The Pen Addict 602/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	602
Title:	Am I Seeing What I Think I'm Seeing?
Release Date:	February 13th, 2024
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 602
Audio File:	Audio Episode 602
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 602
Length:	6161 min <br />1.017 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 602. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and Squarespace. My name is Mike Hurley and I'm joined by returning champion Brad Doughty. What did I do?

What did I win? Nothing. Is there a cool prize? You won this episode. Congratulations. Did I win a title belt?

I could be down for that. I will work on that for you. We'll see. Okay, I appreciate that. You won some space goggles on your birthday week, so how's that for a sentence?

That was great. I also met Tim Cook, which was awesome. You sent that picture and I about fell out. It was such a good picture. It was a weird day.

There's a lot going on in that picture. It was kind of amazing. That was a strange day, but in a good way. Can I ask you a very weird question?

Does he know who you are? I don't know. I don't think so. Okay, so probably not. I'm going to assume no.

I would guess no. Yeah, I would guess no, but I had to ask. I was curious. Technically, he probably shouldn't. No, he shouldn't. He shouldn't, but I was more curious.

There are people at Apple that are maybe a level down that I would expect would be at least somewhat familiar with me. In fact, I had a conversation with Greg Joswiak. So he's a guy who does marketing now. And I introduced myself to him and kind of said that I worked with Jason and then he was aware of who I was.

Gotcha. But that's the maximum level I'm hitting. Tim Cook doesn't know who any of us are and he shouldn't. Exactly. He should. He's working with presidents. Right. I just kind of had to ask though.

I kind of had to ask. If Tim knew who I was, I would be concerned he wasn't doing his job properly, honestly. Yes. There are people that should know about the community that we're in, but I don't think it's him. But he was so nice, Brad.

I've met lots of people like him in my life, people that are really important and do really important things. And I think he may have been the nicest. Awesome. He was just so sweet, so humble, which is just, I can't, I just can't wrap my head around how somebody can, of his stature could be that way.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's good. Well, I'm glad you had a good trip and you've been a very, very busy boy. So I appreciate you making time for us pen and paper geeks here. Well, I appreciate you always taking care of me when I need to be away and I appreciate your guests.

And David was wonderful. It was a really good, really good, different episode of the show, which I like. Exactly. Talking about like content creation and that kind of stuff, which is obviously something that I think. An outsized proportion of our listeners care about or are interested in.

And so, you know, I really appreciated that conversation and I expect a lot of our listeners did too. Yeah. It's really good to talk with David because even though we're in the same space, we have like no crossover. Like we might review the same product. Sure. But how we do things are completely different.

Yeah. And it's good to have friendships and conversations with people who do the same thing you do, but completely differently. Right. Like he's very, very focused on YouTube. He's obviously really great at it. And, you know, like I don't do any YouTube like product videos, you know, like he does.

Sure. And, but we're in the same space. We know the same people. We do the same things. We have the same, you know, problems.

We have the same, you know, benefits and things like that. So it's great to get that perspective from David and everyone always likes hearing from him just because of, you know, the, the, how popular his, his YouTube channel is. And it's just really cool to, I get to talk to him pretty frequently, but we, like I said, when we were, we were talking to him that had been four years since he'd actually been on the podcast.

So it was good to get him back on and go through some of the stuff that he's going through, you know, on the YouTube channel. So it's good stuff. It's good stuff. You had a little stationery visit while you were in New York City. Yeah. We went to Kinokinuya.

And it really was just a case of, I wanted to take it into there because I just thought it would be weird. And it was weird. I mean, it's a weird store, right? It's a weird store.

Yeah. You've been there before. At this bookstore, which feels like a bookstore, which is like any bookstore in New York, you know, like it's just got that bookstore vibe and they have different types of products, right? Like there's a lot more Japanese products, like a lot more manga and that kind of stuff.

But it's like, okay, it's like a specialty bookstore. And then you go downstairs and it's like a cave of stationery. And it was truly, Brad, one of the funniest things because like you go downstairs and like we're like walking around and looking through the aisles and stuff. And it's also crammed.

I'm just saying like, just pay attention to what's on the shelves because there's stuff in this store which you just can't get otherwise, right? Like it's coming from Japan. And everybody downstairs, like all of the staff, they're only speaking Japanese to each other, which is funny, right? Because you just like you very quickly feel like you're not in New York anymore.

And like there was a moment where I was like, where am I right now? Like I had that thought like it kind of threw me off. Yeah, because it's like a basement. There's no windows down there.

Like it's below ground level. Yeah. And like nobody's speaking English anymore. It's just the two of us down there and then like five members of staff. And it was also just like I wanted to look at the pens, right?

They have like pens in this cabinet in the middle, but they were doing some kind of stock unpacking and they just would not get out of the way. Like at like any time, like they would just be pushing past us. It was like a very funny, very fun interaction.

It's felt very immersive in its own way. But yeah, we poked around. It was a good time. Yeah. I picked up a couple of like esoteric items that were more just kind of like product research for me because I have some ideas.

Yeah. That I'm working through right now. That it's like way, way, way too early that probably nothing will come of it. But I'm becoming like interested in like mechanisms of notebooks. Sure. And so I found some stuff there which was like, oh, okay.

Look, I've never. This is very different to the stuff that I've seen from US stores. So I picked some stuff up just for that. But nothing of great interest for the show, to be honest. Yeah. But that's why these shop visits are important, right?

Because you get to see these things. And like I could trade. Like I don't remember anything about the upstairs. I guess it's been five years since we've been maybe six.

And like I don't remember anything about the upstairs. But like I could trace my steps through the downstairs section, you know, as long as it hasn't been rearranged. And it's just like a cavern. It's literally like it's almost like floor to ceiling like stuff.

And you literally just have to stop and stare because you're going to walk past something that you might be interested in or looking for. And you can just walk right past it because it is so packed. And it's funny. Like I remember they were stocking the shelves when we were in there that time.

Like it's just boxes and stuff everywhere. But all good stuff too. It was actually a very fun experience. Like I liked that experience maybe more than actually being able to look at the pen cabinet.

Because really I shouldn't have bought anything because of how expensive that trip ended up being with my new face. Sure. Yeah. Yes. So that was your travel. I was scheduled to travel this week. This was going to be our California pen show prep episode.

But as I've shared online, I've had a family emergency come up. Just so everyone knows, I'll share like a couple of details just so everyone's on the same page. You don't get worried, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you kind of want to put people at ease.

Yeah, it's weird like saying these things out loud. But like I do appreciate that I have people online that care about like what I do. And, you know, if I change my plans, like people need to know. And I think that's, it's, I'm lucky, right?

Like I'm very lucky. And this week has shown that I'm lucky to have like family close by and able to help because my father-in-law took a fall. He's in intensive care. And the long-term prognosis is great.

He's going to make full recovery. It's just like the dealing with like the next month worth of stuff is just throwing us all for a loop, you know, with my wife and getting everything coordinated. So I need to be here. And I'm glad to be here.

And I'm glad that we have the support systems that we have where we live. And we're very fortunate in that fact. And we're fortunate there is no long-term repercussions. But, yeah, like that definitely threw.

I, it was a, not even a question that I was going to cancel this trip once, once this happened. It's, you know, just, it's, it's an easy decision to take care of the family. Family always is going to come first for me. And, like, in this situation, it's, it's the easiest decision I could make.

So that's, I didn't want to spook everybody and, you know, have everyone freak out. But, that's just like a thing, you know, you know, I'm of a certain age now, Mike, which means my parents are a certain age and my wife's parents are a certain age. And these are the things you're never ready for until you get a phone call and are heading to the emergency room.

And then everything happens from there. So that's where I'm at right now. I've had stuff like this in the last few years. Like these things, they catch up to you when you get to your mid thirties and then it just keeps going.

Right. And then like, yep. Because people age and then things happen. And they have, I think the bigger thing is you become responsible. Right. Right. So I can say like for a lot of people, you get to your mid thirties and now you are responsible for your parents now.

Like that's, that's the way this goes. They raised you and now you need to like help them. Like the way it goes. Yep. So, again, thank you everyone for reaching out.

And I did feel like I should share, some, some details, especially since I was so, I wrote a whole article. About how excited I was for the California trip and then I had to cancel it. So like, that's like, I'm totally good with that. Like that's just is what it is.

But, I wanted to give an update. So to that end, my schedule, travel schedule has gotten weird, but I wouldn't, I did want to mention it because I've actually, before any of this happened. And since we have last talked, I had booked two new events. So I was already going to Atlanta, like at the beginning of April, I guess that's still on, you know, that could be up in the air still, but you know, I'm planning on going to that, especially since it's just a drive.

If nothing else, I could make a day trip if I had to. and then I'm probably not doing anything until I come see you in London. And that's when the schedule, that's when I, kind of lost my mind a little bit on the schedule and just went for it, Mike. so I was already planning on not going to the DC pin show, which is the week after, relay FM.

Cause I went last year to DC, but I wanted to go to the San Francisco pin show. so I went ahead and booked that, which is at the end of August. And then all of a sudden I started getting these messages and mails and links and seeing these things about the Yoseka stationery fest.

And I started looking into this and I was like, oh, that is cool. But that's like, you know, 10 days, like actually probably less than 10 days, seven days after I get back from London or, you know, like a week, week and a half after I get back from London.

I was like, ah, that's pretty tight. And I got a lot going on. So I kind of just watched it and didn't really think too much of it. And then the more I let that sit and the more I read about it, it became, I got a feeling about it that like I could not miss what they're doing for this event.

Plus I've, Yoseka has always been on like, I should just take like a weekend, you know, take my wife to New York, go to Yoseka and do some other things in the city. And I've always wanted to get up there. So this was kind of the perfect time.

Wow. The brands they have pretty mad. I'm already more than happy with my decision. I don't care how tired I am. On their website, like the exhibitors that they have, but you've got Blackwing, Seawise Coming, Estabrook, Pilot, Sailor, Travelers, Superior Labor.

Superior Labor. Yeah. Yamamoto. This isn't everyone, but like those are just some of the names that are jumping out to me. Yeah. Yeah. And, Abby Psy, who I got to meet at San Francisco a couple of years ago. She's like a, a big time like travel. Leonardo. Blogger.

Yeah. Luxury brands. Wow. So I, I almost got to the point where I could not go to this just for coverage. Right. Like I feel like this. I feel like it could be an important event. Yeah. This feels like the beginning of a, if it works, like this could be a new, new New York Pen show.

Right. Like. Right. So this feels like, it's just, I see why you're doing it. That is a, yeah. This, that is an impressive showing for a first time event. Exactly. The buy-in they have on the front end has already caused them to get more space.

And it's, I, I'm shocked in a very good way. So it's going to be good. So. Wow. Yeah. And, you know, I think a lot of people don't like it. I kind of like that it's Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, as opposed to the weekend, even though that's probably limiting to a lot of people.

I've heard some people say, you know, why isn't it on the weekend? But I was like, yeah, I'm, I'm kind of good. I'm okay with that. Right. Yeah. We'll give it a go.

Let's see. There's benefits and disadvantages. Like, what would that, what is that going to look like? Interesting. I'm not sure. So I, I, it was, I got to the point where I was like, I, I have to go. So I know, right.

Like I got, I got to know what this is about so I can share this information. Like, I feel like that's the biggest thing about me and what I do for a living now is like, I just want to share information, help people, teach people, educate people. And, you know, yeah, it's awesome that I get to go travel to this amazing, show, but it's really because I want to share the experience with everyone else.

So maybe they know what it's like and maybe they go next time or something like that. Like, that's kind of like my goals these days. When I'm, you know, talking about pens and doing things like that, you know, even though we still talk about products, you know, I've very much been thinking about the story, the more of the storytelling aspects.

I know that's a word I use a lot and, you know, just being able to share information and educate. So I think that's somewhere I feel like I almost have to be there and I'm excited about it. So it should be fun. It should be fun. Very cool.

All right. So just say about the, so obviously you're coming over for the London live show that we're doing in July. Yeah. But there is a possibility that we're going to do something pen addict related around that date. And we'll have more information on that later on. Yeah, for sure.

There's a couple of stationery stores. We don't talk about them a lot on this show, although we've talked about choosing and keeping plenty. Present and correct is another store that I might want to like take an afternoon and hit up both of those stores and take like a small group of people who are interested and would kind of coordinate that stuff.

But I'm going to reach out to the stores and we have some contacts at choosing and keeping. They've been great. So that's all stuff. TBD. Yeah. TBD. But that's kind of like my thought process to like pick an afternoon close to the event to where the most amount of people can go, even if it's, you know, four of us, you know, kind of thing.

So it doesn't matter. But yeah, we'll have more on that as we get closer. But that's something on my list to be working on. So yeah, it's good.

Also on my list, just a little bit of follow up from the Kickstarter episode that we did at episode 599. So we had this like when you take a week off and I get a guest, it ends up we can end up being like almost like two or three weeks, depending on how the timing goes from when we talk about a product and put out a show.

And then information comes out hours after the show. And then we don't get to talk about it again for like three weeks. And that's what happened with the Namisu Nova pocket pen. So this was the funny, this was one of the great show titles ever, the when clip, where clip, why clip show.

And literally within a couple of hours after we released episode 599 and we're talking specifically about the clip on the Namisu Nova pocket pen. And I said I would probably back it if it didn't have a clip. Guess what they did? They added, they changed it.

They added an option to not have a clip. So guess what? I backed it. They also, it also helped that they added an Ultim model. So, so I can get an Ultim clipless pen. So I was like, fine, I will back it Namisu.

Were you listening and change it already? But no, that's not the case. So I'm pleased they did that. I'm pleased they did that.

I think that was a really good idea from them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's still a super weird pen, but like that's kind of like the deal. Like the images on the page with the clipless one, it looks way better to me. Yeah, I agree. And like, that's why I backed it, right?

And I just think it's a better looking pen and I will enjoy it more. And of course, you know, like I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I said if it didn't have a clip, I'd probably be in. And boom, there it is.

And not only that, it had an Ultim one. This is going really well. Yeah, it's closed. I mean, it's fun. Oh. I mean, it's final.

It went, sorry. It went very well. But still, they raised £172,000. That's incredible. Yeah, I'll have to look at some of their Kickstarters because they're a very active Kickstarter project. This has to be the biggest one in years.

Because I've backed some of the other ones, like the Pencil one I backed and some of the other ones I've backed. And I know they haven't gone that big. It's the biggest since the Ixion. Okay, which was the second one that they did.

No, that was way more. The Ixion was the one with like the... It's the faceted barrel. The faceted barrel. But they had done like four before that.

Had they? Okay. I just remember the cigar type torpedo shaped pins. Yeah, that was earlier. That were the first ones. The Ixion was the one that came out with the blue one.

The Nova is now their second most successful in terms of backer numbers. Okay. That makes sense. The Ixion, which yes, me and you both got the blue one. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. So since I was clicking buttons on Kickstarter, I went and backed the Enso Bolt. That's the retractable one.

Is that one still going? That one might still be active. I can't remember. I think it's got a few days left probably. Yeah. Nine days left. They're almost at like 150 grand.

And this is one of those, so where the Nemisu, like my, this is my thought process, right? The Nemisu is just cool and interesting. And I think I'm going to enjoy it and fun. This is more of, let me learn about this product backing, right?

Like I, looking at this pin, I don't know that I personally need this pin, right? It doesn't totally like check all my boxes, but I think it's an interesting concept and kind of the perfect review pin where like I may get more personal use and enjoyment out of the Nemisu.

So this is one that I felt like I should back just to kind of get an idea of how this works. Do people like it? Yeah. I think, I think I need to know what you say from this. Right. Right. Like I know David was talking about it and like I was listening to what he was saying and I believe him, but I'm still not convinced.

I, a hundred percent. And watch, I watched the video and there's other people that have reviewed it and I was like, I'm okay. I'm like, okay. Yeah. Like, oh, yep. It seems like it's very risky. To me, I think that's the best way to put it.

This is a high risk pin. Although the price is not necessarily like it was 84, $89 or something like that, but it's a high risk of, is this going to be something that works well for a lot of people that that has remained to be seen. So the last one, and since, you know, we discussed them as three different projects, I might as well go ahead and talk about the big eye design.

I was going to, I bought these other two or back these other two and I was like, screw it. I'm going in. Let's just do that. Let's do that. And I missed the, it closed. It closed out. I was like, I'm kind of okay with that.

I went into, what happened was they limited the reward. So I actually went in and I pulled up this page and it's like nine hours left. You know, when it gets into like the last 48 hours, it does kind of a countdown. Nine hours left. I was like, okay, well, I've already, I'm in for two.

Let's just be in for three. And then the only option left was you had to buy two that it had, it was like basically a two pack of the pen and I wasn't going to back $300 worth of this pen. So, so yeah, I just skipped that one.

So I was, I was, I was in right until I wasn't right until I had to buy two of them. So, but yeah, they like, I'm, I'm always pro campaigns, limiting rewards. Like I don't have a problem that I didn't get that. And this is like one of the smaller increases in price in post, post Kickstarter availability.

Like it's going to go from one 50 to one 75. So it's not like I'm missing out. Like I'm not, you know, I'm not mad. I didn't save $25 on this pen or whatever, you know?

Yeah. Not a big deal. So any, I just thought that was kind of funny. I was like, well, I've already done it. So let's just do the other one.

Fine. And then I wasn't allowed to. So, cause I didn't want two of them that, which works for me. So, I think you should go sell me some other pens, especially since I'm not going to the, California pen show. what are our good friends at Pen Chalet have for me to check out this week?

I got the, I got the stuff for you over here. All right. Right. So this episode, it is brought to you by our great friends over at Pen Chalet. They have your favorite brands and the products you're looking for. Whether you're looking for something new from Lamy or Sailor or Coveco, from Monteverde, from anyone else.

Actually, you just go to the brands page. It goes on forever and it grows all the time, as well as Pen Chalet's offering. Whether you're looking for a rollerball or a fountain pen, maybe you want a mechanical pencil. Maybe you're looking for some refills, some carrying cases, some other accessories.

It doesn't matter. They're adding new products every month and new discounts every two weeks. Pen Chalet have fast and reliable customer service with free shipping on orders of over $75 in the U.S. They sell internationally with great shipping rates and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their high quality pens sold at low prices.

Go to PenChalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password Pen Addict for this week's special offers and to get the code you need to save 10% on anything at any time over at Pen Chalet.

I want to read. So every week I email Ron at Pen Chalet and I'm like, or every two weeks and I'm like, hey, just letting you know you're up next week. Let me know if there's anything you want us to talk about. And Ron said to me, I've set up weekly deals more than normal.

So it's definitely worth looking at. That's what Ron told me. So I'm literally what I was going to start with before you even said with said anything. This is the most amount of change I've seen on our page in quite a long time.

And this is a page that you want to go want to go check out because there's things that aren't normally listed in as far as categories of products goes. Right. So let me hit a couple right out the gate. And the first one is the Euchers Euchers fiber tip pen.

And this is a refillable fountain pen ink pen that a lot of people have had questions about over the years. It's just like these these roller balls that you can fill with. And I think they have fiber tips, too, that you can fill with fountain pen ink cartridges.

And they're pretty cool. And they are so cheap, like you almost can't do it. And in conjunction with that, I don't know if he did this on purpose. I have never seen so many inks on here.

You usually don't get discounts on inks, right? There's just not a lot of margin in there for, you know, like a lower end price. But there are Krishna inks available. There are Monteverde color changing inks available.

There are Kuretake inks available. There are Montegrappa inks available. There are Mayora inks available. We never see this on our deals page from Pen Chalet.

So you got you have to go check this stuff out. Like I am going to go look at some of these inks. The Monteverde one. Excuse me. The Montegrappa ones. I'm interested in the Mayora ones. I haven't checked out before.

Like this is really good stuff for me to go look at. And then just randomly, he throws in like a really sweet peniter, like which is a really this model is like a very expensive model. That's like 50% off, which is kind of beautiful looking and I haven't even come close to the end of the page yet.

The Paul Smith Caran D'Ache pens are in here. Oh, well, that's one of my favorites. I haven't even gotten there. And the Caran D'Ache Claim Your Style, that's in there too.

Really? The Benu Minima, which is a very popular, that's the small, the small Benu, which a lot of people like. I've never seen it at that price. I haven't even gotten to the Caran D'Ache stuff that Mike's looking at. This Tabal, yeah. So I am just kind of, wow.

I am, oh, there's Robert Oster inks on here. Wow. Okay. He's got everything. Basically everything is here. And these Caran D'Ache 849. So yeah, I'm going to go look at this after the show today so I can dig into it a little bit more.

There is so much good stuff. Y'all need to go check it out over at Pen Shalet. That is P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password Pen Addict to get the special offers and the code you need to save 10% anytime at Pen Shalet.

Our thanks to Pen Shalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM. Funny story I was thinking about when I was going to the California Pen Show. That's somewhere Ron would show up randomly. Yes. And I was going to be on high alert for Ron sighting because that's my favorite thing to do is to find Ron and go grab him when no one else knows what he looks like.

It's really fun. So we'll see if he's there. I'll look in the background of my friend's photos, see if I see him wandering around back there. So we'll see. All right, Mike, we got our shout out of the week. Shout out of the week.

This is the multiple shout outs of the week because we've missed the last two between our episode 600 kind of celebration and then me talking with David Parker last week. We've had the opportunity for two Meet Your Maker posts from Caroline to be published at the Pen Addict.

One from Rich Paul at River City Pen Co. And one from Bart Conner at Zodiac Pen Co. Y'all should go read both of those. Caroline puts a lot of time and effort into these, does an amazing job.

And I appreciate both Rich and Bart taking some time out of their busy pen making schedules and pen show season to share their stories with us. And I just wanted to make sure to point those out. Go check out what they make. I have pens from both of them.

I love what they do. They're really great people. And I always enjoy seeing them at pen shows. And, you know, check them out.

I think Rich might be in California. Then I think Bart's going to be in maybe Baltimore and Atlanta. We'll have to go look at their schedules. But they're at a lot of pen shows.

So definitely go say hi to them. Go check out what they offer. Tell them you read their article at the Pen Addict, the Meet Your Makers. And go say hi.

Make great stuff. All right. Since it has been so long since we last talked, we're going to continue down the update path. The Lamy Safaris we spoke about in, I don't know, episode 597 or so, when we got the first sneak peek at the new 2024 Safari. We have official names.

And we have official U.S. release dates. I don't know the worldwide release dates. But February 15th. So that's Thursday, February the 15th. The Lamy Safari Violet Blackberry and Pink Cliff will be launched.

Not only are people very excited about these colors, they are both coming with inks. And that always seems to be a really huge fun thing for the Safari update. So I will be getting into those. For sure, I love both of these colors.

I'll buy a couple to give away. And I'll probably pick one of them, whichever one is my favorite to use. But I really like that. And they're coming soon.

So maybe instead of me going to the, since I'm not at the California Pen Show, we're going to have to continue our shopping spree over at Pen Chalet and add the Lamy Safaris into the basket as well. Did you like these? I think you liked them pretty well.

Yeah, they look good. They're different. I like them. I like that there's just color variants in the grip and the body. That's fun for me because that's rare. I mean, there's this one post that you'll put in the show notes where I think they show every single one.

Yep, exactly. And this is the first time they've had different grip section colors. That's exactly why I posted this. It's a really neat graphic. It's like a four panel Instagram.

And you scroll through from, I have a lot of comments on the early days. So they start out from 2004 and go through the kind of the run of Safari Lemon Editions. And you go through them and you go, oh, yeah, these look great. These look great. These look great.

And it's like, oh, here's two with alternate color grip sections. It's like, yes, these look great. So I'm very happy with these. But if you go back on this page, I kind of realized it at the time, but it didn't really.

I wasn't really obsessed as I am now. 2009 and 2011 are the same. And 2009, 2010 and 2011 are the same pink pin. What the heck? They just kept it going, baby. Look, here's what's happened, Brad.

They got way excited in 2009 and ordered too many. And they were selling them for the next three years. Oh, just you wait. I have, wait till we get to the next link.

Oh, I know what's going on. Yeah. So, yeah, I didn't realize that that pink one just, it's literally the exact same pin. Because the joke was what happened in 2012, 2013 and 2015 when they just did various shades of green, right? Like the greenish yellow became, I was like, oh, is it another green pin this year?

And then they would release it and it's like, yep, it's a green pin. I had no idea they did pink for three years in a row and not even a variance, like literally the exact same one. It's the exact same pin. Nothing changed. It's the exact same pin.

Might something weird happen there. Or maybe it was massively popular, right? Or something. I don't know. We'll go with that. Maybe, Mike, it was so popular they decided to add it to their special edition range into the permanent catalog.

What do you think? Maybe that's what they should have done with the pink one. Because that's what they did with the pastel ones from a few years ago. So Lamy put out another post, which, you know, this is just me being, doing my content creator thing, right? Lamy Global.

Breaking news. A selected number of our special edition pins, which we couldn't sell, are now part of our standard product range from now on. You think they couldn't sell them? I mean, because like... Let me ask you this.

Okay. Let me ask you this. If you went back to the other post and you had four pages of Lamy Safaris, which three would you pick to add to the regular product lineup? Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be the three pastel ones. That were just released last year.

It would be an odd change, right? If you couldn't... Okay. I see what you're saying. But if it's taking you from another direction... I know. If you couldn't sell these pens, why would you sell them forever?

Because you have inventory. Yeah, but like how much inventory? They'll be forever until they're gone. They'll be forever until they're gone.

You think so? Yeah, because no one will care about them five years from now. All right. I mean... Oh, man. I see that. I see that. No, it's probably... That's just me being snarky. Sure. Add them to the regular lineup. It's fine. But all the other ones they added are all just like, you know...

I would rather add like the strawberries and cream would be a better permanent lineup one. You know, there's lots of other choices that they can make. I saw these, by the way, when I was in Kinokinuya. And like I liked the way they looked.

Yeah. Oh, I have no problem with them. Oh, I think they're great. Yeah. I just think that entire post is funny because it's not just that pen. It's a bunch of other pens that are like, yeah, those are very average Lamy Safari pens.

And on an individual basis, they're great, right? Yeah. In the context of the rest of the lineup, you know, they're not some of the more popular ones. So I just thought that post was funny. You know, no big deal.

I'm actually glad they're expanding the base lineup because in the Safari, the Safari base lineup gets no run, which actually I think it's probably a good choice to add in these colors because can you name a current base lineup Safari color? Like, I mean, you're the last person I should ask.

I have no idea. Like, not even I can. You know, it's usually like the yellow, the red, the navy blue. Like, they're very boring because they do so many special editions.

So why not add in this mixture? So to that end, I think it's a good decision. So it'll look good on the Lamy shelves, right? Like all the Lamy shelves are very, very cool looking.

And those will be a good addition to that. So anyway, I just thought that was a fun post. I saw that. I was like, are you kidding me? But like, I get it.

Like, I hope it is part of just like the regular stock lineup and not. Hopefully they sold all of them out and they're just making more for the stock lineup. So let's go with that. Let's go with that.

All right, Mike, let me ask you a question. Why can't I buy a refillable version of my favorite pin in the US? Because they don't make it? Because we can't have nice things, Mike.

Did you get this article in your feeds before I put it in the show notes? Or have you seen this article before? Because it came from The Verge, which is a pretty sizable site, mostly tech stuff. But as we found over the years of doing this, a lot of the tech writers are very analog friendly, right?

So we always, you know, once or twice a year, we'll get the random stationery post from like the weird places that you wouldn't expect. So this was a very smart, detailed article. This is someone who loves stationery. So Elizabeth Lopato, who wrote this article.

And she just went in on this choice. It's definitely stationery people will look at this and go, yeah, it's pretty easy to just, you know, we're in a worldwide marketplace. Just go buy the pin. Like I put in a link to the show notes from the Colt pin site.

It's like, just buy the pin over there. It's not a big deal. But, you know, that wouldn't make for a good angst filled article. So this is a pin.

The Pilot V7 High Tech Point takes their popular V5 and V7 model, the Precise V7, and uses cartridges to refill it. So we did a review on this back in like 2015 or so. It came to the U.S. for a minute and then just didn't stick around.

But apparently Pilot has ramped up their recyclable lineup, which is called Be Green. And in the U.K. market where I found this over at Colt Pins, you can buy. I think it's kind of funny that you have to buy a dozen of these to be eco-friendly.

Wait. Hang on. Wait. You can only buy a 12-pack of the refillable pen? That's madness. That's not even the worst of it, Mike. If you go to the Be Green main page, they have the Pilot G2 12-pack packed with 12 Pilot G2 refills as the Be Green option.

No change in the pen. No change in anything. It's literally just 12 pens and 12 refills. And it's the most backwards, environmentally friendly thing I've ever seen.

Way more than the V7, the high-tech point. Yeah, no, this doesn't make any sense to me. The G2 one is maddening. On the box, they're like, it's 70% less CO2 impact.

Yeah, but I don't need 12. Just send me one in an envelope. That's great. That is real. I mean, look, look, look. It's so good. Look, I can get my head into their head.

This is for office supplies, right? Yeah, it is. It is. And so if you're buying them for an office, you need more than one, right? But the fact that this is the only way you can do it is crazy. I need one pen and 12 cartridges.

Then I'm eco-friendly, Mike. I don't need 12 pens and 12. I really had to, like, am I seeing what I'm seeing here? And yes, yes, I am.

But back to the original question, you can get this. So these pens are really cool, and they fit all of Pilot's fountain pen cartridges in it. So you could get, like, the violet cartridges, you know, like you like for the M90, right? That cartridge would fit in this V7 barrel.

Yeah. So it's cool in that aspect. But yeah. The article, you know, as one does, you know, it's, you know, faux outrage clickbait, just like I am over Lamy's, over Lamy putting the pastels in the product lineup so we can all have fun with it. But yeah. Yeah, it makes sense.

You can get this pen. The author of the article, Elizabeth Lopato, she does a lot of courtroom reporting for the Verge. So she's going to be using pen and paper more than the typical Verge writer, I think. Yeah. And I appreciate the fact that they love a pen and they want to be able to refill it because historically the precise lineup, the V5 and V7, the non-retractable versions that have been around for 30, 40 years, are never, have never been refillable.

Yeah. Right. It's one of the most popular pens in the world and it's never, it's never been a refillable option. So this is cool that they designed this. I do wish they would make it more easily available for Elizabeth and people around the world. Also in less than a 12 pack.

I'm going to buy, I'm going to buy one of these and then give a bunch of them away. I'll, I'll see if I can email her and I'll, I'll send her a few. So, but I, I'm, I'm totally going to buy this because I only have the one that I've had for, if we're going on like eight or nine years now.

And I don't use it that much. But it's a really, it's a really cool pen. People ask about it. People find my review of it all the time and it's just not, it's just not easily available.

So I'm going to buy a dozen of these and do something with the rest of them. Good stuff. Good stuff. yeah, it was one of those is like, am I really seeing what I'm seeing right here? And yes, yes, we are. I will actually say I had that exact same thought for this next pen.

Which thought is that? Which thought is that? Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Yeah. So that's a really good question. so this is the, Navalur and the brand, the, not the brand, the sub lineup of what this pen is, is the Ikaku, I-K-K-A-K-U lineup, which they started last year, I believe.

So this is an interesting concept. And I'm thinking like, from what you're thinking about right now in that, hey, this is my entry-level, second-tier, third-tier type of pen that is making a premium pen based on some of their original, you know, like lower price pens.

Is that kind of what you're thinking here? Well, so I'll tell you my, I kind of have gone through a whole range of emotions here. So I opened the link that you have to the pen chalet site, and I saw the way the pen looked, and I saw the image of the box underneath.

And I was like, oh, wait a second, this looks like a very high-end product. And then I looked at the price, and it's $700. And I was like, oh, okay, it is. And then I read it, I was like, oh, it's Arushi.

And I was like, this is fascinating. And then I refreshed myself by looking over the Navalur product offerings again, and they have some really cool-looking ones. Like the Arushi one on their page looks incredible. And I thought to myself, hang on a minute.

Marvel's whole thing is that they're low prices. Like that's how I remember them coming onto the scene of like really nice pens for a low price. And so like it's odd and interesting to me to see them now going to the kind of tippy-top end. Yeah. So, and that is a, I find that to be a curious decision.

And they've done, I think, half of the right thing, which is that they created a sub-brand. I don't think that Navalur or Narwhal should be in this name at all. I think that is a mistake. Gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Like this is such a huge departure in my mind from what we have known them for that it feels to me like they should be separated. But who really wants to build a second company? I get it, right? Yeah. But yeah, these look really interesting and very good looking.

So I'm very intrigued by it. But it was just like I've gone through a whole kind of range of emotions since I looked at the imagery. Yeah. So a few brands have done this over the years where they have the products that they're known for. And they'll do almost like a labs type or an experimental type or just a premium sub-lineup of their pins.

One established company who's done this for decades is Pilot, right, with the Namiki lineup, right? So they have like a – I don't want to say it's a clear delineation, but they do try to have this line. It feels a bit stronger as a line. Yeah. But it's also been around for decades, right?

Yeah. So – and, you know, if Navalure is going to do this, you know, they're going to have to start somehow. They do in the marketing of it lead with the sub-brand name, right? They're trying to push the Ikaku brand. That's the name in the big text.

That's the name that leads the marketing. Yeah. And I will say like I am really happy they do have a sub-brand. Right? Like while I say there's a little confusion, I think if they're going to have done this, which they've done, they've done it the right way.

Like these should be branded separately because they are so different. And they started escalating some of their original Navalure brands, the Nautilus, right? They started making them with these really nice ebonites, right? The swirled ebonites and then the plated clips and nibs and things like that.

And then they had the special editions where they would get different materials from different companies. So they have always been kind of like, you know, leaning this way with special editions. And then this one, they just took it up to like the highest step where they're going to have like, you know, artisans, you know, working on these pins.

And they have previous, like the first version they did was very rotten, you know, around the barrel more so than the Arushis. So, yeah, it's really cool. It is, to your point, that's where it makes the price come in funny, right? Like in, it's, I don't think the price is good or bad.

Like the price is fine. I think the price is fair for like the amount of work. What you're paying for in a pin like this is craftsmanship and time, right? So there is a charge that goes along with this.

So this is a $699 pin. And to your point, you're saying, well, I'm used to my, you know, lower end Novelure pins. You know, why do I want this? And like, maybe you don't.

Maybe this is just a completely different market for this. So that's why I kind of wanted to just discuss this because it's a really interesting discussion, right? As far as brand expectations, marketing, the consumer's feel of the brand and, you know, a brand that's known for one thing doing a different thing.

And is it the same market? Is it a completely different market? Like I just find the whole thing fascinating. I don't have answers to any of those questions, but it's just like this whole test of like, all right, what is this brand?

What do they mean? I do think you're right that it's smart to have the separate brand. That's the only way to do it. One of my big questions here for you is like, are Novelure nibs good enough at a $700 price?

What a good question. I was not expecting that question. So let's talk about it. The reason why I put this in here is because they sent me one to, on loan.

They've loaned me one, the Scallion Green model, which I got to choose the model. We'll get to why I chose the one I did here in a minute. They loaned me one to review and I'd never used one before. I'd seen the launch at last year's DC Pen Show, the Rodden one.

And I liked it, but I thought that one's even more expensive. I think that one's at least $800, if not more. Yeah. And this one's a little bit less. And I am glad I had the opportunity to use this pen.

I really enjoy using it. The nib is a highlight, if I'm being perfectly honest. So it's a 14K gold nib in fine. So I chose fine.

It's 14K gold. And the way they do their nibs, the tipping is a little bit more squared off, which I enjoy, right? Just their natural design is not like a round ball tip. It's more of a smooth squared tip, which for me works really well. I have thoroughly enjoyed using this nib.

And actually, when I review this pen, I will be talking about the nib a lot because I like it so much. Just completely stock. Like no change. No, like right out the box. No manipulation. Didn't have to adjust anything. Didn't have to smooth anything.

It's really good. I really enjoy the nib. And then the finish of the barrel, which is, that's the initial selling point. Like the Arushi. I like the style of this kind of gradient brush stroked Arushi. It's not like super well defined.

It's kind of, you know, you can see different layers through the Arushi, which I really like. I chose the green one for two reasons. One, the Rodin on the cap, which is hard to see in the pictures, shows up the most on the green one. So both the red, the vermilion one, and the cinnabar.

So the cinnabar red one, and then the vermilion one. They have the same kind of Rodin features, but they're not as visible on there. But the real reason why I picked this one. Can you pick it out, Mike?

Do you know why I chose this one? If you looked at the pictures of all three of them together? No. I mean, maybe it looks like an Aston Martin. I don't know. It's pretty sick. We can talk about liveries next week.

The section is matching the barrel gradient. Oh, I see. Yeah. Okay. So the other ones are not. They don't. Yeah, I see it now. The pencil A page didn't, I didn't notice it.

You have to click on some of the smaller images to see it all together. I think the cinnabar is actually the best looking one. That's the pink and cream colored one. Yeah. But I didn't like the black section as much.

That's a big miss. That is a big miss for me. Right? Like, you go in with this big bold color and then you uncap it and it's black. Like, that's a big miss.

It really threw me off. I'll tell you the thing that's weird to me about that, Brad. Like, particularly, it's almost like they prepared for it and couldn't get it over the line because the vermilion and the cinnabar, they both have swirly, like, on the back. It's like swirled of colors and it goes to solid before the grip section.

So it's almost like they wanted to make a solid grip section in solid color, either in cream for the cinnabar or red for the vermilion, but they didn't do it, which is very strange. Yeah, so the transition is into the cap because then the cap transitions into the solid color and that's the only place where the rotten is.

So, like, the little sparkles of rotten are up towards the top. So that's the transition, but to me, it's jarring. And this is something I'll talk about in my review. That little bit, it really makes a huge difference to me in this pen, which is why I chose the black one or the green one because I thought it flowed better.

I thought, like, overall, it was the best aesthetic, even though, like, the cinnabar one I think is the best color and it also has, like, silver trim, which I think looks pretty neat. I just thought the green, I thought the scallion green was really good. So I find this interesting in a million ways, mostly with the price, secondarily with the place in its lineup.

But they seem committed to this. This is, like, the third release of this lineup, the Yakaku lineup, at least. At least. I may be selling them one short on that. And I like it.

And this is actually a lower price one compared to some of the other ones that they've done with a lot of the rotten work in there. So I find it interesting. I'll have more thoughts on my review. This is going to be one of those reviews that sounds like my discussion right now.

It's going to be just very, like, what's going on here? Here's what I think. And just kind of be, like, rambling. Like, there's why I like this so much is there's so much to discuss about this one pen, right?

This is why I like what I do so much because I have so much to say about this. And a lot of it feels incoherent. It's like, I don't know. I don't know, which is fun.

It's fun to play with. So look for that here in, I don't know, probably a couple of weeks. I wanted some time with this pen to spend with it because I haven't had anything like this from them before. I would really like to see them.

And I am going to be going to the London Pen Show in spring in March. Nice. Because the London Pen Shows are getting bigger and more exciting. And it seems like novel are going to be there. Good. Yeah, they've definitely traveled to a lot of the international shows.

So I hope that they are. And I hope that they bring these because I want to take a look at them. That would be great. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform for building your brand and growing your business online.

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That is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict when you decide to sign up. And you will get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of this show and RelayFM. All right, Mike, let's hit this one as TPA.

And we've been going pretty long this week. But I definitely want to get this one in. And this is a pretty interesting question that I want to get some people's feedback on. And hopefully I'm not too late to get them an answer because it's been a couple weeks since I've had this.

But I told them I would ask publicly because I did not know the answer. So I'll let you read it and then we'll discuss it. So this is from an anonymous submitter who says, Unfortunately, we had a house fire last week. Unfortunately, we're all safe, including our two dogs.

Very sorry to hear this news. My collection of about 200 pens didn't burn, but everything in the house is covered in soot. They are totaling or writing off all of the contents in the home. But we have the option of having a company take some special items to try and salvage them.

I don't know if I should send the pens to this company, get reimbursed for them, or try to clean them myself. Have you ever heard of anyone in a similar situation and how they may have handled it? I prefer to clean myself, but I don't know if the damage is already done from the acid in the soot.

Thank you for any guidance you can provide or any direction you can steer me in. Yeah, so a lot to take in here first. I'm glad everyone's okay, as we all are. But secondly, as I told this person, I don't know, so I'm looking for feedback.

So how can people reach us for feedback? If they want to email me directly, they can send it to hello at penaddict.com. If you've ever been in this situation, I'd like to hear from you. Or go to penaddictfeedback.com as well, and you can send it in that way.

So send that in. So my thoughts here. Obviously, you just need to straight up get reimbursed for the pens, right? I think that's a no-brainer if that's an option.

But then that still leaves you. You still have the pens and want to see if you can use them somehow. Well, my question. So I would say, having gone through an insurance thing before, if you take a reimbursement, sometimes they take the item. That's possible, yeah. So I had a laptop that got destroyed, and we replaced it on insurance, like home insurance, and they wouldn't let me keep the laptop, even though it was dead.

Yeah. So maybe that's the kicker here. I think that's what they would do. Right. So if you get reimbursed, you're losing these pens, even though you're going to get... I don't even know that you can get made hold for that insurance as a whole thing.

But you'll get some money for these pens, and you will no longer have the pens. So should you take the money, start from scratch, or should you try to manage cleaning them yourselves? What the technical aspects are in doing a good job in that and getting them back to their original state, I don't know, which is the real question here.

They would rather keep the pens, I guess, and not get the reimbursement is how I guess we're both reading this. But there's risk in that, right? Like, am I going to be able to do a good enough job to clean these? So I'm really looking for anyone who's been in a situation like this and has ideas, suggestions, recommendations.

I hope I'm not too late. I've told them I would ask publicly. It's been a couple weeks. But still, I would like to get some feedback on this.

And we will follow up publicly for anyone else in this situation. If I get some feedback on this, I will let everybody know. And I'll obviously definitely let this person know as quickly as I can. So if you have feedback or been in a situation like this, definitely reach out and let us know.

Because I'm curious myself. This is a tough situation for sure. Do you have a sense for what you would want to do? Like, if this happened to you?

That's a good question. I know it's such a hard thing to even imagine. So I'm going to assume I'm in the exact same situation. And that there is, while there may not be fire damage to my pen collection, there is environmental damage right in the air.

I'm going to take the reimbursement. Oh, really? You'd let go of it though? You'd let go of all the product? I'm always going to have questions.

If I can see visual coverage on the pens of layers of soot, that means there's probably smoke in there. Am I always going to question the status of this pen that I use? And knowing myself, I probably would. Right? Like, I'm the type of person that if I open a notebook and there's a stray dot on the page, I turn to the next page.

Right? So I'm thinking about it for myself. Will I ever be happy with my pens? And I will. Will there always be something lingering in the back of my head? I don't have anything I'm that attached on that I wouldn't be okay with refreshing a little bit.

Even if it's, you know, I wouldn't be made whole like 100%, you know, dollar wise, percentage wise. I mean, I would try and clean them. Not everyone's collection is the same, right? That would be me.

So look, this is just me, right? For me, that money is gone. Like, that money is just gone. Right? This is a collection that I've built over time.

It's gone in my mind. Like, I don't. And I've said this before. I do not consider my pens as retaining value. Like, I've never considered that.

I don't like to think of my objects that way because then I don't use them the way that I want to. Right? Like, the things that I collect, they're for me. They're not for value holding. And so, like, I just feel like to me, it would be more important if I clean them all myself.

I could get half of them working again. That's better than the money back. Yeah. Yeah, it's a tough question. It's a good way to think about it.

It's a horrible thing to happen. And I genuinely hope that our listeners can provide some kind of guidance for this person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like that question, like, you have your collection of pens. If, you know, in the unfortunate cases, like, the house is on fire in your home.

Are there what five pens? You know, it's like one of those, you know, click-baity things. What five pens would you grab? And it's like, you know, I don't know.

I don't know about that. I don't know. So penaddictfeedback.com if you have suggestions or hello at penaddict.com by email. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. Thank you to Pen Chalet and Squarespace for their support.

You can find Brad online at penaddict.com. And he's at penaddict on all of the social medias. Twitch.tv slash penaddict. I am at iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. And you can find my work over at Cortex Brand as well as here on Relay FM.

Thank you so much for listening. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Bye, Brad.