The Pen Addict 686/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	686
Title:	The Thing Inside the Liquid Inside the Thing Inside the Liquid
Release Date:	October 9th, 2025
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 686
Audio File:	Audio Episode 686
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 686
Length:	5656 min <br />0.933 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 686. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.
What is up Myke Hurley? How are you today?
Good. So a podcast that I listen to every day, it's called Kind of Funny Games Daily. As you can guess, it's a daily news show. Last week they hit episode 2000.
And, which, you know, they've been going, actually, kind of funny, kind of, they started not too long after Relay, which is cute, right? Like they had their, they're doing their 10 year anniversary this year. And so like I've enjoyed this year, like watching them celebrate the way that we celebrated.
But then it also just so happened that it was like the 2000s episode of their show this week.
Nice, nice. Is, I'm willing to get myself caught out here, but is Kind of Funny Greg still part of the thing? Because that's the only person I know.
Yeah, man. He's the guy. He's the CEO.
He's the guy. He's kind of funny.
Yeah. Greg is kind of like the me.
Yeah.
Right?
Okay. So he's the thing. He's why the thing is.
He started podcasting and, you know, built a following. Like he was working on IGN.
Yeah.
And then he decided he wanted to go out on his own and he assembled people that he was working with and they created their own thing.
Yeah.
Perfect.
And then he is like the host. They're kind of different where like their shows, there's like 12 people and they have a production studio in San Francisco, unbelievably.
And it's all game stuff, but they rotate who's on each show. There isn't like a defined, this is the host. But he, you know, he's very prolific, obviously.
And he's like the, he's the most kind of like has the highest output of everyone.
Yeah. I need to, I did used to listen to it years ago, probably like during COVID times when I'm just like looking for more things to do. And I kind of dropped off it, but I want to get back into it.
I love this stuff so much.
I like games.
Yeah. They're just fun. Like I listened to them talk about more games than I would ever play, you know, because like for me.
Oh, sure.
Like kind of funny is for me what relay is for some of our listeners, right?
Right.
It's just like, I'm just going to listen to this. I just enjoy it.
And what is like particularly good about them, which is the thing that we don't have so much because they're all in the same office and they're all interact to each other all the time.
There's like all this law that you, that you look, that you acquire the more content you watch.
Like you hear someone make a joke, which is referenced on another show, like three weeks later, because now it's become like a joke and then you're in on the joke.
It's amazing. I love it.
Yeah. That's good stuff.
This is my stuff.
Yeah. I probably listen to like at least two hours of their content a day, every single day.
Wow.
Because they produce like an obscene amount of stuff.
Yeah. That's good though. Like someone was looking for that. Like I could use that. Like I actually have a podcast in our, you know, spoiler alert, a podcast to talk about later today that people might want to check that's in their feeds.
But you know what, you know what we had to do, Myke? We had to check our inboxes for feedback from Toptober, Myke.
Toptober.
It's a big talking point.
Can I just say something we didn't think about? Octopper?
Yeah.
Octopper.
I like Toptober.
I prefer Toptober, but Octopper was there.
That's fair. It was there.
It was there.
It's just, you know, you got to, you got to like explore these things, you know?
Yeah.
Like it was sitting there, but Toptober is better.
Yeah.
So the premise, if you did not listen to last week's episode or if you're very new this week, I keep a Top 5 Pens list page on the Pen Addict website, penaddict.com.
Also, Myke, thepenaddict.com, as you randomly remembered.
No, it wasn't I randomly remembered.
It was I forgot which one was the right one.
Turns out both for reasons.
Yeah.
So it's well past due for me to update the top five lists on the page.
So whenever I go through a big update, I always kind of think out loud, you know, on this podcast, on my streams and just kind of talk about how I want to do these lists.
I want to make any like grandiose changes.
I've changed how I've done it over the years, you know, from like rigid price brackets to just kind of general concepts.
And, you know, I was thinking about some changes this year and talked about them on last week's episode.
I don't want to rehash the whole thing.
But, you know, the the short version is should I for the example I used was I have a list called the top five micro gel ink pens.
Should I rethink that list and call it something like top five pens if you want to write tiny or small, you know, something like that.
So that was where we were at.
So I explained all that last week.
So you can go back and listen that week, that episode if you want more on that.
And we got people we got we got feedback on that.
We had a lot of feedback.
I'll let you go through this feedback.
I probably got a dozen more messages on this.
So people were really interested in this and people had lots of great ideas.
So once you hit a couple of these here and I'll kind of talk about it and I'll and at the end we'll talk about kind of what I did to test this out.
And then kind of what I'm thinking right now.
I think I kind of have a plan.
So Chris wrote in and said, quote, so you want to write tiny is a list that only the pen addict can make if it spans stationary categories.
Who else could create a list that has the potential to include micro gels and an ultra extra fine fountain pen?
This type of genre spanning potential born of love of the topic is exactly what sets Brad apart as a creator.
Not to mention AI would fall on its face so hard trying to create a list like this.
I actually thought that that was whilst I think that Chris is being like, you know, in jest.
But I actually do think that that is a benefit to you.
However, the problem is once you've written it.
Then it can be created.
It's too late, you know.
It is a good point of like this is the kind of human like subject matter knowledge that only a human could know.
And like an AI would not be able to would not be able to produce as good an answer as you would be able to produce because it probably would not consider ultra extra fine fountain pens.
You know what?
I'm going to ask.
I'm going to ask Chachy PT.
What would be your recommendation?
What should I say?
What would be your recommendation for pens to help you write tiny?
What would be your recommendation?
Wouldn't it be funny if it does pull up an ultra extra fine fountain pen with cooked, right?
What would be your recommendation for pens to help me write tiny?
Yeah, we'll have to end the show if it pulls up the platinum UEF.
We'll let it do what it's doing in the background while I come to the next piece of feedback from Stalin who says,
I just thought that you should know as you were talking about the best ballpoint pens that the Zebra Blen is, as far as I can tell, no longer a ballpoint pen.
They pivoted the brand into a gel pen.
Personally, I'm not fussed about it as I don't love ballpoints, but I do love the Blen barrel.
My refill is barely used at all, but it sounds like you'd be disappointed.
Yeah, I actually have thoughts on this.
They did a good thing with the Blen as far as its existence, but they did a bad thing with the rollout because they rolled it out as a ballpoint pen.
And as Starling mentions, I was a big fan.
I am a big fan of that pen.
And then I would go to link it or talk about it some more.
And I was like, huh, why am I only seeing the gel version of this pen?
And Starling's right.
I keep holding hope because I still have the ballpoints myself, but the gel pen is where the Blen is going.
And honestly, they're not taking it far enough, in my opinion.
They have something here, and they need to push it.
This needs to be even maybe more widespread than the Zebra Sarasa clip, which we'll talk about here in a minute.
But yeah, Starling is right.
And shout out Allison Stewart, WNYC fame.
Big fan of the Zebra Blen gel ink pen.
And yeah, it's just not a ballpoint anymore.
And it's a really good ballpoint.
It is really good.
It could be argued that the B and L of a ballpoint, maybe.
A Blen blend.
Because I can't think of any other reason why you'd call a pen Blen.
With a capital L.
Is that how it's formatted?
Yes, that is.
B, lowercase B, capital L, lowercase E, lowercase N.
Correct.
Wow.
It's probably like in my text, it's Spander snippets to auto change it.
That is the correct.
So it's more like Blen.
Yeah.
And I don't know what that means.
Blen.
I probably have read it at some point.
But the whole concept of the Blen is a quiet pen, right?
Quiet not, quiet tip, all of these things.
I don't know what Blen means in that context.
Blen.
Brilliant.
Reporting live from ChachiPT.
Here are some highlights of pens.
Here's the list, basically.
Sakura Pigma Micron.
Pilot V5 Rollerball.
The Q-Connect 0.4mm fine liner.
It sounds like it's reading listicles.
That's someone's listicle.
Oh, you wait, buddy.
Uni-Pin Waterproof Drawing Pen.
Sure.
Uni-Ball iFine UB 157.
Stabilo 0.88 fine liner.
The Uni-Pin fine liner drawing pen.
And the Statler Tri Plus Note fine liner.
Sources include Reddit.
The pen addict.
The well-appointed desk.
Gentleman Stationer.
Jet Pens.
Amazon.
Office Depot.
Yeah.
So, it is a fine liner heavy output there.
So, that was like five of the eight.
But you'd see that, right?
You get that, right?
Like, that's why, why would it, why would it, yeah, but if you're asking, so I asked, like,
recommendation for pens to help me write tiny.
Like, you'd see why it would make that decision.
But this is what we're saying of, like, there is actually more that you can recommend that
isn't so prescriptive.
Yes.
You know, you could break out a little bit more.
But, to the AI's point, in what I'm thinking about, the concept of changing it to top five
pens to help me write small, I wanted to put a fine liner in there.
Like, I wanted to put in the Secure Pigma Micron, right?
So, they're not wrong.
They're just, like, very not right.
Very weighted.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Knock out these next two, then we'll keep talking about this some more.
Cleet says, one thought for your refresh.
It would be great if each list linked out to deeper dive posts, like pens for people
who write small or best pocket carries.
That way newcomers can get clear recommendations up front, but those of us who love the extra
detail can dig in further.
Let's just say that, uh, pin this post, Myke.
Okay.
I don't really know what that means, but I like it.
Kat says.
We'll return to it.
Uh, I really think you should go by use case.
My personal favorite episodes of the Christmas gift guides of Anna was, wow, Kat.
Wow.
Rough.
Rough.
Yes.
Sorry, Myke.
Uh, and I love the way that she introduces me to specific tools I wouldn't be able to
find for my own journaling.
You could do top tools for journals and break it down into pens, pencils, and fountain pens,
top tools for students, artists, field jobs, office jobs, et cetera.
Kat's my new favorite.
Rough.
New favorite listener.
Sorry, I guess.
I didn't hit it because it didn't affect me.
So I didn't even realize it.
I didn't realize.
I put this in here.
I read this this morning and it wasn't until I read it out loud.
I'm like, oh man.
Oh no.
So yeah, this is all great feedback and I'm not going to go through all the, the, the email
and Slack messages and, um, other messages I got about this, but, uh, everyone has re the
interesting thing, Myke, about our community is everyone was so positive.
Like they're just like, no one goes like, oh, this is stupid.
And like, uh, you know, this is just a fun way to think about like our hobby, our little
niche hobby, where we talk about pens and everyone kind of wants to have their input.
And I love it.
It's super valuable to me.
So, um, before we kind of, um, get into like what I think is probably my answer, what I did
as part of my thought process was share an updated list with Pen Addict members in last
weekend's newsletter.
So I took this list that I keep referring to the top five gel ink pen, top five micro gel
ink pens and rewrote it.
How if I changed it to the top five pens to write small, I'm just going to give you the
top five.
Uniball Signo DX 0.38, Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.4, Uniball 1.
0.38, Uniball Jetstream Light Touch 0.5 millimeter, Pilot Juice Up 0.4 millimeter.
That's the top five.
Do you see the problem with this?
Because once I wrote it out, I understood where I'm at and what I have to do.
Is it that they're all the same kind of pen?
They're all the, there's no change essentially.
This was a reason for me to jam the light touch into this category.
Right.
Once I put this on paper, I was like, damn, there's really no reason for me to have a top
five pens to write small list because there's no, it's the same stuff minus the Jetstream Light
Touch.
Yeah.
So there are some individual pen problems, right?
Where does the Jetstream Light Touch go?
Because I have a category like the store shelf pens.
I have a ballpoint category.
It's definitely going to go there.
It's not going to go in the store shelf pens.
Um, so, you know, and then I, and then I do, I always do like a little note section, uh,
about like some other things like I consider for this.
And as soon as I wrote that out and I realized like kind of, I think what I need to do in
cleats nails it more than most, even though a lot of people had the same concept is you
have the traditional list.
Like we do, like I do top five micro gel pens.
And then the notes section is where you lead into the more specific content for, for more
reading and you like to write small.
Here's some of Brad's personal favorites, right?
And links to an article, or even I put that there, you know, Brad, Brad uses X, right?
Because the one overarching point of this page and the reason why this page exists is because
I want to put a page of recommendations out that is not a list of personal favorites, right?
I want to separate the two and keeping that as kind of like the guiding light to the list.
I think I'm going to keep the list mostly the same and then just have additive content,
whether it's the notes section below becomes bigger.
I, it allows me to write articles in the future that can be post linked in those sections.
But I think the most helpful recommendations page is very similar to how I have it set up
now.
I'm not saying I'm not, the categories don't need to be tweaked slightly, but I don't think
the categories would benefit from the theme based category that I was talking about doing,
you know, top five pens if you want to write small.
So I think that's where I'm at.
And it really came to light once I like actively, you know, let me rewrite a list in the new way
that I'm thinking about.
And I was like, you know what?
That doesn't really help.
That didn't really help things like I thought it might help things.
And so I want to be really strict about making recommendations that fall into like some very
popular categories and then use the note sections as the more personal touch.
And that's kind of how it's been done in the past.
But, you know, I did want to talk about it in a broader scope.
And everyone's commentary has kind of helped me think about that.
Even if whether they say, you know, like Kat says, I think you should go with the use case
feedback or someone says you should stick with the standard top, the classic top five
list.
Those can both be true.
But I want to kind of, you know, kind of keep it similar into like these pure recommendations
list.
And then we can branch out into something like Kat likes to where I could say, you know,
here's here's the type of product you should use if you're looking to do this.
So this really helped me kind of like think about this.
Like, again, like our whole our whole podcast is based on making a big deal about things
that aren't a big deal.
Right.
Like that's pretty much the subtitle of this podcast.
And like I think about this a lot.
This is like you brought up last episode and I don't think of it this way, but it doesn't
change the fact this is an insanely popular landing page for my website.
Right.
Like this is this is the Google best market, the Google page.
The best market.
So and I've never written towards that, but that doesn't change the fact of what it is.
And I'm going to keep I'm going to kind of keep plugging away at just like the pure
recommendations lifts for the broad categories.
Now, I'm open to changing categories, expanding, contracting categories, things like that.
That stuff's going to change.
But I think the overall conceit is going to be similar to what I have now and then leave
room for expansion, you know, in the in the notes section and maybe tie in some articles
kind of like cats mentioning or cleats are mentioning to deeper dives into some personal
personal things.
So this has been crazy helpful.
So thank you all for the feedback and continue the feedback.
You can tell me now that I've decided what I'm going to do.
Tell me, oh, Brad, that's wrong.
That's a huge mistake.
I'm always into that.
So I appreciate it.
So it's been great.
It's been great to get all this feedback.
Now that September is truly completely 100 percent over.
Oh, yeah.
The St. Jude campaign ended and I just want to give a shout out for listeners that I keep
in track.
We raised as a community $753,756 this year, which is truly amazing.
Brad's campaign raised nearly $27,000, which is equally incredible.
And I just wanted to personally thank everyone for their support of St. Jude.
And we look forward to doing it again next year.
Yeah.
And I just wanted to to recap that I put out a post this week to just give everyone like
the incentives, like all the art stuff that I'm doing for incentives.
I've started on that.
Myke, I have four YouTube reviews to make and people people put down specific products
and I'm kind of excited about it.
Like I've been thinking about it in my head, like that's not going to be a quick thing.
Like I'm already started on the postcards and the ink ponies, which I haven't started
yet.
I'm probably going to start on the ink ponies today.
But I sent out like, I don't know, 30 something postcards yesterday.
So just working through the list, there's a lot to let to fulfill there.
So it's going to take me a little time.
But all your incentives are coming, including product review videos.
Myke, I look forward to some epic cinematic intro.
Yeah.
Don't don't get your editing hopes up.
I'm looking.
Are you going to hire a robot?
Yeah.
Camera robot?
No.
It's probably going to be a one take, one take, no edit review, knowing if we're knowing
me at all.
But although I will have to make a thumbnail, I'm in on the thumbnail, though.
That'll be fun.
Shocked faces, angry faces.
Can't believe in faces.
Yes.
Give it.
That's what I want.
I actually want to make a request of our listeners, if possible.
So you remember I mentioned I bought a Remarkable tablet?
Yes.
The Remarkable, the little one.
I think it's called the Remarkable Paper Pro Move.
I've unboxed it.
I've set it up.
And I don't know what to do now.
I don't know what to do with it.
So I'm expecting that there probably are some remarkable users that listen to this show.
Can you tell me what you do with it?
Like, I want people to write in and tell me how to use it.
And go to penaddictfeedback.com.
Please leave me some follow-up.
Because I want to use this thing.
But I just don't know where to realistically put it into my life.
And so write in.
And maybe I should just have it on the desk in front of me right now.
I don't know.
But I'm not really sure about it yet.
I don't really know what I'm supposed to do with it.
Yeah.
So to that point, I did get a link to a full unboxing and using of the Montblanc digital paper.
So maybe next week if you get some feedback on that.
I haven't watched the video yet.
It's like a 20-something minute video.
Okay.
So I'll share the link.
We'll put the link in this show note so we can talk about it next week.
I just got to go grab the link.
I got to figure out where I put it.
I've saved it on one of my YouTube accounts.
And I'll have to go dig it up.
But we'll look for that in the show notes.
Maybe you should have written it down on your E-ink tablet.
Then I know right where it's at.
What I do know so far is that the handwriting recognition does not like my handwriting.
But I'm not surprised about that.
As everybody knows, I have terrible handwriting.
But that's the majority.
I know it's the whole thing.
I don't know.
Maybe it gets better.
I don't know.
Like, again, this is me having used it for like 15 minutes.
Right.
So we're not making any judgments on it yet.
Well, let's plan on next week talking about this a little bit more.
And we'll have time to watch the video for the Montblanc.
And just kind of, I'd like maybe like if you can see like some of the things you've learned about the Remarkable compared to what they're showing.
Because to your point when we first talked about this,
is like, is Remarkable making this tablet.
Right.
I still think.
I know somebody is.
Like the OS.
Because it definitely ain't Montblanc.
Like, that's for sure.
Right.
All right.
Next bit of follow up.
I got some more email on this one too as well.
But why don't you go ahead with this.
Charlie wrote in and says,
I don't understand.
Yeah, I will explain it to you.
Because I got a separate email that said essentially the same thing here.
And I was like, oh, duh.
This is exactly how you do it.
So the concept last, the question last week was,
hey, you know, my partner wants to clean their bike parts in an ultrasonic cleaner.
So there's like stuff in there that may, I may not want around my pens.
Can I use the same ultrasonic cleaner to clean my pen parts?
I'm like, oh my gosh, no.
Then I remembered once I got this email,
you can use the same ultrasonic cleaner.
You just put your stuff in a separate receptacle inside the ultrasonic cleaner.
So in this case.
Why don't you just put the thing inside the liquid?
You do.
But you can put the thing inside the liquid inside a thing inside of liquid.
So I could fill it with the liquid for cleaning.
And then get like an extra thing.
But how does it do the movement?
Isn't it like a physical movement?
Yes, but it's vibrating the whole thing.
So in this case, take a jar.
Right.
So you fill up the bathtub of the ultrasonic cleaner with water.
Okay.
And then you put, say you have some little tiny like, you know,
nibs and feeds and things like that.
You put those inside of a glass.
And then you fill that glass with the water too.
But those two, those two waters are not like cross pollinating.
So it's still getting the full ultrasonic bath inside of a glass in the part.
So yeah, you basically separate the items within the ultrasonic cleaner.
Like you're, you're really overthinking this.
It is not that complicated.
I think that no, I think.
You're just, you're just putting a cup inside the ultrasonic cleaner.
Yeah.
I think that's the place where I'm stuck up on.
And I guess I'm learning this now.
I just figured that the resistance provided by the glass would stop the liquid from moving.
But yeah, I guess it's waves of some kind, right?
It's then, it's now like essentially vibrating the glass, which will then pass that onto the water inside the glass to clean your nibs or your feeds or whatever you've placed in there to separate it from the exterior bath that's in the ultrasonic cleaner.
So answer me, riddle me this then, Batman.
Why does Charlie say that this avoids damaging delicate items?
Wouldn't that suggest then that there is, there is like a dissipation of the effect?
No, no.
The, the effect is exactly the same.
They're just saying to keep them, you know, if you're, if you're concerned about your delicate items, you can separate them to be more overall careful, not like specifically careful because they're delicate.
You can say, oh, well, I might've cleaned, you know, like a bicycle gear in here, you know, two weeks ago.
And I don't want to actually, I want to use this cleaner and I, but I don't know what remnants or how well this has been cleaned.
So we're just going to separate it in this little glass receptacle.
And also I guess if you were cleaning all of the parts of a fountain pen, maybe you'd put the nib inside of it.
So it's not like bashing into the other stuff in there for moving around.
It doesn't move.
Like don't like, you won't see this stuff really move.
Pretty sure it's a whirlpool brand.
I don't know.
Like it's like throwing things in the washing machine and then he's like transferring it to the dryer.
And it's like, why isn't this clean?
Oh, that is very ultrasonic.
The washing machine, let me tell you.
So yes, this is the, I also got this feedback.
Yeah.
This is a pretty common thing is to have like a little jar or cup inside of an ultrasonic cleaner for the smaller parts just to, just to find them easier.
But it also helps with separating, you know, if you've used the ultrasonic cleaner for non pen cleaning things and you're worried about what might be in there.
So good stuff.
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What have we got, Brad?
Really crazy good stuff.
Starting off with one of my favorite brands, Y-Studio, that I still think doesn't get enough love.
But hey, I'm particular about some of my pens.
Y-Studio is one of my favorite brands and designers of pens.
So they have the brassing style ballpoint available, which is just a really, really cool concept for a product.
I like the idea that you're going to use this pen and it's going to wear and it's going to show your wear patterns on there.
And it's just a classic, beautiful pen.
They also have a bunch of really good Visconti pens on our page.
So the Michelangelo collection, the, where'd it go?
The Comedia limited edition, the Novel Reader.
So these are all some of their steel nib Viscontis that are at a more approachable price point for Visconti, right?
When you think Visconti, it's a very, very kind of a luxury brand.
But they start, like some of their fountain pens, like in the $200 range, give or take.
And those have been received very, very well.
They're kind of, I'd like to see them leaning into this.
Actually, some as low as like in the $150 range.
I'd like to see Visconti kind of leaning into this space a little bit because I think they're a good fit and they make good pens in this range.
The last one I want to bring up, Myke, is a pen that I've seen and I am kind of fascinated by it.
We have not talked about it.
It's called the Stipula Leonardo da Vinci capless fountain pen.
So this is one with like a retractable nib, but a really, really wild barrel.
It's a very expensive pen.
But I think you should go look at it because it's just kind of a cool looking pen.
Kind of wild barrel.
It's like something after the discount for pen.
Yes, exactly.
Say that much, Brad.
Say that much.
Exactly.
Very, very discounted.
But for kind of a cool pen.
Like I'm into the retractables, like which we're going to talk about later in this episode.
I have not gotten to use one of these before, so I'm curious about it.
It's pretty wild.
So really good stuff over there at penchalet.com.
So take yourself over right now and check these offers out for yourself, even if you just want to go look at those incredible prices, by going to penchalet.com.
Thanks to Penchalet for their continued support of this show and relay.
Random bit of news before we do the shout out.
Random bit of news?
The U.S. distributor, Visconti's U.S. distributor is called Coles of London.
Make that make sense.
I mean, they're off London.
But also distributing in the U.S.
True, true.
They are now the U.S. distributor for Pelican.
So that has changed as of a couple weeks ago.
I know this is a very regional thing, but a company called Chartpack has been the Pelican distributor in the U.S.
And they're switching over to Coles of London, who also has Visconti, ST DuPont, and things of that nature.
So, I mean, I don't know much about the Eva company.
But those three brands being together actually makes some level of sense to me.
It does.
It completely does.
So, yeah.
This makes a lot of sense.
But, like, I haven't talked to any of them.
Like, I know both the former distributor and the current distributor.
But I haven't really asked them about it.
I just saw this news come through from the Dallas Penn Show recap that Kimberly did.
And I thought that it was at least interesting.
So, yeah.
We'll see how that goes.
That's just a U.S.-based thing.
And, you know, that was it.
And I just thought that was an interesting bit of news.
Yep.
We got our shout-out of the week, Myke.
Shout-out of the week.
Plotter Creative Refills Season 2.
Speaking of podcasts.
Speaking of podcasts, Myke, April, and Job are back with the Plotter Podcast.
And I found this one to be super interesting.
I was hoping.
I actually wasn't sure.
Was this show going to continue?
They did, like, seven episodes in Season 1 when it was going to come back.
But it was good timing because they get to talk about Plotter's new flagship store opening in the Harajuku region of Tokyo.
And that's pretty cool.
So, I enjoyed listening to that.
So, if you're looking for another podcast to add, check out Plotter Creative Refills.
And April and Job, have a good time.
Creative Refills is a great name.
It is.
I like that.
I respect them for avoiding Plotcast as the name.
Yeah.
It was right there.
Don't ask us.
And I'm pleased they didn't take it because that would have been the easy one.
And they actually put thought into it.
And I think Creative Refills is a really excellent name for a podcast.
Yes.
So, if anyone hasn't realized, don't ask us for naming advice.
Hey, come on.
Because you're going to get Toptober.
Hey, come on.
Toplondra October.
All right.
That's a winner.
S tier.
I'll give you that.
It is.
It is S tier.
All right.
I want to hit up some new products.
Let me tell you someone you shouldn't go to for naming advice.
You have thoughts on this.
I do.
So, I got this in the links yesterday or Monday, maybe, when I first saw it.
The Kaweco Titan Sport Fountain Pen Titanium.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
Just go, Myke.
Is what Kaweco needs another sub-brand?
Like, this is a sub-sub-brand.
It's now the Titan Sport.
Come on.
What are we doing?
So, historically, Myke, what they've done with their non-plastic sports is they basically
pre-pinned the material.
Except this one, they did it different.
They gave the material a name.
This is called Titan Anium, as we call it.
Titan for short.
This one's a little different.
So, before they did AL Sport for aluminum, they did Brass Sport.
They did Steel Sport.
I guess Titan is the first five letters.
But anyway, Titan.
It's a little bit different, yes.
It honestly, I will agree with you.
I actually think it's a poor name because you're telling me that this pen is bigger than the
traditional Sport.
Yes.
It doesn't need a name.
It does not need a name.
It's the Kaweco Titanium Sport Fountain Pen.
It doesn't even need that.
Like, in my opinion.
They need that because of their other products.
Because brass, aluminum, steel.
Like, I think it's fair to call it the Kaweco Titanium Sport Fountain Pen.
But this makes me think it's a new model of pen by calling it Titan and saying it's Titanium.
Right?
The Titan means, like, the Supra.
They did the Kaweco Supra Lilliput.
That made a bigger Lilliput.
I thought the Titan Sport would mean it was a bigger sport.
But I was checking the dimensions.
It's the same exact size as all the other sports.
I think it's confusing in that aspect.
I don't think they need to name the material.
Like, I just don't think they need to.
Okay, they do it.
I found brass.
Like, I believed you, but I just wanted to see it.
I just don't think that it's necessary to name your, like, give a sub name to your product
based on the material that it's made from.
Yeah.
In this case, I will agree to disagree.
Especially.
So the acrylic ones are made of sport?
Like, what are they made of?
No, because this one in particular has one that looks very much like it in steel.
Right?
The steel.
And then there's a shiny aluminum.
Yeah, but.
That if you put those three pens aside, you'd want to know the material differences between
them.
Brad, you don't need to write it on the pen.
That's what I'm getting at.
Like, you can say it's the.
Because the Steel Owen Style product page says,
Kaweco Titan Sport Fountain Pen Titanium.
Yes.
Now, there's something wrong there.
I, that, I, my belief is that is the shop appending the titanium name where I think
Kaweco calls it the Kaweco Titan Sport.
I'm sure they do.
I'm sure they do.
Because Kaweco, I will admit, Kaweco has created a problem with the name.
Mm-hmm.
But not the problem that you're arguing for.
I just don't think that the name of the material needs to be stamped on the side of the pen.
Yeah.
I will let you just die on that hill.
Please.
It'll be, it'll be a low attended funeral.
It just, it doesn't pass logical sense.
Like, why anything other than acrylic has to be written on the side?
Like, it doesn't make any sense to me.
I don't get it.
But, like, this is part of the, like, I just don't like what they do to their caps and this
makes them worse because Titan is at a completely different font.
Now, that, they, they're at least consistently poor with that.
All of them have a, uh, all of them have, uh, the, the little different markings there.
Like, brass, steel, and ale all have something different there.
So, yeah.
I love that you're super upset about this.
Hey, look.
That's what it's all about.
Do you have thoughts about the Kaweco Sport Piston Filler Solo Fountain Pen Navy in gold?
I would.
I would have thoughts about that.
I would.
I mean, why doesn't this say piston on the side?
I guess that doesn't count.
I was actually thinking, I was like, does this say, I had to think about it in my head.
You were so scared.
I have, I was.
Tell me how you were scared.
I know it.
I know you were worried.
If you, if you told me to bet on it, I would have bet that it said piston on it.
And I looked over and I went, okay, shoo.
I'm trying to get a picture of the other side of the cap.
Because I literally own this pen.
Because you know they sometimes, they love to, they love to write some.
Let me grab, hang on.
I'm going to turn around.
I'm going to, I'm going to turn around.
I grab mine real quick and I'll tell you.
Can you have one?
You just got like piston and like comic sans on the side or something.
What was that, the line where they would just put in like just random texts on the other
side of the, of the cap?
Do you remember what I'm talking about?
I mean, Kaweco did that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what I'm asking.
Do you remember what they were?
They did a series called the collection series when they were trying to figure out how to
do their, when they started doing their limited stuff, they butchered it.
And then they finally cleaned it up and got it right.
Okay, Myke.
Yeah.
It just says Kaweco Sport on it.
Okay.
And although, although it's an aluminum pen, should it say AL piston?
Uh-oh.
Should it say AL piston?
Why isn't it called the Alu?
Actually.
Okay.
So we have Kaweco AL Sport, right?
Yeah.
That's the thing that they do, which is aluminum, which is also funny.
Now that I'm digging, the further I'm going down into this, the harder it's becoming for
me to make any sense of any of it.
Yeah.
Don't go all the way back to the collection origins because that was bad.
So why isn't this one, why isn't this an AL sport?
I don't know.
Because it's a piston, Myke.
You're not wrong about this one.
I'm taking this one as a victory, Brad.
Yeah.
It's like, if you're going to do something like this, you've got to follow it through and
they're not following it through.
It's like, like if it's a piston filler, it negates any naming and it's just the sport.
Because here, let me blow your mind a little bit.
So this Kaweco Sport piston filler, that's aluminum.
They also have an acrylic one.
Okay, good.
No, that's excellent.
That's really good.
I mean, Kate asks a great question.
Why isn't the titanium a TI sport?
Like, why is it, you know?
I agree with that completely.
I think Titan's actually a pretty, it's not a good port name.
It's a bad name for a small pen.
It's the worst name for a small pen.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's the Kaweco Big Small.
Like, look.
For me, this stuff is frustrating unnecessarily.
But it is just that, like, if you're going to commit to something, you've got to commit
to it.
You know?
That's how I feel.
Well, if there's one company that's never been able to commit to anything, it's Kaweco.
I'm asking the wrong company.
Yeah, you are barking up the wrong tree here.
This is absolutely on me at this point.
Yeah.
They just go into Michael Gubrele's office.
They have to, like, blow an air horn to get him off of the blowtorch from his desk just
so he can hear him.
And he just writes whatever he wants on the side of the pen.
Yeah, he flips up his welding glasses and he's like, Michael, what is this one?
It's the Titan.
All right, thank you.
And then they just go.
And he was on vacation the week that they made the piston fillers.
It's like, well, we just have to call it the Kaweco Sport.
There's literally nothing we can do because Gubrele is not here.
Yeah.
Actually, now that I think.
I think I've said this before, but Gubrele is just an excellent name.
Oh, it's so good.
So good.
It's so good.
Actually, I take back the, he's not wearing the welding glasses.
He's wearing the Kaweco branded Ray-Ban looking glasses.
So my apologies.
Very important.
Get it right.
Brand all the things.
There's a reason they exist.
Do those have a name?
A sub name?
Hmm.
Something to think about.
Let me find the Kaweco sunglasses.
I don't think they have an active skew.
I think you are the only person that remembers that this product exists.
They sent it in a PR email.
I know.
I'm just saying, like, you don't let them forget.
Because it's so good.
It's like legitimately good.
Like, he owns it.
Like, literally.
Yes.
I mean, he literally owns the company.
And he's wearing them.
He owns what they are.
Like, I'm for it.
Like, I think they, I can think Kaweco does a good job.
I'm a huge fan of their brand.
Okay.
Oh, God.
You found the link to the sunglasses.
And I assume that that is Gubralay right there on the product page.
It is.
It is.
There he is.
No blowtorch.
But he doesn't need it.
He's outside.
Dangerous.
He's not dangerous.
All right.
Let's talk about some other products and see what kind of trouble we can get in.
Because I'm asking for more feedback.
I feel like the Bernie Sanders meme today.
Here I am.
Here I am.
Here I am.
I am once again asking for your feedback.
I'm going to go get my cardigan.
Is it cold outside?
No.
I actually have the windows open today.
So I've been making some lists here to get back.
I've been missing out on a lot of reviews just because I've been so busy from August and September
and into October I've been like very, very busy and have not done as many individual product
reviews on the blog, which I love doing.
That's like my favorite thing to do.
It's what I've always done and I'm never going to stop doing it.
But that also means I'm very behind on some products.
So I've made a list of kind of like the top products that I haven't reviewed yet that I already own
or I've already been given or loaned or have them here on my desk and I've been testing them.
So what I want the feedback that I'm looking for is like after I list these products,
what other products do y'all want to see me review?
So like I'm always curious for feedback.
Like what haven't myself or Kimberly or Jeff or Sarah, what haven't we reviewed that you
would like to see us review?
Because I'm always looking for interesting things like that.
So on my personal list, I have two pins.
First one, the Novelure Eclipse, which is their retractable pin.
You probably remember this one, Myke, just from the aesthetic of it.
Yes.
It's a pin that kind of clamps down on itself in the middle.
Yeah.
I'm so far behind on this one.
I'm on version two of this pin.
I never even reviewed the version one because I wasn't super compelled by it.
Like I was like, okay, it looks cool.
And like I tell myself a lot, I want to get this in hand before like I have thoughts on it.
And then they actually made some changes from version one to version two.
And some of the mechanics, I think they had some of the like internal challenges where
like the pin wasn't like mechanically as sound as it should be.
And they've updated that for version two.
So I don't have a version one, which are the silver, gold, and black models.
I have a version two, which they did some like midnight blues and some purples.
I have one of the like a purple and rose gold one.
And it's been really good so far.
I'm interested to review this one.
I have a medium nib and the one I'm testing the knock mechanism mechanism is interesting.
Like I don't have a problem with it.
People talking about like, could you pinch your fingers in there?
I was like, I guess so.
But like, I'm generally careful.
You can feel it moving.
If you deploy it one handed, I kind of deployed a lot of it two handed just because it's kind
of a big pin, but you can do it one handed, which I think is key for a retractable fountain
pen.
The nib is great.
It's a steel nib, fine nib.
It writes very fine.
I like it.
So yeah, we'll be reviewing this one soon.
I'll definitely have thoughts on that.
The second pen, which also came out earlier this year, is the Monteverde MP1.
We might have talked about it when it first came out, but it is a mid price, you know,
like mid, I don't know, $50, $60 pen, $40, $50, $60 pen, depending on the style of it.
That looks like, like a TWSBI Eco just in style.
It's a lot like a TWSBI.
But metal.
Like, actually, now that I have it in hand, it's almost nothing like the TWSBI Eco other
than visually, which a lot of pens do that.
Like, one of the earlier Narwhals, I forget which one I reviewed, they have a vacuum filler
that's just like a colored cap and finial or twist mechanism, or in the case of the Narwhal,
it's a vac, and then a clear barrel.
So I think a lot of companies have that style.
But Monteverde's difference is, this is an aluminum cap, an aluminum piston.
The interesting thing with the piston, it has this lock mechanism that's kind of like
a snap button, which I didn't realize when I bought it, or when I, excuse me, when I was,
I was given this pen by Goldspot.
This is their orange limited edition pen.
So I'm going to review this soon because the first ones came out back at the California
Pen Show, and I was like, oh, this is cool.
I want to check this out, and I've just never gotten around to doing it.
And it feels really good, and the nib has been really good.
So I've been enjoying this pen.
It has one kind of technical issue that I would like to see Monteverde address if they
do like a version two of this pen, kind of like Narwhal or Novelor did with the Eclipse.
And this is going to be hard to explain on the podcast, but when I do my review, I'll show
it.
They have an O-ring to seal the cap.
Yep.
When you screw on the cap.
So the O-ring is towards the barrel beyond the threads, right?
So when you put on the cap, you actually hit the O-ring before you engage the threads.
So it has this wobble in it, and it's hard to line up the threading when you cap it.
So I'll talk about that and show it.
Right?
Yeah.
It's kind of like pre-gripping before you've engaged the threads.
Why is the O-ring there?
Yeah.
Because, so it has to, with metal fountain pens and plastic connections and metal on metal
connections, it's not as airtight.
So the nib dries out.
So I think they could just solve this in a different way.
So that's why you have like the pilot slip and seal, excuse me, platinum slip and seal,
where they have like the little plastic bit at the end of the cap to seal off the air.
Yeah.
So air is the enemy of the nib.
I think I have a different solution.
What?
Can you guess it?
No.
Don't use metal.
Well, yeah.
Well, then it's, you know, maybe more of a pen that looks like a pen that already exists.
Yeah, but it already does.
Like plastic on plastic is fine.
That's what I'm saying.
Metal on metal is bad.
I think it should be plastic.
Metal on plastic.
Yeah.
No, I think it's, I like that it's metal because it's different, right?
It's.
Yeah, but does it provide any benefit?
The metal?
Yeah.
Yeah, you can anodize it differently.
Yeah.
You can get different colors.
Yeah.
That's the, so listen, listen to what I'm about to say.
Okay.
Because this is going in the review.
Okay.
Your exact question is going in the review.
Why do I like the Lamy Safari versus the Lamy All-Star?
Right?
Just think of it that way.
That's the plastic version of a pen versus the aluminum version of a pen and how different
those two pens look.
Yes.
Right?
Right?
So, Monteverde is making an All-Star version where the TWSBI Eco is the Lamy Safari plastic
version.
Right?
Yeah.
So, they're just, it's the same pen.
The Lamy makes the same pen, just one's metal, one's plastic, and they can do different
things with it.
Yeah.
And that's what Monteverde's here.
It's like, I understand what you're saying by making that point, but the point, from my
perspective, you're just, to me, making my point harder.
Which is like, yes, you're right.
And do you know what always looks better?
You know?
Yeah.
I just feel like this, to me, I look at this pen and I'm like, this pen has a metal end
and cap because they want to differentiate it from the Eco.
And I just don't think that that is a good enough reason to do it.
If you then add in, like, points that are frustrating, what's the balance like?
Oh, you cannot post this pen.
I mean, it's technically allowed to be posted.
It's horrible.
You can't post this pen.
You should never post this pen.
What is it like unposted?
Writing, it's wonderful.
Okay.
It's very comfortable.
Again, one of the talking points in this review will be that it has a molded grip section.
So, it's a triangular grip section, which is not going to be for a lot of people.
Again, a lot of people don't like the Lamy's for that reason, right?
Yep.
So, yeah.
Overall, I think it's been good so far.
I've been enjoying it.
I've been enjoying it.
The nib and the feed, it flows really, really well.
It writes really well.
I like the piston mechanism.
I like the piston lock.
I think the cap's a little wobbly and you can't post the pen.
They actually have another O-ring on the end of the pen for you to basically, you don't need to seal it when you post it right.
You just need the cap to stay on.
It just makes the cap stick off the end of the pen.
And then you have a baton and no one wants that.
I bet that feels horrible.
It's a pointless O-ring because no one's going to post it like that because you'll look like a clown.
Yeah.
See, because for me, I don't like the look of an O-ring.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
It depends.
They can be done right and they can be done wrong.
Yes.
In general, I agree with you.
The exterior O-rings are the challenge.
Interior O-rings tend to work better.
Exterior is your, it's basically your duct tape solutions when you're doing exterior O-rings.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
And sometimes that can be engineered around.
Sometimes it can't be.
Sometimes it's necessary.
And sometimes, well, maybe there should be a different solution.
So those are the two pins.
I like talking, both of these pins are good for review because it's not black and white,
either of them.
Right?
So that always makes for a good review.
But I will say both of them are enjoyable to write with so far, but they both have caveats,
both the Narwhal Eclipse and the Monteverdi MP1.
Yeah.
I write a notebook, Myke.
It's been sitting here and I have a hard time, and I've talked about this before, I have a hard
time jumping into notebook reviews just blindly because I feel wasteful.
Right?
If I'm using a notebook just for my personal use, it's hard for me to just pick up a 200-page
notebook just to fill two or three pages with review stuff.
But I kind of need to.
Right?
That's what I do.
I just need to own it.
And the iRider notebook is something I've been very, very anxious to put pen to paper to
and put some feedback on it because I have high hopes.
We have really, well, I'll speak for myself.
I have really turned a corner on what this notebook is, and I need to finalize those thoughts
with performance reviews and testing.
So we'll see how it ends up.
Yes.
You should definitely speak for yourself.
But I'm looking forward to seeing a review to find what my less refined palette is missing.
And I don't mean that in a joke.
It'll be paper quality.
That's the difference.
Like, we have, you can really taste the vintage.
Yes.
And I cannot.
Because I do not understand what you're experiencing and why you like it.
So I'm very keen.
I mean, I've heard you talk about it.
But I'm very keen to get a full, like, fully considered review of this product.
Correct.
Yeah.
So that's been a long time coming.
And then one I got reminded of, so, like, I even forget this stuff myself, the Diamine
Forever Inks came out months ago, like, early summer maybe.
And it's their version of a permanent pigmented ink, which other companies have done.
Like, you can get them from Sailor.
One of my favorites is Octopus Fluid.
They do it.
A Roaring Clingner does.
A lot of companies have a series of permanent pigmented inks that are in different colors,
right?
Not just a black or a blue black.
So I have one called Honey Pot.
And I was asked yesterday when I was figuring out, like, what I need to review.
It's like, oh, how about the Diamine Forever Inks?
I'm like, you know, smack my head.
I was like, yeah, it's sitting right here.
I've already inked it up, used it, and have thoughts on it.
So, like, that's a pop.
All of these products are products people have questions about, right?
These are not, like, straightforward products.
Not one of them is very straightforward, which makes for great reviews, in my opinion.
So figuring out what else I need to do on this list.
My point being, circling back to the beginning when I was asking for feedback, I've had all
these products for months and months.
I haven't used them for months and months, but I've used them for some period of time.
I like to get a product and use a product for a certain period of time.
Some things can go quicker.
Some things take longer to decide.
And then some just kind of get forgotten and shuffled to the side because, you know, Hot
Fresh Now comes through and, you know, it just gets bumped down.
So if you have any products that I need to be adding to this list that you're curious about,
let me know.
And I'd be willing to check them out.
Like, I already have another ink I need to buy that someone's asked me to review that
I think would be, that's, you know, kind of a blind spot for me.
And just a few things like that.
So always open to the feedback on what products I need to be taking a look at.
We try to keep up with a lot.
I do keep up with a lot.
I don't review everything and I don't always review everything on the day it launches.
But I do like to grab a product, test it for a while, then have my thoughts.
And I want to hear what y'all want me to review.
How would the people tell you?
How about hello at penaddict.com or Myke, where can they go to send us feedback on the
relay?
Yes, this is including all follow-up and also ask TPA questions.
You can always go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send it in there.
If you do want to find Brad online, you want to find his work, you want to find where these
reviews will eventually live, go to penaddict.com.
You can also go and check out Brad's products over at spokedesign.com.
You can find me here on relay and at cortexbrand.com.
Brad, I've been doing some social media content the past, like, week.
Nice.
I've seen some of it pop up.
I haven't seen all of it, I'm sure.
Well, it's stuff that's being photographed and filmed for later.
It's been a very tiring week.
Okay, cool.
Oh, I did see your comments.
I did see your comments that you were working with someone on that stuff.
Yes.
Very cool.
I'm interested to see how it goes.
Yeah.
A lot of, like, why is it like this kind of stuff?
You know what I mean?
When you sell, like, stationary products, yeah, it's really hard to relay, like, why does
the pen in the picture have to be turned this way specifically to sit next to the notebook?
And for me, it's a lot of, like, why does it cost this?
You know?
Yeah.
That's what I'm trying to get across in these things of, like, what goes into these products.
We even went to our manufacturer and took some photo and video there to show the processes.
So, it was really cool.
I look forward to people seeing it.
It's going to roll out slowly.
The point is this was a shoot to last months and months and months.
Yes.
Yes.
Work it all in quickly, then release it slowly.
I want to thank our sponsor, Penn Chalet, for the continued support of this episode.
Most of all, I want to thank you for listening.
We'll be back next week.
Until then, say goodbye, Brad.
Goodbye, Brad.