medical bills from you chugging a bottle of ink. Please don't do that.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's, it's not, it's not all that wise. And, um, I, I, uh, I have gone on hiatus after. I love Sailor Inks. Like, absolutely love them to pieces. But I tasted, I think it was, um, it was, uh, one of the Bung Box inks, the Sapphire. And I, I nearly choked to death because it was so bitter and acrid. It like shut my throat up.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, that's bad.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's the sheen in it. The sheen, the ones with sheen have serious acrid flavor. So I, since then I was like, okay, well, in the interest of not dying, I'm going to go on an ink tasting hiatus.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' And, uh, I miss it because it is interesting, but, um, I do not miss having a burnt throat for, you know, several hours after.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh my gosh, that's terrible. Yeah. So, well, good. That's probably good that that, that's retired. But I guess, I guess related, you know, your, your sense of smell is really strong as well. Does your opinion change on an ink when you're using it because it smells better than another one? Does that, is that a better ink for you to use?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I love, I love. Like, Taylor is, it has that kind of like a wet paint smell.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's very strong.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I, I know a lot of people hate it, but I, I'm crazy about it. And Nubler smells like Nubler's. And I love that too. And most inks just smell like nothing. I'm like, oh, boring.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. You could totally do a blind like smell test and you would get like a hundred percent, right?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Definitely. I do that with ballpoint inks too. It's really weird. It's, I don't know. I wouldn't call it a talent because, well, no, it is a talent, but I wouldn't really call it a useful talent. It's, it's weird. I like, I like smelling things and paper and books.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, it's, it's, it's all that, that tactile thing that we like about, so it's why we like stationary because it has all this tactile stuff that you're not getting when you're sitting in front of a computer, you know, we don't exercise, exercise these things anymore. Like we used to.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It stimulates other senses.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's so, it's so, um, it's so satisfying in so many ways. And it's, I really like it. I like sniffing my ink as I write. I sometimes lean over and sniff the page and I'm like, okay, I'm in public. I shouldn't do this. So, you know, don't do this in public.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's right. That's right. And, and don't, don't taste it at all. We'll, we'll leave that, uh, don't take that for the past.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yes. It is definitely a historic thing. And, um, that there it shall remain because nobody wants to die from ingestion.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Please don't. I don't want to read those obituaries from, uh, anyone who listened to the show, please.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So one of the other things I want to cover, which it just hit me, you know, um, well after I'd started preparing for this show is you've, you've lived in a lot of different places and, you know, a lot of time in the U S and now a good bit of time in Europe. Have you noticed like any stationary peculiarities that, you know, one region has as opposed to the other one? And I know that's just like a super broad general question, but I got to thinking, what kind of things do you notice in Europe versus the U S or vice versa from a stationary perspective?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Well, um, one thing on a very broad note is that there are a lot of stationary stores here and, um, like brick and mortar stores. Right. It's a really nice specialized kind where they have, you know, like a new old stock pen that you've been looking for for 15 years and couldn't find. And they just have it sitting there and they're like, Oh yeah. You know, they haven't changed the price on it cause they bought it 15 years ago. So it's dirt cheap and it has this unbelievable nib and you're like, okay, I'll take that. Well, I mean, you find the gems because these stores still exist here and, or they're easier to find. Right. That there's just so many of them. I, I, I, I miss that about like, I miss having that or a wish we could have that in North America because, but I guess it's just too big. I mean, the cities are too far apart.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Do you find it to be like a, not that, um, it's not socially acceptable here, but do you see it kind of mingled in through society more just stationary in general?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Um, it's, I, I, I can't put my finger on it. Like, I can't explain exactly why. Maybe it's because it's in more in school still. I, uh, and also the older generation still engage in snail mail more frequently.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Um, I think your, I think your point, yeah. I think your point about just the, the proximity of the cities and, and things like that. I think it, I think that's a good point that I didn't really consider like, you know, probably, you know, historically a lot of these cities had, you know, writing centers that, you know, these people grew up with and they probably, you know, now, you know, it's, it's not as prevalent as it used to be, but there's still, you know, the small towns are probably going to have their, their pen and ink and stationary shops. Right.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And those are the ones that have, have the hidden gems. Yeah. I, I've picked up like sailor apricot in these places. I bought like three bottles. I was like, I'll take your entire stock. All right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You're going to be banned. You're now banned from this show.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Because it's, I, they just have these stores and there's so many, there's also so many people. So I think, I guess the, the demand for these kinds of stores used to be higher in, in closer proximity. And so in general, there are just more stores. And of course that means there's, and then there's also that, I mean, Lamy is German and there's Mont Blanc and Pelican and they're all fairly close. And then the Italian brands, they're all, they're, I guess the.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And these are all historic brands that have been there for a hundred years. So there's, there's things that pop up, you know, that have been sitting there for 50 years that.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Definitely. Oh God. It's, it's nice. And I think as the, the paper world grows and the stationary world evolves, this place is a little slower to catch up. And like the new stuff, like Tomore River is, it's, it's really hard to get here unless you're importing it. And of course, super expensive. Sure. Sure. But, but the old stuff you can get like laid paper is really easy to get and, and, and classic types of pens and ink. But it's fun if you're looking for older stuff. But if you were trying to keep up with the new stuff, then you have to go to the new stores.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Gotcha.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' And the new stores are doing a good job of, of bringing this in. Fortunately, like they're, they're, they're staying on top of things, but there's a good blend of the old stores and the new stores now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's great.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's very nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's very, that's very cool. I, I, I'm actually, I'm, I'm like super jealous. I mean, that's like, it sounds like just an awesome, you know, environment to just to be in, you know, every now and then you might discover something that, you know, you don't, you don't have that anymore. Or like in the U S there is no discovery of those old things because it just flat out, not an opportunity to exist.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' So, or they've been discovered already by everybody else. Yeah. Exactly. There's a lot, there's a lot left to be explored. So I have not yet seen all of the pen stores though. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I want to talk about a purchase you recently made that has blown my mind, but I want to talk about one of our favorite online stores first. And that's our, our good friends at Pen Chalet. So you guys, you guys know Pen Chalet. They sell wonderful pens, fountain pens, roller balls, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, paper goods, wonderful brands like Monteverde, Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, Kaweco, everything. Authorized dealers. They have wonderful, wonderful, fast shipping, great customer service. They run discounts twice a month, including closeout specials every two weeks. And they're always adding new stuff and getting new deals in for the pen community. They have free shipping in the U.S. for orders over $50. They have international shipping with great, reasonable rates. And they do something cool for the pen addict. If you go over to penchalet.com and type pen addict in the radio podcast button, click that button, which is usually my task while Myke's reading this ad. So I'm going to do that now. Let's see. We're going to type in pen addict and see what is new this week. So you can only get your regular discount of 10% off. You get an additional 10% off with pen addict using the coupon pen addict. And when you check out. So the first thing that pops up is the Platinum 3776 Demonstrator. The Psy, a medium and broad nibs for $121.50. That's stupid. That's just a really good price for an amazing pen. I love Platinum nibs. What do you think about Platinum nibs? I'm a huge Platinum nib player.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Those are outstanding pens.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.