The Pen Addict 644/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	644
Title:	Savage Pencil Reviews
Release Date:	December 11th, 2024
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 644
Audio File:	Audio Episode 644
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 644
Length:	7171 min <br />1.183 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

• From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 644. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, Factor, and Enigma Stationery. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.

Baby announcement and personal updates

• What's up, baby daddy? That's me, man. Yes. Big news in the Hurley household. My wife and I are expecting our first child. This is kind of all that has been in my mind for the last little while. She's seven months pregnant. So, we have a baby due in February. We're having a baby girl. Very excited. And I want to thank all of the listeners who have offered their congratulations so far. It's been an overwhelming 24 hours is probably the best way to put it. But really amazing. Really amazing. Yeah, you gave me a little heads up that like, okay, like we're gonna find, we're gonna announce it like you told me, you know, a while ago, because, you know, we not only do we have a really close personal relationship, you know, aside from that, we have a work relationship and there's things involved and things like that. So, I've known for a while, but I was excited for y'all to get the news out because I know I'm just so happy for you and Adina and I know everyone else is. And it's just, it's just great. Like I, you know, as a parent myself, like it's just the best thing. And I know you've gotten, you know, all the awesome congratulations to both of y'all from everyone. So, I'm excited. I'm excited for y'all. This is not important in any way, but it is hurtling towards being my most liked photo post on Instagram. Yeah, for sure. For sure. People like, like, I'll say this, like people like the personal stuff. They do. Of course they do. If it's not all the time, if you did it all the time, it wouldn't be the same. Yeah. But like, you know, I'm going out of town for my anniversary and I might post an anniversary picture of my wife. People will love that. People love that. People want to know like what you're up to. Like, it's cool. Like, you know, most of the time you're going to get pens, 90, like 90%, you're going to get pens and stationery. The other 9%, you're going to get my dog. And then the other 1%, you might get me and my wife. And the 1% always does well.
• It's my previously most liked photo is the photo we posted on our wedding day. Me and I posted a selfie on our wedding day. So it makes sense to me. Yep. All I wanted was for this to surpass my photo of me and Tim Cook.
• When I do like my top nine, which I like to do at the end of the year, I really didn't want my picture of Tim Cook to be above the baby announcement. That's hilarious. Thankfully, it has flown past that one. Not important, but also is nice. Not. It's fun. It's just fun to talk about. Like, we're very online people. So it's fun to talk about those things. And, you know, those things are not equal in any type of life ranking, but it's still fun to talk about. So congratulations.
• I'll be gone for a while when the baby comes. So Brad will be having tons of great guests on the show, I'm sure, during that time. Yeah. So we'll talk about it more probably when January rolls around, kind of what our plan is and things like that. It's obviously, like I said, something I've been aware of for a while, but it's now getting close. And it's like, oh, yeah, I should start working on this. And also, like, I'll start picking your brain. Maybe we'll do like one segment, you know, as things are getting closer. You know, is there any is there any analog like journaling? Could there be like a baby journal, like a written baby journal? I have a lot of thoughts about this, actually. Yeah. So we'll get to this a little later on. I mean, we've received a couple of interesting gifts, which are fun. Okay. But I have a plan of my own. And I hope that I will be able to talk about it more in full by that time. But I might have to be a bit obscure about it. Sure, sure. Of course, of course. Like, you know, obviously, one thing that I said, like, I've been journaling and will be in a separate journal over the last nine months as we have been kind of going through this process. So, like, that's been really interesting that I have this journal now, which is it's been I've been looking back through it recently. And it's been so interesting to read, like, oh, I don't think this is going to happen for us. And then, like, yeah, it's been an emotional experience. That's for sure. Yeah. So, yeah. So we'll do a bit on that when the new year rolls around. I think we tend to talk about, like, our journaling plans and writing plans. And you have a big loop to throw us for and a wonderful one at that. So that's great. That's great. So congratulations to you both. And, yeah, I'm just excited, excited. So while you're away, I did manage one guest episode last week. So we had the lovely Anna Reinhardt on from the Well-Appointed Desk to really it was a it was a two part episode, which was how I pitched it to her, because I hadn't really talked to Anna that much this year. Definitely not on the podcast. And she's had some changes in her life and going, you know, stationery full time, full time business. So I wanted to pick her brain on that. And then we did our gift guide episode, a smaller gift guide episode, which I think might be my plan going forward to where we can focus. What I want my goal with her to talk about and to to do for the gift guide was to do a small business gift guide where we just kind of really kind of like wound it down and picked like some favorite like shops and stores and products that just kind of, you know, one off type of stuff that, you know, everyone's pretty good. And that listens to the show at finding the latest color from Kaveco, right? Like, like, like, we're, we're pretty well covered on that. And I don't know that I need to spend a lot of time. But can I tell you about a small, interesting maker or a unique little shop and things like that? Yeah, I think I think it was a good thing. Having a theme for it, like is good, you know, like, yeah. But even if it was just finding small makers every time, but you know, you can come up with something else like, you know, American, international, like, I like that. Exactly. It forces you to come up with new things. Because I know, like, one of the reasons why I'm very happy to not do the gift guide episodes is I don't feel like I have enough variance in my responses. And I think over time, that doesn't, that just makes that episode less useful. Agree. Yeah. Like, I mean, we talked, you and I talked about this. Yeah. And like, we, we agree on that. And I'm like, totally good with that. And this also alleviates just, it doesn't excite me to write a price bracket episode. Right? That doesn't excite me. Like, but it excites me talking about small things where people can discover something. Right? That excites me. Right? So I felt this was a little bit better path from the gift guide. So, yeah. So we plugged our own stuff. So I want to give you the chance to plug your stuff here as we're hurling towards the holidays. Because I don't think, I think I had a plan when I was doing it. It's like, hey, let me pitch Myke stuff too. And then we just got going. And I forgot.

Cortex brand product launch

• I didn't show up. I know. I know. So, hey, you're here today, Myke. So what do you have cooking over at the big Cortex brand? Yeah. This is actually an okay time to mention it. In such as that we are about to drop two new sidekick variants. Like, this is why it's only okay. We don't have them on sale yet, but we will in the next few days is the expectation. Definitely before the next. Well, not definitely. Most likely before the next episode. You know how these things go. That's why I'm laughing so hard. They have at least arrived at the warehouse now, which has been a concern of mine for the last two weeks. They have been kind of lost in the custom system. So just in commerce and small business commerce speak, definitely tomorrow means sometime in the next two weeks. Yeah, exactly. It at least just means it's imminent. An imminent can be any amount of time. But it is happening. So we have the Sidekick notepad, right? Which is a product we sold for nearly two years now, which is kind of like, I would say, three quarters, a little bit more than three quarters. Dot grid and then the to-do list on the side. Then we followed it up with the Sidekick calendar companion, which is a seven-day week layout. So you can see like a whole week on a layout. We have two new layouts. One is going to be called Sidekick Freeform. It is essentially a blank page. It has a date box at the top and some dots around the outside that you could use to help you divide up the pages if you wanted to. It's kind of like markings. But it's essentially a blank page for people that want that. They want little structure. And then we have the exact opposite, which is called Sidekick Planner, which is the most structured. It's set into a bunch of boxes. Down the left side is a schedule kind of agenda. So you'd write down everything you're going on in a day. On the right side is to-do list. And then there's two boxes in the middle. The top box is set up for your top three priorities of the day because you shouldn't have more than three priorities in a day. And then underneath is a box for some notes. So this is kind of like the way I call it. It's like the command center of your day. Like it's got everything for that type of person. So we're going to both extremes. So they're both going to be available sometime here soon, definitely before Christmas, but hopefully even the next week. So that will make four total variants of the Sidekick. Now we'll be offering a cortexbrand.com. Same layout for Sidekick. I mean, that's the theory. That's the idea, right? Yeah, it's the exact same size and shape. Yeah. And the same materials, except they have different color foils. So Sidekick notepad is clear. It will soon be black. So it will just look more like that in foil. And then counter the companion silver. Planner is copper. And freeform is gold. Okay. So I want to hit this planner edition when it drops. I mean, I... So one of the things, and this will be a future episode, but it's kind of relating to some of the questions we've had about, you know, people trying to solve work issues and things like that. Which, you know, that's always a topic like you and Gray talk about.
• And I've been wanting more of a desk pad type of situation.
• Because my notebooks are great, and I just grab my notebooks to write notes. But sometimes I kind of want like a living document on my desk, which I never, ever, ever have, right? Everything's contained in something that can be closed and put away. Not on purpose. Like, that's just the reality of things. Like, I don't have a pad on my desk, per se. And sometimes I'm like shuffling to find, like, where does this note go? It's not like of the utmost importance, but it could be like, it's just something like, again, another task that I need to do today that, you know, popped up that I'm going to do right now. So I may not just go and manually put it in my planner. Yeah. In my plotter, which I use pretty religiously. But, like, when new things crop up or, you know, things change, I don't really have this space. And I think I'm thinking about that. So it doesn't surprise me having read Refill. Was it last weekend where you were? Yeah. You forgot an appointment and lost your mind. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I did. I was so mad. That is the way to describe exactly the way that that went down. It is. It is. Because you just get, you don't understand why this happens. And someone who is really, really, you know, like, I track things very well. Yeah. And when you screw it, when you screw up, you're like, oh, this can't be me. But it turns out, like, it turns out, yeah, it is, buddy. You forgot the thing. I mean, this is interesting because I've been thinking about this recently, too, right? Where, like, these are products that I want to exist because I know people want them. But they're not necessarily things that I would use, right? Sure. Like, the calendar, the planner, like, the idea of writing these things down. Like, I have them digitally. I have my tasks and I have my appointments digitally. Same. But I don't do the thing that lots of people do, which is to record them out. And I've actually been thinking maybe I should start doing that, too. As kind of like a practice, like a daily practice of, like, helping me assess, like, realistically, what can I do in the day? You know, like, I've seen there's a lot of products like this. Like, I just visited with David Sparks. And he is a big fan of the analog cards and products from Ugmonk, right? Right. Right. And I know that, obviously, like me, I think even more than me, David is very digital focused in his appointments and tasks. But he really values sitting down and writing them out and then ticking them off and then kind of reconciling at the end of the day. Like, he finds that to be, like, a good kind of practice. And I've been thinking for myself, like, do I want to start doing the same? And maybe I do. Like, I've been thinking about it, especially the calendar one, like, our calendar companion is what we call it, right? The kind of the week view to kind of, like, sit down and write out what appointments do I have in a week. Because sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, like, when I feel like I really have too much going on, one of the things that helps me the most is to sit down and, like, write down all the things that are in my brain. Like, I think this is something that a lot of people do, but, like, you just feel like, just sit down and let me just kind of brain dump. Like, this is everything I've got going on. And it always makes me feel better. And so, I kind of wonder if maybe sitting down and writing out all of my responsibilities and appointments on a week basis would make me feel better about how much I actually have going on a lot. So, I mean, I'm rolling this one around in my brain a little bit more. Like, it might be something that I start doing. Yep. So, I'm really good at the writing down and planning things out. What I'm not good at and what I yelled about in the newsletter was that reconciliation phase that Sparks has. That's the part that always worries me, right? Like, this is why I've resisted it. Like, I really don't want to get in. Like, one of the things that stresses me out is failure of data capture.
• Like, even some, like, I'm really bad. Like, sometimes I, like, add a task in Todoist and then confirm that it went to the place that I wanted it to be in, even though it definitely has done because I just did it. Like, I can be a bit neurotic with that. And so, like, I do worry about, like, if I write a task down on paper, does it ever actually find its way to the Todoist system? That's kind of the – I need to find what the middle ground is for me with that. But, yeah. Yep. And that's where I'm at is that middle ground. So, my plotter stays closed, right, except when I'm using it, right? So, I don't – and, like, my Todoist has, you know, an alert or, you know, a notification number if I have, you know, three tasks to do today. But I'm still not, like, laying eyes on tasks even though I've, like, written all this stuff down and I've done, like, all the things. And if I would have had a reconciliation phase or a review state at the end of the day, I wouldn't have been in the situation I was last week. And that's just – and, you know, ask me today if I've implemented that. It's absolutely not. Absolutely not. I have not changed a thing yet. But I think about it. I think about this stuff too much. So, yeah. We'll be talking about this, especially as the year goes. You're going to have quite the task and to-do lists, you know, come next February and March. Your lists are going to look a lot different. So, we'll get a lot out of this here. I did just want to answer one question from Brian in the Discord who said if there was an update on the Cortex brand Pocket Notebooks. So, we're working on a set of Pocket Notebooks called Sidekick Pocket, which we've shown off on stream a little bit. And I've spoken about them a little bit.
• Basically, these new notepads are forming part of a promotion, kind of like we're, like, gearing up with a bigger, like, marketing push. For the sidekick stuff for what is left of holiday shopping and then into early next year. If they sell well enough, then we will be immediately ordering the Pocket.
• Otherwise, you know, basically we're looking at early next year for ordering, which means probably early spring is the tentative plan for the Pocket Notebooks right now. But it's dependent on how well the new stuff sells. So, you know how it goes. I mean, you need money to order and to make money. You need to sell things. Yeah. Yeah. It's, oh, man. I have so many things to say. Yeah. Well, maybe next year we'll do. We need to get up a manufacturing podcast going. I mean, not a podcast, an episode. You already have that with Thoroughly Considered. But we just need to talk about, yeah. We'll do another how to make things.

Squarespace sponsorship and website creation

• Well, let me tell you, Brad. If you do make something, you need a website for it. So people can come find it. Or even they can come and buy it. And that's over at Squarespace. Squarespace, the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just getting started or managing a growing brand, you can stand out with a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell your products, services, and the content that you create. Squarespace has everything you need all in one place and all on your terms. Once you set up that store, which is so easy to do with Squarespace, you have all of the tools that you need to sell your physical or digital goods and all of the integrations that you need to make sure that they get to your customers. Once you've got that all set up, you want people to be able to pay for them. And Squarespace payments makes it so easy to get paid all in one place. Onboarding is fast and simple. You get started in just a few clicks, and you can receive payments right away. Plus, you can give your customers more ways to pay by choosing from popular payment methods like Klarna, ACH Direct Debit, Apple Pay, Afterpay, ClearPay as well, depending on where you're located. And then you can keep track of the stats that matter with the analytics that Squarespace have. So you can measure your end-to-end online performance with powerful website and seller analytics. To get insights on your top traffic sources, understand how your reach is growing, track your sales metrics, and learn where to focus new engagement. It's all the data that you need to scale your brand or business fully integrated and clearly displayed. We have both been users of Squarespace for 10 years, 15 years, more. Easily. Because they're just so good at what they do. But don't just take our word for it. You can go and build a website for yourself at squarespace.com. You sign up for a free trial there, and you can build your entire site and see just how easy it is to get your site online. And then when you're ready to launch it to the world, go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. You'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for the show. That is at squarespace.com slash penaddict when you sign up to get that 10% off your first purchase. Thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and Relay. All right. We got our shout-out of the week, Myke. Shout-out of the week. Julia here. So I want to give a shout-out to Julia here. Number one, because they're really awesome. I've met them in person. But their handle, hi, Julia here, I think is just an amazing, like, I mean, they're in the branding game as it is, like, as a profession. But, like, this is legit good when I talk, when I, every time I see it, I just laugh because it's so freaking good. Hi, Julia here. It's amazing. That is a format which is genius and I have not seen before. Yeah. Yeah. It's really, really good. So go follow Julia's work on Instagram and YouTube. They have a great YouTube channel as well. So we'll have the link in the show notes here. But what I wanted to focus on today and the reason why I put, hi, Julia here, in the shout-outs list is because they've been doing, like, a lot of stationery makers or stationery content creators right now doing different types of ink vents. And showing off, she's particularly focusing on the diamine one. There's obviously an enigma one, which we might talk about later. And a color verse. And then there's a lot of people who roll their own ink vents. It's just a fun way to play with inks this time of the year. And, you know, diamine kind of kicked this off, you know, years ago. And really kind of change things in the holiday season with all of these calendars. But I wanted to focus particularly. I think, you know, I don't participate in any of these. But I do love looking at all the colors. And I especially love looking at the feedback that people have on the colors. There was a really poorly received color in the diamine set on day seven. It's called Lemon and Lime. And do you have any Lemon and Lime holiday memories, Myke? I'm just curious.
• I don't know. I don't think so. Yeah, no. I'm not setting you up here. This is not a thing. Like, so everyone's. Do they have to be holiday related? No. Why would the inks have to be holiday related? Because it's in a holiday box. So? It's like, I agree with you, right? This is a creative, you know, conundrum, right? What is the story you're telling about the product you're doing? Do you want 25, like, red and green inks? Like, I don't.
• No, but, like, thematically adjacent, I'd be for. Like, I'm trying to, like, give me the, like, you know, if we have, like, you know, a rating of 100. You know, 100 being, like, the most holiday themed ink. And, like, one being, like, the least holiday ink. Like, give me some 30s. Give me some 50s. Give me some 80s and 90s. This is like a one. Like, give me something moderately adjacent. No, I am firmly not in agreement with this concern. Because I just, I feel like. I mean, you're not alone. Inkvent is not about holiday inks. It's about 25 inks. I agree. I agree. That's how I feel anyway. Yes. So, in that, related to that, I'm picking out my favorite one so far, which is Day 9 Wishing Tree. Okay. Holy cow, this ink is awesome. And, you know, this is the one I linked directly in the show notes. And it's just a beautiful gray, green, shimmery.
• Side note, did you know Terrence Trent Darby changed his name, like, 25, 30 years ago?
• What is happening? Yeah.
• So, this ink is called Wishing Tree. And Julia on the Instagram put Wishing Well. You know that song, Wishing Well. You know, like Terrence Trent Darby, Wishing Well.
• No, not that one. No, not really. No. Like, if you click on this song, you would know exactly what this song is. I'm in a completely different genre at the moment. Mm-hmm.
• It's a pop song. I don't know this song. You don't know this song. This song actually might be from before you were born. And I'm not even joking. Yeah. I'm not playing it. Like, it's like, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it's early 90s. So, maybe you were young. So, anyway, there's an artist. It was released in, at least in the UK, in June 1987. So, it was before I was born. 87. Okay. So, yeah. Got it. It just shows how old I am. So, this link was to Wishing Well by Sananda Maitreya. And I was like, oh, cool. Cover version of Wishing Well. And then I went and clicked the name. I was like, oh, that's Terrence Trent Darby. And he changed his name like 30 years ago. So, anyway.
• Very cool. Thanks for the info. I like this. I like this. I like this ink. I like, hi, Julia here. Hi. And all of everything that they create online. So, thanks, Julia. Thanks for being awesome. Got to talk to Julia at Stationery Fest this year. So, really, really awesome creator. So, go give them a follow on the internets.

Pilot Silvern pen review

• All right. What's next, Myke? That was an absolutely chaotic shout out of the week. Mm-hmm. I mean, it was purposeful. I mean, I know what I'm doing, Myke. I know what I'm doing. You reviewed a pen called the Pilot Silvern, which is a pen I'm very conflicted about. Oh, good. Good. I'm excited then. Yeah. Like, the nib, the integrated nib, you know? Yeah. Beautiful. Classic. Yeah. Love it. Don't like anything else about the way this pen looks. Really? Because- I don't like the silver, and I really don't like the engraving. I don't like it. I want to give a call back, Myke, and I'll have to find the episode number. I didn't know that this is how this was going to go. But there was a very specific edition that I'm now linking in the show notes that might have changed your mind a few years ago. And I'm curious what you think about the Pokemon Pikachu Sterling Silver. Oh, I remember this. Now, this is different. This is a different situation. Oh, completely different situation. Understood. I don't like the engraving. That's my main issue. You could not like the theme of the pen, right? Yeah. The Jaguar theme of the pen. Totally fine. Like, I actually prefer the pattern pens. There's a couple that are patterns.
• Ishii, Datami, which is the one that I like. It's like a cobblestone type of pattern. But yeah, like the thematic pens, they're not for everyone. That I understand. Like, if you're not Jaguar. The thing about this one, like the art of the Jag, is it, what is it, Jaguar? Yeah. It kind of feels like some kind of like cheap wall hanging or something. Like a tacky wall hanging.
• The Jaguar is on the prowl and coming at you, right? And there's also like on the cap, there's trees, you know? And it's just like, ah. You mean the Jaguar lives in the jungle? That's crazy. And it's $500. Like, it's a... It's sterling silver. I know what it is, but I... I love how exactly opposite we are on this. I appreciate that, but like I don't like the design. Like I don't like what they've done to it. And so like to me, it's like that is a lot of money for what I think is a pen that just looks to me objectively bad. But, you know, obviously it's not objectively bad to everybody. But just like, and I'm not trolling you here. The Pikachu one though is yes. Like you're in. The Pikachu one looks great. Because the engraving is good. Okay. So like the concept of the pen. Not my problem. Not the problem. No. It's the actual art. Totally down with that. I'm not like super... Like...
• I don't love... If you saw this on a table, you wouldn't have a second thought and you'd just move on. You're not going, ooh, check this out. Yes. Yes. So like the pure sterling silver, that looks cheap to me. Ah, interesting. Right? So that's definitely not something that I think. Yeah. Like if you just look at... Although I've had this in my hands. Yeah. Yeah. You've had it in your hands. If you just saw that on a table, would you think that was sterling silver? I don't think you would. I don't know. The way they have like relief details. But like there are so many pens that have that chrome look to it. True. You know? And they're not... And they're actually very cheap. And so... Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like just the pure silver doesn't... It doesn't indicate to me like a high-end luxury item. I don't know why. Yeah. It's not additive to you just from a visual sense. Like you don't pick up on the fact that, hey, this is like something a little bit different. But... Now, I'm sure if I had it in my hands, I would understand. Right? Yeah. So... It's going to have the weight to it. It actually does not have a ton of weight, which is why I like it. It's a feature. Like it's not like a Yardo led baton. Right? It's just feels really, really solid. Which is why I wanted to review this pen. Because I think it's super interesting for all the things that you say. I also feel like... Like just to me... I'm sorry. I have so much to say about this pen. It seems... I love this. Yeah. I'm just not particularly drawn to sterling silver as like a exquisite metal. Now, that's totally fair. Like in the modern pen market, I think most people, just general consumers, do not look at this and go, oh, this is something I need. This is something... Oh, that's a vintage pen. Like this is a literal like modern pen. This is actually a very vintage-y looking pen. Right? If you saw this on the table, because it is sterling silver, like you start to see like from the moment it's off the production line, it's going to start to like change. Right? Yep. So, this looks vintage-y even though it's made, you know, this year or last year type of thing. So, you... This type of consumer these days, you know, may not be looking for something like this, which is totally valid. Right? This is definitely on the tier of pens that's like, you know, you've been doing this for a while before you get to an idea of owning something like this, I think. Which is where I'm at. It's like, I want one of these pens. I mean, the Jaguar is not the one that I would pick for myself. Right? Like I like one of the pattern ones or some of the more, you know, unique or older ones. They do different patterns every year. Not every year, but every release they'll do. Like this one has Dragon, Turtle, Jaguar, and then two of the Japanese classic patterns. Then they have... They've had other ones over the years.
• This is a pen that I'm super interested in because I do like the feel and the look of the Sterling Silver and how it wears and how it gets, you know, kind of changes over time. Obviously, I love the nib. The nib is a standout feature of this. It's an 18-carat inlaid nib.
• This is a small pen. The silver is thin enough to where it's lightweight. Like this is like an all-day, everyday writer for me. Like I will own one of these pens probably in the coming year. I've been wanting one for years. And this is the first time I've really had to spend time with one. And it just makes me want one even more. But I don't disagree with anything you've said. How often do they put one of these out? That's what I got to check on. So these are in editions of 550, but that's not an annual thing. It's... I don't know how so often, every so often these come out. I'm on the Chatterly Luxury page right now, which is what you link to. And there are five pens on here. Yes. And two of them I think look really, really good. Which is the silver Tsumugi, which is like lots and lots of little lines. I think that looks great. And then also the silver dragon, I also think looks great. Like if I saw these, I would be like, oh, that looks cool, man. You know? Yeah.
• Yep. So on the price... I'm not a huge fan of the turtle one. Actually, I like the turtle one. I think I just don't... There's just something about the Jaguar design that just like it really... I don't like it. I don't know why. Maybe I'm anti-Jaguar. I don't know.
• Makes sense. Makes sense. I totally buy that. I also think the price is like really good. Like comparatively speaking, like in the market for the quality and materials of this pen. It seems like really well priced, which we talked about when the Pokemon released. It was the same price several years ago. It was right in this $5.50 range. What about the writing experience? Is it a $500 writing experience? I mean, no pen is a $500. Well, I mean, when you rank it against things of its price range. Because it is. It's an 18 karat gold nib. And it's a pilot nib. And that's like two of the best things. Like pilot nibs are spectacular. I love the nibs on this. I would get a finer nib. We both have a penchant for integrated pilot nibs. Yep. Yep. And I just wondered if like, does this one carry that lineage through well enough? It does. It's a medium, right? If I was getting my own, I would get a finer nib, right? But this was a stock medium nib. It's great. Like, yeah, it does. It's... So I have one of the pens, a more vintage model called the Pilot Elite. It's like a black and black stripe one. Similar shape in this. Kind of like a... You know, in the same relative style as this one that I need to start using more. If I'm considering buying a silver and I need to use this Elite, that's the similar shape size nib style, but just a finer nib to see if that's something I want to get. Kind of the next, maybe the next round of designs that they do, which I don't know what it'll be. So interesting. Interesting. I like your thoughts on this, Myke. Very cool. All right. This episode is brought to you by Factor. I don't know about you, but sometimes when the days get shorter, it feels like the to-do lists, they get longer, especially this time of year. The good news is you can power through your busy days with Factor's no prep, no mess meals. From breakfast to dinner and anything in between, Factor has easy, nutritious options to keep you filled and feeling your best. 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Or you can have them pick for you with a little bit of guidance. Like you can pick Chef's Choice. You can pick keto. You can pick protein. You can pick vegetarian. Like all these different things if you just want to make it easier. And that's what my next box, I just did Chef's Choice because they never disappoint. And you also want to try different things, right? Like I want to be surprised sometimes and, you know, not order, you know, six of the Peruvian shrimp because they're so good. Let's experiment a little bit. So yeah, I love Factor. Head to factomeals.com slash penaddict50 and use the code penaddict50 to get 50% off your first month and 20% off your next month. The code penaddict50 at factomeals.com slash penaddict50 and you'll get 50% off your first month plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active. A thanks to Factor for their support of this show and all of Relay. You added something to the notes here. You were sneaky on me. I'm always doing what I do. So in the last episode, you referenced that you had a new pen coming and you didn't give any details about it. And it is the Spoke Clickstream. Yeah. I wanted you to talk about it. And then I have a question about this pen. It's so good. Okay. So this is one of those designs when you're someone who makes things, right? Brian, my partner at Spoke, who does most of the design work and then I just get feedback.
• He sent this to me, I don't know, earlier this year. He's like, what do you think about this? And I'm like, we're done. Like, that's it. Like, nothing else needs to happen. And that's a pretty rare thing when you're creating, especially like a physical product, right? There's lots of iterations, lots of trials. We've gone, I mean, we're in a product right now that's on, it's like third iteration and we don't know if it's going to see the light of the day. But this one from the jump, it was like really, really perfect. And it's something that I wanted, something that he wanted because it's just a really classic spoke design pen, right? It's just torpedo shape, spokes in the middle, different colors, fun materials, really quality, you know, machining and knock and good refills. And I just love, I just love the stinking pen. It's so good. Like, I haven't told this to Brian yet, and this is me, like, obviously biased about my own products. I think this is going to be the pen version of our spoke model for pencil, which is just our classic pencil that always sells, right? I think this is the classic base, even though we have the spoke pen, the spoke roadie, the roadie XL, the spoke click, which was, you know, like a summertime release, like, which is also fantastic and has a clip if you want to pin with a clip. But I think this is the one that's going to be like the classic. That's how convinced I am that this is a really solid, good design.
• So what does this take? What refills does this take? So one of the things you're going to get put my design bat design hat on pretty much for the rest of this episode. We're going to talk about some other stuff, too.
• So when you make a pen, you make it. I'm talking for myself. I'm not talking in general terms. I'm talking about for spoke design. When we make a pen, you have to make decisions and you have to accept the fact that some decisions you make prevent other decisions from happening. And with pen manufacturers, a lot of that is based on the refill, right? So when we designed the spoke pen, there was the edict was this fits the Uniball Signo DX gel ink refill because this is my personal favorite refill. And I want a nice pen barrel for it. But that comes with the asterisk that no other refill is going to fit in here, right? This is not a modification type of pen. And then we make other pens that, you know, a lot of pens only fit, say, like a Parker G2, International G2 style refill, right? The shorter refill. Like because, you know, you're making a smaller pen. You're not going to fit like an extra long like Pilot G2 refill into that smaller pen. So you're making all these sacrifices along the way. With this one, we could design it a little bit differently to where we are actually not marketing it as it fits these other refills. But it's one of the more hackable options that we make. Like a lot of our pens, what happens is with these refill designs, and if you take, if you're someone who has a few different brands of pens and you have a bunch of gel pens, you can take these refills out and you can look at the front end of these refills where the tip is. And they have a lot of different shapes in there. And it's really, really difficult to manage like having a lot of options. You have to make a decision. Like there's like a hard line that it's going to fit this and it's not going to fit this. With this one, we could do a little bit different and we're allowing, I say allowing, we're actually saying that you can hack some refills, other refills in there if you want to have like a gel ink refill. Right? We ship it with a Parker style refill. And we're actually going to make a tool that when these options weren't ready for launch. So it ships with all Parker style refills, some Oto, some Schmidt, things like that. In January, we're going to have this tool that's going to allow people to like exactly measure and cut their refills that will ship with some of these pens and give them the options to use other refills and telling people how to do it as well. Right? So this is going to, a little bit different in that, okay, this is the product launch and you're going to be able to use these other refills. And we're going to do things with springs and spacers and little tools to allow you to, to trim refills, to give you more options into this pen. So that was kind of our idea with this one. Instead of having like a very fixed refill system, this one's going to be a little bit more modular as long as you're willing to be a hacker, which it's very simple. It's a little, it's a three millimeter trim is what it's going to be. Right. Yes, that sounds difficult. See, when I saw this, I just assumed this had a Jetstream refill.
• We did make sure that the Clickstream name was not used anywhere. Yeah. And the problem, this will fit the Jetstream, the Parker style Jetstream refill that I like so much. We actually had to stop selling those. Those used to come with our roadies. They got just outrageously expensive. They're like $8 a refill. They're like $8 a refill. I mean, and we couldn't, we couldn't buy them in bulk and get much of a discount. Right. Like there was, we can't get them from the source. Right. Right. So they just became like a, an untenable option for, for the pen. Yeah. Um, but it will fit the Jetstream, um, SXR. What is it? SXR 600, something like that. The Parker style refill, which is what I use in the roadies. So anyway, that's a, this is a long way of saying, I'm really happy with this pen. You're going to see a lot of different versions of this pen, uh, going forward. And you're going to be able to play around with the refills in it a little bit and be able to switch from like a Parker style to a pilot style. Refill with a little bit of, a little bit of trimming. So.
• Very cool. Yep. Yep. Maybe we should go check it out. There'll be a link in the shots. Yep. Yep. For sure. For sure. Thank you for mentioning that because it, it, it didn't fall. It did end up falling in like that no man's zone of like release and recordings and all these things like that. And I do like to talk about it some, but I literally forgot. Yeah. It's only like my most favorite pen we've released in a long time and I didn't even register that I should talk about it. I'm the worst.
• I'm literally the worst.

Adam Savage pencil video discussion

• All right, Myke, uh, in the inbox this week was the Adam Savage pencil video. So the updated Adam Savage pencil video I should mention. A couple of people sent this in the, the first video. Yes. And I hadn't gotten around to bring in it to the show yet. Like people had sent it to feedback, but now I'm happy that we waited because there has been, uh, an update. Yeah. So to set this up, we're going to have two links in the show notes. There's one video that was the first video and I think it was within the past year, like about within like eight months, maybe eight months ago. Yeah. And then another, an update, um, here in the past couple of weeks. So the original video was Adam's love. So Adam has long had a love for the paper mate sharp writer. And this is a pencil that even if you're not deep into the stationery world, you've seen this pencil before. It's the, it's the disposable mechanical pencil that looks like a wooden pencil, right? It's got the, or it's got the classic orange yellow barrel, the red eraser, the kind of like, looks like a wooden tip on it. Um, and this is Adam's favorite pencil, uh, for, he said for decades. Um, it's been around a long time and because like it's his favorite pencil because he knows he can get nicer pencils and, you know, really cool mechanical pencils and really fancy pencils. But he admits he just loses and breaks, breaks them all the time. Like there's no point in him having like a really nice pencil that he's just going to lose. Like he knows himself well and listening to all these videos. So he literally just has dozens and dozens of these laying around because, you know, he needs, he needs to, because he loses them. Um, so the original video came out because paper mate changed the sharp writer and he goes through this whole process of, you know, basically the in bleep of vacation of, you know, consumer goods. It's taken his beloved product. That's been the same for 20 years and has made it uglier and performs worse. Even though he says, he says the, the leads are the same. I have not tested these out. So I don't know. They kind of look the same on the page, but the eraser is worse. The feel of it's worse and the color of it's worse. So he is just like upset about how ugly it is and how, you know, cheap it looks. And he felt like one of his good statements was the old pencil, the original paper, right?
• Had a point of view on being a pencil, right? It was trying to be a pencil and that was its point of view. And good design always has a point of view. And now it's just worse. Like everything is worse. There's a lot of times in both videos, if I understand, of like, it just feels like a bunch of corporate decisions were made and it changed the product. Yeah. Like to save, to save a penny per thousand units, right? This is why it was changed, right? You know, he's like, and like he says, he doesn't know you like maybe the yellow, you know, that the original one was made from is no longer accessible or for whatever reason, you know, things change. Um, and he had a good quote in there. I did, uh, I did make note of a really good quote that I think is, is pertinent to this show and to what I do and to what I believe in. He says, when he was talking about discovering pencils and, you know, learning about pencils, he says, there's only so much that research can give. The rest is this web of compared experience. So he was talking about tools and how in his business, like you start with a screwdriver, right? Because you need a screwdriver. And then that's your beginning journey. The start of the journey and the end of the journey is, okay, now you have a screwdriver, but now you're able to tell me, you know, why this screwdriver's handle is different from this other screwdriver. And you only get to that point, not by testing all these things yourself, but from getting this collected shared experience from other people who are also into these screwdrivers and can tell you, Hey, maybe you want to try this. Maybe you want to try that. And I felt a lot of that with what we do and what I do with the pen addict is, and really the whole stationery, you know, internet is we have this web of compared experience that we can use, right? I can only tell you so much about a certain pen because my biases, and he actually finished this original video talking about, Hey, I love this pencil. So I'm super biased about this pencil, but it may not be for you, right? You, we have this shared experience where you can learn so much more information. So anyway, I thought that was a really, really good point of view to have when you're just talking about general design experience. And that's something like I'll, I'll remember, right? Because we as individuals only know so much, right? We're, we're fortunate to be able to have this whole web of compared experience to, to lean on and get more information. So anyway, the video we got this week or within the past week, um, was his followup on the sharp writer video and how many hundreds of original sharp writers people sent him. This is a very common pencil. This is, I relate the Pentel sharp, the paper mate sharp writer to the bit crystal, right? You don't change like this classic design for any reason because people have used this as their core product for decades. And then you up and change it. Like if there's other bit crystals out there, but the base bit crystal is still exactly the same.
• And I don't know if the sharp writer could do that. You know, could there be other sharp writers, whatever? I don't know. But I, the sharp writers really in the classification of the bit crystal. Not everyone's going to love it, but those who do are really passionate about it. And one of the reasons they're passionate about it is because it literally never changes. And like, that's okay. Um, so he was going through these hundreds of pencils that people sent him. So he's, he said, he's like, stop, don't send me any more sharp writers. I'm good. But he has hundreds, he said, from people sending him in the old versions, because this is a very common pencil. I guess like the most common mechanical pencil. Um, but then it jumped into Pentel, uh, of America sent him a care package, which I've gotten one of these boxes from them multiple times. I was like, oh, this looks familiar. Um, and it was interesting to see him go through, I'm not going to just like go through every point of this video. Y'all should go watch this video because he does basically does an unboxing and testing of some of the classic Pentel pencils, which I rate the highest, right? Like the Pentel sharp, he had several of those, the Pentel graph gear. While it's not my favorite, I could see that's something he would enjoy. It was funny when he discovered the Pentel graph gear has a retractable pipe. He was like, oh my God, what is this? He loved that. He loved that picture. He's like, oh, I can't break this one. I was like, yeah, like that's a thing. That's a thing that pencils can do. Um, you know, he enjoyed the, the, the classic sharp colors. Like when he opened the color version of the Pentel sharp box, the historical colors, which they still make, like Pentel made a point in the letter that they wrote to him. This pencil has been the same for like 50 years. Like that was one of the, the ideas of the box. Um, he liked the Pentel smash. I think a lot. Um, he opened the little box and it goes, and he's like, oh, that's a, what a great sound. So like we, he's like the exact same level of nerdery that we all are with this. So, um, the one funny thing that I enjoyed was, uh, Pentel putting basically discuss without directly saying it is like, you're using a disposable mechanical pencil and creating a lot of extra waste. And, you know, you should use like a regular mechanical pencil that you just refill with leads literally while he's sitting in front in front of like a pile of trash from all the Pentel unboxings that he's done, which I thought was just kind of hilarious. Um, the commitment to sustainability literally sitting in front of a pile of paper and plastic was pretty funny. So, well, you know, it's like you can't win them all. So it was funny. Um, but yeah, that was it. Y'all should go watch the video. Um, I just think in general, just, and it's mentioned a bunch in the comments, but like absolutely top tier Bravo. Good work by Pentel's marketing team. A hundred percent. Like, um, to have seen that video, like the original video has like a million views or something, which is like pretty bad for paper mate. Like that's not, that's not good. Uh, cause he did a direct comparison between the old and the new. Yeah. And then for Pentel to drop in and now that view is like four days old, 400,000 views, like excellent. And like, yeah, he's the kind of person that you want to recommend your product, right? Cause he's just so thoughtful and it's so well respected for very good reason. Um, so yeah, I, I just, that was just like really, really smart work from them. Yeah. And because he, and which, which I appreciate and which is what I try to get across, even though like I'm doing it in like a fixed format, say like a blog or something like that. He is just opening a package, writing with the product on the page and telling you exactly what he feels like in the time, in the heat of the moment.
• And like, that's a valuable information, you know, to, to have those instant reactions like that. So I don't know, maybe I could learn something from that. All right. This episode is also brought to you by our friends over at Enigma Stationery. They offer unique items made from in-house designs along with top brands and hard to find imports. If you're working on your holiday shopping for the stationery lovers in your life, there are tons of great items in stock at Enigma Stationery. Let us make it easy for you by just telling you to go to enigmastationery.com slash penaddict. U.S. orders made by December 18th can be shipped to arrive in time for Christmas. You still have time. If you're outside the U.S. or you're worried about holiday shipping deadlines or you're just unable to make a decision, gift cards are also available as well. Enigma Stationery have just launched their largest clearance sale yet, which is perfect for this time of year. To access the sale, just go to enigmastationery.com and click clearance at the top of the homepage and you'll save some money and take a browse through their sale that includes over 100 items with the best prices ever. There's also treats to look forward to after Christmas. Join the Enigma Stationery. What are you laughing at over there? There's a cat sarcophagus in here, Myke. Of course there is. Sorry, go ahead. I mean, who wouldn't want that? There's also treats to look forward to after Christmas at Enigma Stationery. Join the mailing list for exclusive previews of new items coming soon, including their 2025 Lucky Bags released in January. So, go and check out Enigma Stationery's biggest clearance sale ever and grab yourself some Christmas deals. If you want free U.S. shipping or discounted international shipping on orders of $50 or more plus a free gift, go to enigmastationery.com slash penaddict and use the code penaddict24 at checkout. That's enigmastationery.com slash penaddict to get your hands on all of Enigma's latest stock plus a free gift and free U.S. shipping on orders of $50 or more with the code penaddict24. Our thanks to Enigma Stationery for their support of this show and all of Relay. All right, you got to go look at the mummy cat blind box. I'm die. I am dead. It's basically like the way I'm reading this, I'm assuming it's like one of those prepackaged toys, right, where you don't know which one you're going to get. So, it's a blind box and it's a cat. It's a mummified cat in a coffin. Where is this? Where am I looking for this?
• Just do mummy cat blind box in the search. I found it like on one of the main pages of the shop.
• So, yeah, I don't have the Discord link or the link to put in the Discord. All right, I found it. I found it. Wow, look at that. That cat. Wow, what is happening here? I don't know, but it rules. It rules. Man, they got Enigma Stationery. See, they just like to surprise us, you know. Like sometimes they have a wireless smartphone label printer. Sometimes they have a desk mat. Sometimes they have a cat sarcophagus. Yeah, so I think I'm probably going to have to get the cat thing because I'm looking at the clearance thing right now. And like they don't ask us to do this. But I have found I never thought I was going to be a person that uses those small stationery pouches, right? Where you know how you can get like the nesting doll stationery pouches, right? Where you have like four or five different sizes. And it's like, how am I going to use this stuff? Well, now that I'm like into like postcards and stamps and stickers and like I have all these different accessories that aren't organized. And they just have like a little pouch, like a little flat bag in here. Oh my God, have you seen the Hit Lab Shiba pouch? No. Oh, this is good. Yeah. So yeah, like I am going to go. Okay, let me find this. There's some good stuff here. Yeah. They got a bunch of really interesting Hit Lab products that I didn't know existed. Yeah, so that's always been a company that have enjoyed their design.
• So they have some really cool stuff. So anyway, we're completely off track here. But y'all should go check this stuff out. I'm going to be checking it out because I need some more envelopes. And I probably need a cat and a mummified cat. And that's sarcophagus.

Stationery bag recommendations

• Oh my gosh. All right, what else have we got this week? We've got some RSTPA questions. First comes from Jim who says, I've recently decided to keep my tech gear and my analog gear in different bags. I'm looking for a sling type bag, maybe something in a nice waxed canvas that can hold up to four pen rolls and A5 size journals in leather covers, bullet journal, maybe a book. Can you make any recommendations for a carry option for pens and journals? Yeah, so I actually answered this to Jim directly because I felt like, so number one, Jim's using a lot of stationery stuff, right? So we can't use something too small. But you're in this zone where, as Jim kind of alludes to, a traditional size backpack is just not that functional for this stationery stuff. So I immediately went to the more briefcase style small bags that are designed for this. And I gave Jim this list. At the top of my list is honestly the Rickshaw Bonsai bag, which was a pleasant surprise for me to discover because I have one of these. It is a stationery bag. You can fit like your tablets or, you know, your iPads in there and some electronic devices, cables and stuff. But the way it's designed, it's got this smaller boxy type design that's still like pretty small and compact that fits exactly what Jim wants to use. He actually went and ordered one and said, this is perfect and sent me a picture of all this stuff in there. So that one we won on. But I did have a couple of other options. I just bought recently a Filson bag, which I've never owned a Filson bag before. But they had this orange wax canvas model. I'll have to find the exact model. But I put a link into some different totes. So I think a tote is another type of option that this would work well. And Filson does some zip top totes. They're obviously more expensive. Filson's like a pretty expensive manufacturer.
• But I think a tote works well for stationery carry because when you're putting bags in bags, right, you don't have to have the ultimate structure of a backpack. Right. A tote, an open tote works when you're putting, you know, four pin rolls and three notebooks and all these prepackaged goods into the tote. And they end up forming a shape in there that actually works within the tote. So and then just other bag stuff. I put a link to carryology on there. If you all aren't following carryology, it's a good place to, you know, just kind of research other bags and different options like that. So that's a site that like they're in my RSS feed. Right. So I just kind of kind of keep them keep paying attention to like what they offer. And so I might give you a link. I just bought this is this. The bag I bought was overkill for Jim. But I did a bit of retail for some reason around the beginning of November, Myke. I needed to do a little bit of retail therapy. Why? Well, it just felt like cover over. It just felt like something around there. And actually, if you go on that page. So what I bought was let me give you a better link. Direct link. What I bought was what I bought was the 24 hour tin cloth briefcase. This is much bigger, but it's a it's basically like the bonsai bag, but exploded out. And it's got like pin pockets and loops and things. And it was half off. And then I got another 10 percent off. So like I validated it that way. I've never owned a Phil some product before, but it's an orange wax canvas. And like your boy needed this bag. So I got I got I got got by got got by an Instagram ad on this one. And I'm pretty happy about it. So that's kind of ads. Yeah. But anyway, back to Jim's problem. The bonsai bag is the bag that I carry at pen shows because it fits that type of stuff perfectly without being as big or as bulky as a backpack or a full size messenger bag. So that's my long way of saying Jim also validated that by ordering it and sending me a picture of it stuff with all these things. And he's like, yes, nailed it. So there you go. Very cool.
• Next question comes from an anonymous person. Oh, spooky. Who says I'm looking for an orange ink refill that will fit pens that take the Schmidt P8126. I have multiple pens that use this refill, but I have yet to find one in orange. I don't know why this is so hard, but I've exhausted every way I know to search. And so I'm turning to the professionals. Do you have any orange ink refill recommendations? So yeah, this is one of those challenges where it's a really good popular refill, but it's hard to do an exact one for one for the 8126. So I'm putting in a link in the show notes of a very old picture that our friend Myke Rohde posted on Retro 51 Pentel Energel hacking. So the Pentel Energel is, you can get orange in there. It's a really great orange. And the Retro 51 fits the P8126. So therefore, if you can follow these hack measurements in this image, you can buy any color Energel you would like and use it in lieu of the 8126 refill. So well, it takes some work. Not much, not much. It should be just a little trimming and things. So, you know, not everyone likes to do that, though, which is like our conversation back on the click stream. Uh-huh. You know, it's for a certain type of person. So but if you want it, you know, so I will say the 8126 and the Retros does fit some Parker style refills, which in that case, you can go look at Monteverde. They do some gel and I think they have orange. I think they have like orange and purple. So look at the Monteverde options for the P8126. And it might look like a Parker style refill, but it fits. So that's another option. Cool.
• Next question comes from Eli, who says, I received a pen that takes Parker G2 refills as a gift, and it's been a little rough adjustment from the fountain pen world. Something I really miss is color selection. Is Monteverde P13 or P42 really the only choice for a blue black refill? I thought that was a standard color, but it seems uncommon.
• So this is kind of along the lines of the previous question. And Eli, you can follow kind of the same instructions to do the inner gel hack for this and get different colors and get specifically what people are looking for in the Parker style G2 refills is gel. More so than like the color options. They don't want the ball pointing. They want a gel option. And that Monteverde is kind of like you can find some oddities here and there. But if you just want like an exact match, I use the Monteverde ballpoint refills in lieu of some of the Parker style refills. But I haven't used really the gel ones, which I was talking about for the previous answer. So kind of yes. And then you can hack some inner gels that will fit as a replacement. So like I get that going from a fountain pen to say just like a Parker ballpoint refill is a tough jump. And you can mitigate that with like these inner gel refills, which are so smooth and nice and colorful. And Pentel has we actually use a stock blue black Pentel inner gel refill for one of our pens that spoke. We like it so much. They do a good blue black. But those are kind of your options kind of related to the to the previous question for sure. Question from Terry who says, I've been in the fountain pen world for about a year and a half. I love the Pilot Metropolitan's. I've recently purchased I originally purchased one of a broad nib, but I find that I like to find nibs more. I don't want to buy an entire new pen. And I know Pilot doesn't sell replacements. I just found the Wings fountain pen replacement nibs on Amazon and orders a set that includes a fine and an extra fine. My question is, have you heard of them? And if so, have you tried them? No, but now I'm interested. So I've looked them up because so pilots are proprietary nib size, right? It's not like we're just swapping Yovo's in there. So these Wings nibs are advertised as perfect for Pilot pens. Like they list the 78G and 88G, which this is basically like the Prera nib. I have never seen these.
• For the price, it's certainly worth a shot for four nibs to play around with. Like you have nothing to lose doing this, basically. Right? So I've never tried to... What I've done for Pilot swap outs is I'll buy the Penmanship or the Prera and steal those nibs because you can get an extra fine in the Penmanship. Not the Prera, the Plumix. And you can get a Curse of Italic in the Plumix. And so then I'll take those steel nibs and then put them into what other Pilot nibs I want. I've never heard... This is the first time I've heard of someone making a nib that fits into like a Pilot replacement. And honestly, I think it's kind of compelling. Like it's interesting to mess around with. All right. Final question today comes from Peter who says, I was just wondering, what is your favorite click-activated rollerball? I've been using a Lamy Tipo and Swift for a little while and I was thinking of getting a new one with a similar pen width to the Retro 51 Tornado. But it appears as you look for others, especially at the price ladder, they seem to have a cap or twist mechanism. Yeah. So staying in the Lamy zone, the 2000 retractable... Oh, I take that back. Their rollerball is capped. Lamy's 2000 rollerball is capped. Lamy's ballpoint is what I was thinking about.
• Is retractable.
• Man, I was excited to tell you to get the Lamy 2000, but their rollerball is capped. So, yeah, like Myke mentions in here, like two really good options. The Mark 1, easy, and Tactile Turn. Because Tactile Turn do ball action, but they don't just do that. So like the Tactile Turn slide, I really like. Now, of course, you do have a button that you have to press to click and then a button to release, but that feels good to me. But they're the two options I would give. So I still count the button into the retractable style, and I do like the button. When I order a Tactile Turn pin, I prefer the button option as opposed to the bolt option. I don't like bolt.
• Bolt has... I'm particular about the bolt. So I don't like or dislike the bolts. I'm particular about bolts. The size of the bolt has to be right. The activation of the bolt has to be right. There's a couple little things you have to nail in a bolt for me to be like really down with a bolt action pin, which is why I choose the button. I'll second the Mark 1 as a click-activated rollerball because it fits the P-80, P-8127 refill, the Schmidt, which is the best rollerball refill.
• But you're right. Like at a certain point, you get into twists and caps for rollerballs. So I think like probably those two are probably the best options. If you have a question that you would like to hear us answer on a future episode of the show, just go to penaddictfeedback.com, and you can send us in there. You can also send us in any follow-up or feedback about the episode that you have just heard if you would like to. If you want to find us online, it's really easy to do that. You can go to penaddict.com where you can find Brad, and he's penaddict on social media. You can find Brad at twitch.tv slash penaddict to where he streams three times a week.
• Yeah, three times a week, except this week. I'm taking a couple days off this week for my anniversary, but next week we'll be back at it. We'll be back at it three times a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And go and check out spokedesign.com and check out all their new products. If you want to find my products, go to cortexbrand.com, and I'm on social media too. It's getting too complicated now. You find me. It is. Just find me. I'll be there. I'll be hanging out. You're iMike. I'm penaddict. Well, no, but I'm not iMike everywhere anymore is the problem. Like on blue sky, it's mike.social. You know what? I am braddowdy at penaddict.com on blue sky now. No, I think you're just penaddict.com. That's it. Yeah, I'm just penaddict.com. You see what I'm saying? It's too complicated. So at this point, I'm just saying I'm more just saying now you can find me on threads blue sky and mastodon. Although even now I hate that. There's three of them. Oh, man. What are we doing? Thanks to Squarespace, Factor, and Enigma Stationery for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.