The Pen Addict 260/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	260
Title:	The Awakening
Release Date:	June 7th, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 260
Audio File:	Audio Episode 260
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 260
Length:	6767 min <br />1.117 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict episode 260. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and StoryWorth. My name is Myke Hurley. I am joined by Brad Dowdy. And Brad Dowdy, I have a question for you.

Brad Dowdy: Yes.

Kaweco King

Myke Hurley: What on earth is the Kaweco King?

Brad Dowdy: I think it's my new favourite pen, Myke.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: What is this thing? This was sent in to us a few weeks ago, and I've just been saving it for the right time. Sent in by HowManyPens, at HowManyPens on Twitter. And this is at a website called WeLovePens.co.uk, which I've never come across before.

Myke Hurley: But they are selling something called the Kaweco King, which is a Kaweco with like a tortoiseshell body, and it's got like a lever filling system and gold trim. And it comes in this box, this like special box with all these little swivelly sections. And it's £1,000. But you left off the most important part. Oh, yeah?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's got a crown. I mean, it's the Kaweco King. Oh, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Look at that crown up there. Look at that. There's a crown on the cap.

Brad Dowdy: So, ever since we got this link, every time I click it, I have laughed every time. It never gets old. This pen absolutely cracks me up. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And I think, I legitimately think it's the crown. Like, if they didn't have the crown there, well, maybe they couldn't charge as much. But if they just had some other kind of special finial with like a crown emblem on there, it would look way better. And, I don't know, I would never buy it. But it's the most random thing ever. I guess it's a throwback to their, it's just saying the filling system is one of their old, you know, they made lever fillers back in 1925. Okay. I don't know what purpose the king means. I don't know that that's a throwback. It's just like they wanted to say, hey, we have the Kaweco King and there's 300 pieces of it. It's their, one of their limited edition models. I mean, okay.

Myke Hurley: And there's some super weird nibs as well for these. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what an S stub and a K nib is. Well, okay.

Myke Hurley: The K nib has a ball pointed tip and is 1.2 millimeter broad and rotund. The S stub nib is a 1.3 millimeter broad flat ground tip.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So the K nib is a standard broad. It's just very wide. Yeah. Or rotund. Rotund. I've never, I've never heard of a nib description being rotund. I'm very familiar with the word rotund, but not, not in a nib description before.

Myke Hurley: Oh dear.

Brad Dowdy: This is just like a big, big broad nib. And then the S is a stub nib.

Myke Hurley: So I basically, I could call myself a stub man now, right? Because I, you know, I'm a little rotund. I'm a stub.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, I got nothing. I, okay. So yeah, I don't know when or where or why this exists. Why is the thing for me?

Myke Hurley: Why did they make this? Like the page doesn't say anything, right? Like if it was like some kind of anniversary or something, but like this page, I'm going to see if I can try and find this answer out now because I'm interested. The Kaweco K limited edition.

Brad Dowdy: So while you're looking, they had two of these pens and they've sold one of them because only one is available. Someone bought it. So someone bought it.

Myke Hurley: All right. I can't find any reason why this pen exists. Okay. I'm looking around even on Kaweco's website and stuff like there's, there's nothing. It's just, it just is.

Bexley Pocket Pro

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So there was a limited edition Kaweco that was four or five years ago came out. I saw on JetPens had them. It was a celluloid like sport size pen. And this one's actually a stunner and I never bought it because it was like $650 for a pocket pen essentially with a gold, broad gold nib. But now this is a pen I could get behind. Like this is a stunner for me. And JetPens had them and they, they had them for years because they were so expensive and never sold. But I guess they slowly, slowly sold them one at a time over a period of a few years. If it was still available now, I'd, I'd have to consider it. But it, it was like $650 and it was, it was crazy. But this pen, as far as Kaweco limited editions, this is, this is one that was stunning. Um, and I've never seen one in person. Um, hopefully, you know, maybe I will one day and it'll probably be too expensive, but this is a great looking pen, I think. But, uh, the King, whew, yeah, I, I, I got nothing on the, the Kaweco King. That's all you, you're, you're much more royal than I am.

Myke Hurley: But something, a pocket pen that you do have some affinity for is the Bexley Pocket Pro. Yeah. Where has this come from? Uh, Bexley.

Brad Dowdy: I don't, I'm not familiar with Bexley. So they're, they're, yeah, so they're a US pen manufacturer. One of the remaining few, uh, if there is actually more than one, I don't even know, but they're a US pen manufacturer based in Ohio and they, they've been around for a long time. I don't own any of their pens previously. Uh, I take that back. I do have a, a sleeve filler. That's a pretty cool that, um, Lisa Van Ness sent me once and I did review it. It was actually a very nice pen, really pretty materials. And they always use really good materials on all their pens. And I've looked at one or two of their pens at various pen shows. I've never have come away with one. And we've reviewed a couple of different models on the blog as well. But I saw this one caught my eye at the Atlanta pen show. I was walking by, um, federal or federalist pens. And I saw this sitting, this short pen pocket pen sitting there. And I was like, Oh, that's a cool acrylic. And I picked it up and started talking to Frank. He's like, what is this? And he's like, this is something Bexley just came out with. It's a pocket pen. And I picked it up and looked at it and the shape and feel and design and size of it is all really, really good. It did remind me of the Kaweco Sport, the art series with the acrylics. And it's in that price point. It's like a hundred dollars. But the different thing about this pen is it has a number six nib. So it has a large nib in a pocket size. And it has a converter that actually works. Which, uh, you, you very much enjoyed this. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I mean, cause I still look at the converter and I'm like, look at all that wasted space. So why does this one work where like a Kaweco one?

Brad Dowdy: The Kaweco ones, I could never get the seal right to pull like even like a quarter of a fill into it with this Bexley converter. It's just, I don't know, did they call it a pull filler? I'll have to look at the name. I wrote it down. I can't remember it. It, um, it pulled in like three quarters of a fill in the converter on the first shot. And I was like, oh, that's really good. So it's the first time I've used a mini converter that has actually pulled in any usable quantity of ink. The only gotcha is there's no tightness in the post, right? So if you bump the post when you're putting it back in the pen or hit it with your hand or something, you can, you can shoot the ink out the nib. But I mean, that's a, that's just going to happen. I mean, there's nothing, no way around that, but it's really good. I am pleasantly surprised with it. Kind of shocked. It comes in five different colors. The black one looks really neat. I might pick that one up for myself. I'm giving this one away. I gave this one away on the blog. And I don't know, it was enough there and enough goodness to catch my eye and to want to write about it because I felt like it was, uh, in a really good category, good price point and differentiated itself enough from what else is there to be a very, very good pen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. The, the thing about the, the, the converter, like you, you would definitely get more ink if you used like a long cartridge, right?

Brad Dowdy: Well, no, you have to use a short cartridge.

Myke Hurley: You go and take a short, like there, is there not like a long style of the international

Brad Dowdy: or is it just, yeah, there is, there is, but it's not going to fit this pen just like Kaweco's.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Cause it's just like, I look at it, I look at the picture of everything taken apart and it's like 50% of the barrel is the plunge end of the converter. Right. Right. Right. Which is like a tricky thing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So it's a good pen. And I, I want to see them like push this line and expand it. I think that's probably going to help Bexley out, you know, getting their name out there and get people familiar with the brand. I just think it's a really, really good quality pen. It feels great. It's wonderful to use. The nib is fantastic. Like I like having the bigger nib.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's an interesting looking pen. It's got like a cool old school style. I think it's frustrating to me that like they have a clip, but the clip comes off. Like, I think that's frustrating, especially with like a pocket pen because you're clipping them to your pocket. Like the Kaweco ones used to drive me crazy, but they were after market, right? Like you would buy them separately and add them. But like, you know, every other pen that you have, well, not every other pen, but like two of the other pens that you have in your lineup here are the pictures of them. I mean, I know that these are not really available to everyone. What is it? You've got the, what's the name of that sailor?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, the mini Sapporo.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And then you've got like an M90. So, you know, maybe that's saying something, but.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's just common sized pocket pens.

Myke Hurley: But they have, what I'm saying is, those two have clips on them that are fixed. Correct. Right. Where the Kawecos and the Bexley, they're not fixed. And I find an unfixed clip on a pocket pen to be kind of frustrating.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely a cost thing, you know.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, to keep that price in that ring. I would actually, if I had this pen, you know, I'll probably end up getting one. I'll remove the clip, to be honest.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I feel like if you've got to add it, then you might as well not have it, because you're not going to get out of it where you wanted.

Brad Dowdy: But what's funny is the Lilliput, I do keep my clip on, because that thing is rock solid. It is not moving at all, which I'm very happy about.

Myke Hurley: That might be because it's metal on metal, right? Rather than metal on acrylic plastic.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Agreed.

Myke Hurley: Because I feel like all that I see is that it just wants to pop off that thing, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Pen Line Future

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, yeah, I want to see what they do with this line, because I think they have something here. It looks good. And it works great.

Myke Hurley: Alright, should we take a break? We should. I want to thank Pen Chalet for supporting this week's episode. Look, you know Pen Chalet. Come on. If you don't, what are you doing? They have all the pens you're looking for. They have pens and refills and carrying cases and everything. Everything that you're looking for from all of your favorite brands. Pen Chalet have fantastic prices and twice a month they do great special discounts. They have closeout specials every two weeks. They do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US. They sell internationally with great shipping rates. They sell all of the stuff that you're looking for at great prices with great shipping options. Why would you want to go anywhere else? Pen Chalet also have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If something's wrong, if you don't like it, they will take care of it. Pen Chalet are a great supporter of this show. And so, you know, I just want everybody to know that they should be going to Pen Chalet first. If you've got a pen that you're looking for, go to Pen Chalet and see if they have it. Because you can get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet at any time. You just go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password penaddict. That is where you will find the code that you need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet. Along with this week's special offer, and we have another one, Brad, where we can't talk about it.

Brad Dowdy: Top secret, Ron. That's going to be his middle name from now on.

Myke Hurley: Private Eye, Ron, of Pen Chalet. He's put another little offer up on there, which we're not allowed to talk about right now. So if you want a chance to grab this week's great deal, and these ones tend to go real quick, go and see it for yourself by going to penchalet.com. Click that podcast link at the top of the website and to the password penaddict to get all of the info that you need. Thank you so much to Pen Chalet for the continued support of this show. And Relay FM, it really means a lot to us. Thank you, Pen Chalet.

Brad Dowdy: So you dropped this next topic on me. This was a big surprise here. And I had to scramble a little bit. I had to rack my brain. So tell me what's going on here. Well, it wasn't that big of a surprise.

Myke Hurley: I told you about it last week. But, you know, whatever. We're in the vortex of time here, everyone.

Myke Hurley: Top five pens, 2017 edition is what we're going to talk about today. This was recommended to us by, I'm going to say, Mahuika. I'm so sorry. I would go with that. I'm so sorry if I butchered your name. Because they were listening back to the old episodes of The Pen Addict, and they pointed me towards episode 19 and episode 20. Where on these episodes, you spoke about your top five pens, and then I spoke about my top five pens. We did things very differently back in the day, where we would split that over two episodes. You know, I was talking last time about cliffhangers. Because that's a really big cliffhanger. That's like as big as a cliffhanger you can go.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Because we'd only go about 30 minutes, maybe, or so.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they were about 30 minutes. We doubled the episode length over time. I hope that you're happy with that, everybody. So, on episode 19, you unveiled your top five pens. And they were the Vanishing Point, the Pilot Vanishing Point, the Moleskine Classic Rollerball Pen, the Pilot Hi-Tech C, the Sakura Pigma Micron, and the Kaweco AL Sport.

Brad Dowdy: That's a pretty good list. I'm not going to lie. Are you happy with that list? That list holds up. I'm very happy with that list.

Myke Hurley: So, here's the thing, right? I'm going to talk about my list in a minute as well. But you have something in your list that is interesting to me, where I'm the same for all but one of the pens that's in my current top five. I think if you took the value of all of the pens in your episode 19 top five list and added it together, it would still be less money than any single pen that you choose from your 2017 list. Without question. And I am that for all but one of my picks will be the same.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, this is a... The episode 19 list is awesome. It completely holds up. My list today is vastly different, like, in a huge way. Huge way. But I want to talk about this old list, Myke. You know, the Vanishing Point is still awesome. I love that pen. I have several of them. The Moleskine Classic Roller would get more play if they didn't discontinue their refills. That's why it was such a good pen is because they had these .5 gel refills that were fantastic. And they became impossible to get. And so, that pen's just gone by the wayside. It's still a great pen. The refills are impossible to hunt down. The Pilot Hitec C, I still use. I just happen to use it in a pen type B barrel. The Secura Pigma Micron is at hand all the time because it's one of the best drawing marker pens. And the Kaweco AL Sport, I use constantly. So, these are all great pens. I'm really happy with these choices. They hold up. Now, the next, my current top five, it's not going to relate to this list at all. It's kind of scary. It's not in any way, shape, or form. But that's the hard thing about this because that doesn't invalidate the old list. It's just my top five, I mean, I could pick 50 different pens, right? Also. Depending on my needs, are going to be the right choice.

Myke Hurley: There's two fountain pens on that list. Two. Which is also very different to your current list as well. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So, we'll get to those in a minute, but let's talk about my top five. The Retro 51 Tornado. The Pilot Vanishing Point. The Lamy Safari. The Hitec Sea Coleto. And the Kaweco Classic Sport. So, I would say, again, I'm happy with that list because... Yeah. Because this is the thing, right? It's like, it depends where you are in your journey. If you are 20 weeks into your pen addict life, like I was, it's a pretty solid list, right? And where we are now, things have just scaled. So, the Retro 51, right, like that has been in my top five lists forever. And it will probably continue to be until the end of time. The Vanishing Point. The Pilot Vanishing Point. I have fell out of love with that pen dramatically over the time. And I think I was kind of blinded by my price investment. It was like the most expensive pen that I'd ever bought by a factor of three. And I think that forced me and my mind to love it more than I did. Because it was just not comfortable for me to use, but I tried to ignore it, you know? Sure. But it is a fantastic pen. It's just not for my writing style, for my grip style. The clip gets in the way. I have seen and I saw some at Lanter of the Vanishing Points. I have the clip removed. Yeah. And I do find it's an intriguing prospect, but I feel like I've maybe moved up a gear, like, since then, where to feel like I maybe wouldn't use a Vanishing Point that often. So, like, I'm just not interested in putting the investment in. But if you really want a Vanishing Point in your life, getting the clip removed by someone who can do that or buying one that way if it's uncomfortable for you. It's a good way to deal with it, right? Because I tried it out and it was great. I mean, the Vanishing Point that works for me the most is the one that Jeff gave me, like, the classic one. The clip is, like, way lower profile. And I can use that comfortably.

Myke Hurley: All right. And Lamy Safari, right? Like, I still recommend this pen. I've been using Lamy Safari recently. Again. Oh, really? Because I've got the petrol, right? Okay, yeah, yeah. And I've been using it. Like, it's a great pen. It is. It's just a great pen. It's a great pen. The Hi-Tech C Colito is a really interesting pick for me because I do not like the Hi-Tech C. But I don't like the Hi-Tech C body. I like the Colito. The Colito is the multi-pen. And I had, like, ten really bright colors that I got from JetPens or something or however many it takes. And I love that little guy. I've still got it. I've got a couple of them now, actually, because I bought a couple over time. I've still got them.

Brad Dowdy: It's still probably the best multi-pen.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah, yeah. It's my favorite multi-pen that I've ever owned. It's a great little pen. And then the Kaweco Classic Sport. I have, you know, I have a great affinity for the Kaweco brand and the Sport because it was, you know, a great pen early on for me. But I don't really use them anymore, right? And then they go ahead and do something like make the Kaweco King. Which, by the way, Mem in the chat room has pointed out, the Kaweco King debuted in 2006 and they still haven't sold all 300 of them.

Brad Dowdy: Breaking news. Breaking news. We're 11 years behind discovering the Kaweco King.

Myke Hurley: And do you know where that information came from, Brad?

Brad Dowdy: Where, Michael?

Myke Hurley: Stationary.wiki. Yeah. Yeah, it did. So. Love it. It's getting filled up. So that was my top five back. Many, many years. What year was this? Oh, my God. I'm terrified to look at this.

Myke Hurley: 2012, Brad. June 2012. Are you serious? We're five years from doing that. It was June 21st, 2012. So we're just shy.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm still happy with this list, though. Like, I could come up with this list today and be really, really happy with it.

Myke Hurley: It is. I mean, both of these lists for us, they are solid lists. They're just not where our tastes are anymore. Yeah.

Expensive Tastes

Brad Dowdy: But. The huge but is coming up. Now things are different, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. We have expensive tastes. We're men of expensive tastes now. Do you want to go through these, all you, all me? Or do you want to do five, four, three, two, one?

Brad Dowdy: Let's do all of one.

Myke Hurley: All right. You should go first, then.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Number five for me, the Aurora Optima.

Brad Dowdy: It's probably the newest pen on my list, and I bought it last year. But it's still, I think, the most recent purchase of the five pens I have on this list. And it's one of those pens that just feels like it's made for me. The way it fits my hand, the way it writes, the way it looks. It looks like if I was designing a pen, this is what I would come up with. And I just adore the pen. And so I always want it inked up. I can't put it down. Number four is the Sailor King of Pens Pro Gear Sky. This one's kind of gone up and down in my ranks, and it has kind of rocketed up the chart. I learn a lot about my pens. The longer I own them, and the more I want them inked up tells me what I think about the pen. And the Sailor King of Pens is a pen I always want to have inked up because it's an enjoyable writer. It's a big, chunky pen. It looks cool. It's a demonstrator just like the Optima, which is a style that I love. And it has a, out of my entire list, it has the widest nib, which is a Japanese medium nib.

Myke Hurley: Almost a weapon, that nib. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It's a huge nib. It's great. I just absolutely adore that pen. And it's mandatory, pretty much, to be inked up. Same with my number three pen, which is the Pilot Custom 823. This pen was a revelation when I bought it last year. At some point, I got the nib ground to a fine cursive italic. I bought a stock fine Japanese nib and got it ground. So it's a wonderful, fine, sharp writer. I love looking at it. It's, you know, another demonstrator, which is obviously something I'm a huge fan of. Why do you think that is, Brad? It's just an aesthetic thing that appeals to me. It's not that I can see the insides. It's not like, ooh, I can see the insides. It's that, ooh, that looks cool. Like, that's a style I like. I like seeing the color of the ink on the inside. I like seeing the parts. I don't know. It's just something I've always enjoyed. I don't know that I could put my finger on the why of it. But it's always appealed to me. And, yeah, and it will probably never stop appealing to me. And the 823 is probably the pen I would recommend the most out of this top five list to people looking to upgrade to a real, you know, a more expensive, wonderful writing pen. It's a big jump, but it's probably one of my number one most recommended pens. Number two is the Pilot Murex. Again, it's a pen I always have to have inked up because it's such an enjoyable writer. I keep it with one of my notebook holders that we're testing out for Nock because it's a great note writer. It's a fine nib. The style and the story behind that pen mean a lot to me. And it's just a fantastic writer. Fits my aesthetic. Fits my style. And none more so than my number one, the Nakaya Portable, which is the big Nakaya that I bought a few years ago. It's still my favorite pen.

Myke Hurley: Is that the kind of, like, dark black green one? Yeah, okay.

Brad Dowdy: It's the first one. It's the first and still the favorite. It's black. The finish is called Ayo Tamanuri. It's a bluish green under color. Color you see, like, on the edges and things like that. It's a fantastic nib. Probably the best nib I own. It's just an amazing, comfortable, perfectly designed, well-made, beautiful pen. So, yeah. From the top, I have the Nakaya Portable, the Pilot Murex, the Pilot Custom 823, Sailor King of Pens Pro Gear, and the Aurora Optima. If those are the only five pens I own, I'd be pretty happy. So, that's my list these days. Definitely a big change from five years ago.

Murex Pen

Myke Hurley: So, the Murex, I remember, came from your real original experience with it, came from Thomas Hall with the Fountain Pen Education series that you did. Was that the only one from that list?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Okay. Yeah. And this is the exact pen from that list. Oh, really? Thomas gifted me that pen. Oh, that guy. So, this pen means a lot to me. Yeah. And not only that, I mean, it's just an exquisite pen. But, so, yeah.

Myke Hurley: When you look at that list, how do you feel about it?

Brad Dowdy: It makes me smile. Okay. Because I've discovered things that fit me. Yeah. These are not pens I recommend to people. These are pens that are perfect for me. These are Brad pens. This is my list. The pens that work for me from a functionality, from an aesthetic, from a story. You know, this is all about me. This is a me list, up and down. And it makes me smile. Like, I look at that list and say, I don't need any other pens with those. I mean, obviously, that's not going to happen. But, I could be, you know, done with pens forever and have some of the best pens I will ever use in my life. You know, I'll say it today, knowing that five years from now, it'll bite me in the butt. But, I don't know what's going to jump these pens. Because, like I said, none of these pens were acquired this year.

Myke Hurley: What about the Aurora Optima?

Brad Dowdy: That was last year. I bought it at DC last year. That's the most recent pen. So, the Optima, the King of Pens, and the 823 were all bought last year. The Murex was given to me a few years ago. And the Nakaya Portable, I think, was 2015. So, that makes me happy. You know, that I found the pens for me. These are my pens. And I think it's great.

Myke Hurley: My pen list is different to yours in that regard. I have a couple of entries in here that are new. But for good reason. So, sitting at number five for me is the Retro 51 Tornado. Because it will just always be there. And right now, my favorite of my Tornadoes is my Bioworks Venice Artist Series Edition. That's such a freaking good pen. I can't believe that there are still some available. Like, why are there any available? Go buy that pen. It's fantastic. Then at number four is my Canalea pen. My Canalea pen company, Maui Makai, is just... I love this pen. I love to look at it. I love to hold it. I love to pick it up. I love to play around with it. It is just superb. Like, it feels great to hold. It looks great. Like, I think it is probably... Like, for me, for my aesthetic, it's the best looking pen that I own. Like, it is just... It's just fantastic. It's just absolutely fantastic. Like, I've got it in my hands right now. And talking about it, whilst also being kind of speechless about it, as I always am.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's an absolute stunner. You have one of the best Canaleas I've ever seen. Like, the one that you own is one of my single favorite ones that I've held and tested and written with. They're all amazing, but yours has that little something extra.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it really is just... It's absolutely superb. And I love using it. And I love just displaying it. Like, it is... It's a real art piece, as well as a pen. And I have a couple of pens like that now that I consider to be that. You know, one is my Sky at Night, the Brooks Sky at Night pen. Like, those two, they sit on my desk, just next to each other. Right? They're not even in, like, pen holders or anything. They just sit there. It's like these two little pieces of art that sit on my desk, because that's how I consider them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Speaking of which...

Myke Hurley: Talking about Jonathan Brooks, my number three pen is my Jonathan Brooks Urushi Pen Addict Special Edition. So, the one that he gave us at Alantone. There's a couple of reasons for this. I mean, one, it's great to look at, right? Like, it's a real stunner. It performs fantastically. I don't know the nib. Like, I don't know where the nib came from. Like, I don't know who makes it. I think he uses Jovo, but I'm not sure. But, yeah, they're great. But it's perfect for me. It's like... It's a broad, but it's a real comfortable broad. It's a smooth broad. It's not crazy. Like, it's not super wet. It doesn't lay down, like, huge lines. It's really, really comfortable to use. And I like it a lot. And, you know, there's a couple of things about it. One, it's the only Urushi pen that I own, right? Which is a big deal, and I love it for that. And it has a huge sentimental value to me. Like, massive. Massive.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, if there's a pen that's going to jump in my list, it's probably going to be that one, because I love the shape. The shape is a lot like my Nakaya Portable, and the look and finish of it is just stunning. It's great.

Myke Hurley: It means so much to me on so many different levels. Exactly. One, that it's a gift, and two, like, why it's a gift, and what it makes me realize about how far we've come. And, like, it really, like, that this pen says more about the pen addict than maybe anything else that I own. It's a really kind of a very, very special pen to me. Plus, it's incredible. Like, all Jonathan Brooks pens, I see a future where I only use his pens. Like, Jonathan Brooks material, pen material, is taking up two of my top five.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And it's kind of a shock that you didn't have the Sky at Night on there as much as you used that pen, to be perfectly honest. But you can only pick five.

Myke Hurley: It didn't go on there because the Arushi was going on there, and it became really difficult, because it was like, I can't push the Retro 51 out. Like, I can't do that. Right. And that would have been the only way to get it on this list. Right. So I gave it a special mention, but I went with one Brooks pen. I mean, I'm very confident that as soon as my Newton pen arrives, there's going to be a difficult day in Mega Office where I have to decide which pen it pushes out. I mean, that is Jonathan Brooks primary manipulation. I can't remember what version it is. I mean, I don't know when I'm getting that pen, but I feel like I'm already counting down the days, even though I don't know when the finish line is. I'm so excited. I try not to think about it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm looking forward to you getting that pen, because I'm pretty jealous on it. And yeah, it's just great looking. Great material.

Sailor Pro Gear

Myke Hurley: So number two, there shouldn't be anybody's surprise considering my glowing review on the last episode. It's my Sailor Pro gear. And I think that the prior three pens on this list are better looking. And looks are a big thing for me with my favorite pens. I like the aesthetics like many of us do, but I really go for that, especially in the last 18 months or so. I've become, you know, we've spoken about this on the show. I've become really focused on interesting aesthetic to my pens, right? Like these beautiful acrylics, right? Like that's kind of what my taste is now. But the Pro gear, the color is so good and it performs so well. Like I'm using it again today. It's flawless. This pen is flawless. Like it has never given me any trouble where every other pen on my list has in some way, right? Like it's just at some point I had to do something to it or at some point it like spat out a bit of ink, right? Like every other one of my pen on this list has done that. My Pro gear is the one of all of them that I've used the most and it has never given me any problems. It is perfect every time. I never have to do anything to get it started, which is the thing that surprises me the most. That pen is ready to go always, which is I think pretty rare for a lot of fountain pens. You know, like you might need to give them a little bit of a scribble, right? You might need to wet the nib or something, right? To kind of get it going a little bit if you don't use it every day. But I can leave that Pro gear for a month and not touch it and it's ready to go. It's a truly special pen. No argument for me. It's an awesome pen. But my number one, and I think it's going to be real hard for something to knock this, is the Pilot M90.

Myke Hurley: So I would say like from a reliability perspective, the closest thing that I have to the Pro gear is the M90. It is every now and then it needs a little bit of a kickstart, right? To get it running.

Myke Hurley: But this is not a new pen, right? Were these made in 1990?

Brad Dowdy: No. This was a, a, a, a, a, not Centennial, but it was a 90th anniversary. Right. Of the Pilot. But as a remake of the Mayu from the 70s. And this one was like 2012-ish, 2014, somewhere around there. Someone will correct me. It's not a new pen,

Myke Hurley: right? Like it is, it is. No. It's been.

Brad Dowdy: They made 9, 9,000 of them in like, yeah, like 2012, something like that.

Myke Hurley: And what I love about the Pilot M90, in contrast to the other pens on my list, I feel like if you were to,

Myke Hurley: so you know when you, when you're cooking, right? And you are making a sauce.

Brad Dowdy: For Blue Apron?

Myke Hurley: Maybe. Okay. Where did I learn these skills? We'll see. And you're making, you're reducing the sauce, right? So you're taking the sauce, you're reducing the sauce. You have all the ingredients, and you're reducing it to perfect it, right? To make it into something. Like it was this big liquid, and you're reducing it. The Pilot M90 is the reduction of fountain pens. Like it is the most pure fountain pen. Because it's all one piece.

Brad Dowdy: You just blew my mind.

Pilot M90

Myke Hurley: Thank you. There's no, like you unscrew the end, put a cap in, but that's it. There's no, there's no step. There's no grip. It's just one piece. It is, it's like a piece of modern art. It is an absolutely fantastic pen that is so good looking, and so daring in what it does, that it shouldn't work. But it does. It's also one of the most comfortable, best performing pens that I have ever used. Right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It doesn't just work. It works better than almost any pen too.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And it doesn't make any sense to me. It's not like you're,

Brad Dowdy: you're not making sacrifices for writing. It's like exquisite.

Myke Hurley: Because you should be, right? For something so daring in its design, right? To take the nib. If you're not aware that nib and the body are one piece, it is, it's aluminum. I guess it's aluminum, right? I don't even know. Whatever material it's made out of, I apologize. I haven't looked at it. I think it's steel. No, I think it's just steel. It's probably steel, right? It's all one piece. So the nib is just the end of the body of the pen. That shouldn't, it shouldn't work, right? Like you look at it and you're like, how, how does this even work? Let alone provide one of the most comfortable writing experiences you'll ever have. And it is heartbreaking to me that you can't buy this pen. I think it is a travesty from Pilot that they don't make a pen like this. So the Pilot Murex and the Pilot M90 are from the same family. So Brad's number two and my number one. And there is another pen in that family called the Mayu.

Brad Dowdy: Well, that's what the M90 is based off of. Great. The M90 is not the original name. The Mayu is the original name. Yeah. The M90 was the anniversary edition.

Myke Hurley: The M90 is my, actually my favorite of the three aesthetically. I like the pureness of it. You know, like the Murex, I don't like the lines on the grip, although it's nice. There's a striped one as well, right? Which I think is like a different design. It's just all in the same family. But the fact that Pilot don't make a pen that looks like this anymore and sell it for like $600 just blows my mind.

Brad Dowdy: Right. These were all done in the seventies, the original models from like 71 to 1980. This whole grouping of pens was in that range. And it's just some of the best design pens and best functioning pens that I've ever used, ever tried. And obviously, they resonate with Myke and I because we both have them very high on this list. It's just like if Pilot,

Myke Hurley: if you're listening, like, please make one. You know, people talk about the E95. Someone's mentioned it in the chat room and I've seen that before, which is the closest, I guess, to this design because there, it looks kind of like it, but the nib is not, is not made of the body. Right. Yeah. It's not integrated.

Brad Dowdy: It's inset. It's inset. So it's based off the Pilot Elite. And it's an awesome pen in its own right. It just doesn't have the integrated nib. It's got the same general shape, but it's got a plastic barrel and a non-integrated nib.

Myke Hurley: And that's not what makes it special. What makes these pens special is this one piece. And I show this pen to people, like people that don't like pens, and they're like, whoa. Right. This pen blows people away because it doesn't look real. It's just superb. Right. Like I could, I could spend another 45 minutes talking about my love of the Pilot M90. And also for me as well, it's a similar thing. Like I bought this pen in new old stock, which just breaks people's heart for an absolute bargain from the wonderful Thomas Hall, the pusher of the Pilot line, I think, because you got yours from him. I got mine from him. And he got, he gave me this thing for a steal because he was doing me a great deal because he wanted me to have it because he's lovely.

Myke Hurley: And, you know, I think we kind of came to an agreement that like, if I'm buying this pen, I'm using this pen. Right. And these top, these number one and two, the Pro Gear and the M90, I use these the most. I actually do think that the Pilot M90 tends to edge it out because for what I'm using my pens for a lot of the time, it's perfect, right? Like it's this small, low profile thing. It doesn't cause me any hassle. It's got a, I post it as I post all the pens that I use when I'm recording so they don't roll away from me and make sound on the desk. Right. So like the clip stops them from rolling away. It's perfect. It's just sublime. And I put pilot cartridges in it. Purple is what I use in this pen. Yeah. Just to give it that little bit of extra flair. It's great. It's a perfect match. Love this pen. Love this pen. I can tell. So our lists are very different. And honestly, I wonder what our lists will be like in five years time. Well, let's not wait that long. Yeah. We should do this more frequently. We do. I feel like we've, we've, yeah. The last time that we did this wasn't those episodes. We probably do this like without tradition, probably once a year, you know, because you will update your top five on the website. And that usually will prompt me to bring it up. But it was, it was getting these tweets this time that made me want to bring it up. But I'm very, very happy with my top five. I feel like now more than ever, my top five is really a representation of my tastes where maybe in previous years, I've had to struggle a little bit more to fill some of the gaps. But this year I was struggling for what to include, which has been different to other years. Like other years, like there'll be at least one pen that I've kind of just thrown in, you know, like I love my Pelican. Right. But it was usually was that one. Right. Or like my Lamy 2000. Or like they would get on the list where I don't really use them that much. But like all of these pens, these top five, I use them almost daily. Cause like what I'll do is, this is just getting really nerdy now, but like my main use of my fountain pens these days is to write the little notes that I need when we're recording. And I also doodle with them whilst we're recording and stuff like that. That's how I get a lot of use out of my pens these days. It's just to have them with me for when I'm recording my shows, which is the big thing that I do. But I take like, depends with the really crazy nibs on them and stuff. Like, so I've got like my sky at night, which has a music nib, or I have, you know, the big broad nib on the Arushi pen. I write like headings for my notes with those. And then the actual notes that I'm taking when we're recording, which is usually just timestamps for things that I need to edit. But that's when I use something a bit more regular, you know, the Pro Gear or the M90 or a Retro 51 for that. So that's, that's kind of the big use of my pens. I am still toying with bullet journaling. I'm like dipping my toe in as a way to solve a bunch of different problems in my life, including the usage of my pens. Right.

Brad Dowdy: So we should talk about that in a couple of weeks.

Myke Hurley: Once I've, once I've begun, I want to talk about it, but like, I'm still kind of just like dipping my toe in. I got the book that, that writer sent us and I've put some stickers on it. Right. So they're kind of like, okay, you put stickers on it now. So it's real. Yeah. And I downloaded the app and I'm going to spend some time. I've got, I've been over some of the system, but I haven't started doing it. So that that's for later.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: All right. Should we do some ask TPA? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We've got a, a bunch of questions. We'll see what we can get to here.

Story Worth

Myke Hurley: All right. I want to talk about a new sponsor first, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, please.

Myke Hurley: And again, this is a very good timely sponsor. So this week I want to talk to you about story worth, but first allow me to set a scene for you. So think about family gatherings. So when everybody's together and you're all around the table and everyone's a little merry and people start to tell stories and it can be reminiscing on things or you learn something about your grandma that you never knew before. Like these are the kinds of stories that when you hear them, you want to keep them. And this is what story worth is all about. It is the easiest way to collect and share your family stories. They make it easy and enjoyable for you and your loved ones to share life stories. They send weekly email story prompts and questions that you might not think to ask. Then at the end of the year, once all the questions have been collected, you'll get these stories bound in a beautiful hardcover book. It's a sleek book with a black and white interior, a color cover includes up to 480 pages. And it's full of the memories of a loved one. This means that you and the people that you care about in your life can preserve memories and even pass the book on to the future generations in your family. Here's how story worth actually works. You buy a subscription for someone important to you. And each week story worth sends them an email of a question about their life. They also have an app as well. So you can choose to get them by Bush notification. You can just write the answers into the app that they have. They can then either email them back or they can record it. You can actually record it by audio. And after a year, these stories will be bound into a beautiful book for them to keep. Story worth is a great way to learn more about someone. The questions are designed to evoke entertaining, surprising and moving responses. And story worth is also a great way of staying in touch with family members who may live a little further away than you'd like. Like it encourages dialogue between you and somebody else. With story worth, you can write stories. You can upload photos by email on the web or in their app. You can share them with as many people as you want. You can just invite them by email. So people will see the stories as they're being recorded. You can save and edit them all on storyworth.com. And all of your data is secure and private by default. So you get to control who will see these stories. So I've actually been filling this out myself. Like this is a fantastic gift, but it's also a way for maybe you to collect some stuff. Like I've tried journaling in the past, but never really know what to write. But this isn't necessarily journaling about like what's happened in the day. So your day or the day of that person. It's like things in their life. So like it was asking me about one of the questions I had was, what type of vacations did I take when I was a kid? And it reminded me of these holidays that I would take with my nan and my mom. And we'd go down to the seaside to like this place that was like 45 minutes away from home or an hour or two away from home. But it felt like a million miles away, like when I was a kid. And it was really funny to think of stuff like that. And it made me think about like, what could my grandparents want to say in something like this? And how nice it would be to have something like this of my granddad, right? Like I wish I would have thought of something like that before, you know, beforehand and had something for him. So this is a fantastic gift. If you're looking for a last minute gift for someone or a thoughtful gift, StoryWorth is perfect for somebody that you care about. It could be a great idea for Father's Day, which is just around the corner. So now is the time to place your order. Listeners of this show can get $20 off their subscription by going to storyworth.com slash penaddict. That's S-T-O-R-Y-W-O-R-T-H.com slash penaddict. That's $20 off when you go there. StoryWorth, a new way to bring the family together. Thank you to StoryWorth for their support of this show.

Brad Dowdy: That sounds really cool. I'm going to have to share this with my wife because she does one of those annual photo album things, right? So she does something every year to keep it, and this would be an even better way to expand on that. So I like it. All right, let's hit up some Ask TPA, Myke. We have a grab bag of questions here, and some are actually relating to some of the topics we talked about in this episode. But I want to take this one first from the ink sampler. Or is it proper pen show etiquette to haggle with the vendor when purchasing a fountain pen? So this is not a black and white answer. There's no one answer for this.

Brad Dowdy: New vendors that sell modern goods, modern pens, you generally aren't going to be able to haggle any prices on those. They're somewhat fixed. You know, if you buy a few different things from the same vendor, they might give you a break on the totality of your order. But in general, an individual, modern, new pen, you're not going to be able to haggle the price on. Vintage pens are a little bit of a different story, but I never go into it with the haggle up front. You know, I want to have a conversation with the vendor. If it's something I really like, I kind of let them know. And then I'll ask, do you have any room in this price? And you just kind of go from there. From there. You know, it's kind of a touch and go kind of thing. You don't know whether it's, you know, the accepted way to do it, but it's not a flea market type of situation where you can just start throwing out prices at someone and think they're going to jump at them. You know, it's, it's more reserved than that. There's probably a little room in some of the pens from the vintage, uh, tables, but not a lot. So, you know, I think it's fair to ask, you know, but I wouldn't start low balling people or start throwing out random numbers without having a conversation and kind of setting up the plan first. Um, you know, if that makes sense. Yeah. So I, you know, I think it's definitely allowed and I do it, you know, just like I'm going to this, you know, I'll take this next question now and I'll, I'll tell you what I did. So the question is, can you, this is from Sherry. She said, can you fill us in on the handful of mystery pens you brought from the guy in Chicago, treasures or troubles? If any need work, will you do it yourself or send them out? So this is a case where I found a gentleman who had some older Japanese pens. And the first one I was interested in, I asked him on the price and he told me the price. And then I said, well, do you have any more similar pens? And he said, let me go through my stock. I'll bring them to you tomorrow. So he ended up with a group of pens. He showed me, I picked out six pens. And then we kind of discussed a price, you know, that is kind of haggling. There was no hard, fast price for these pens. I was buying multiple pens. I was able to have a discussion with him to say, this is kind of what I'm thinking. And we settled on a price, you know, that was kind of haggling, you know, a lot of, you know, vendors may not even have prices on their pens. So it's pretty much, you know, haggling, but you know, it's a thing that you just don't want to go in guns blazing, you know, just show, you know, have conversations, you know, discuss the pens that you're interested in, you know, maybe think about them for a while, talk, check back in with them, you know, see if, you know, ask them if they have any room in the price and they'll let you know. I think that's kind of the way to go about it.

Myke Hurley: I think one of the things to think about like is where, where is the pen coming from, right? If it's coming from a big company, you don't have room, right? Like the vendor doesn't have room to negotiate the price. Cause the, you know, the markup is probably already pretty small, but with some of the vintage stuff, the price is probably being set by the person who's selling it to you. No one's forcing the price on them.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So I'll give you a good example of not necessarily haggling, but just how prices can vary. You know, I've bought a few Schaefer tuckaways, which are vintage small pocket pens that I really enjoy. I found my first one at the Arkansas pen show that was essentially restored completely in perfect shape, you know, wrote wonderfully. The filling system was, was, you know, like completely restored. And I paid about a hundred bucks. I, I say about, because I don't know exactly because I bought two pens and we got like the sticker price down. So I bought that and I was happy to do it in Chicago. I found a guy with a different model that hasn't been restored.

Brad Dowdy: And I don't know exactly what I'm getting that I paid $30 for, you know, so did I get, you know, did I overpay for the first one or underpay for the second one? Well, neither. They're completely different situations and you can't do those things one to one, but I was able to haggle with both just in having conversations with them about the pens and learning about the pens to understand that here's why this one's a hundred dollars and here's why this one's $30. So, you know, it's, you know, have a conversation with the vendors. They love talking. They're going to want to talk to you and then you can just kind of go from there and feel them out. But, you know, just definitely don't, you know, expect, you know, just understand that they're in a business as well and don't expect them to take off a price and be upset about it. If they don't want to haggle, you know, they have their reasons to. So, but I think that's a good question. It's one that comes up a lot.

Myke Hurley: So it's a, um, nerve wracking experience.

Brad Dowdy: It can be for sure. And it's definitely something that gets better over time as you get more experienced. Um, so yeah, you can, you can definitely haggle, but you kind of, there is a win and aware and there's no hard, fast rules. You just kind of got to play it out, see how it goes. All right. Papa asks, is this your Papa or my Papa?

Myke Hurley: I think it's yours.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. My Papa asks, I hear a lot about the pilot vanishing point, but not the Lamy dialogue three thoughts on this. The pilot vanishing point has a much better retractable mechanism than the Lamy dialogue three. And for half the price, that's kind of it. The dialogue three on its own is not a terrible pen. It's just not a great pen. It's also very expensive and it's a very wide. It doesn't fit as many people's hands as the vanishing point all the way around. The vanishing point is a much better pen. I have the dialogue three. I still haven't reviewed it because I rarely use it. And it's just a kind of a weird, weird pen. And you really have to kind of pay a lot to try one out when you can just say buy a vanishing point and you'll be much happier for like half the cost. I mean, they're literally about half the price. So it's a cool pen. I wouldn't probably based on my experience, I would never recommend one to anyone unless there was a very, very specific reason. All right. This, this next question, Myke from supernat in the Slack room. She wants to know, can one be a minimalist and a pen addict? I feel like such a hoarder sometimes, and I'm compelled to buy all the things, especially limited editions and join all the subscriptions. Is the addiction justified? As long as I'm using everything, I don't even know why I'm asking this group of enablers, but it's something I've been pondering for a while. Thanks. This is an awesome question.

Brad Dowdy: So I would say technically, no, you cannot be a minimalist and a pen addict, but the way I see things, and I'm never going to say I'm a minimalist or have some kind of pure minimalist, you know, theories or anything like that. Maybe we can get Patrick Rohn on one day to talk about minimalism, but I don't have this kind of depth of obsession with other things in my life. I try to tone down other things, so I'm not buying all the things of all the things, right? My obsessions are kind of limited to the pens and paper and inks, and granted, it's kind of a large obsession, but I'm not obsessed with every other thing to where nothing's getting used. You know, I'm wasting money. I'm wasting time, which are things you don't want to do. I think this is a great question because it's a hard one to answer for me because I like to think that I'm tempered in other areas of my life so I can obsess about this one, if that makes sense. I think you ask if the addiction is justified as long as I'm using everything. I don't ever want to justify it. Like, I don't want to have to ever have to tell myself, this is why, you know, I'm allowed to do these things. I don't want to have that self-justification. I just want to know that I use the things and I'm happy with the things that I own. And everything that I purchase, I enjoy for these specific reasons. And everything puts a smile on my face for some reason, right? You know, I have a lot of pencils and do I enjoy picking up a certain one? Does it give me a certain feel? Does it evoke a certain feeling? You know, those are the kinds of things I think about. So I don't think you can be a minimalist and be a pen addict, but I think you can meter yourself in other ways and other areas of your life to, to where you can enjoy this hobby and, you know, buy all the things if that's what you want and use all the things. But, um, just, you know, you do have to think about being wasteful and overextending yourself. And you just want to be careful about those types of things. Do you have anything to add to this, Myke?

Myke Hurley: I couldn't have put it better. Like, I think that the minimalism thing can be tricky if like all you're taking from it is just to have the least amount of stuff. Like, I don't know if that's necessarily like how useful. That is like, I agree with you. Like if it's not just piling up in boxes, like you're actually getting some use out of them. I think that that really can, can be beneficial. You know, it can be tricky to like constrain yourself in such ways. Like if this is what you like, if it's what you want to do, then great. But just be mindful of the things that are piling up. And if things are piling up, do something about it, sell them, get rid of them, stop that subscription service. you know, that, that, that's the thing that I look out for personally. Right. Which is why I've stopped buying extra field notes and why I've started giving more away and stuff like that. to try and pair that part of my, uh, pen addict life down a bit.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yeah. Now that you said that out loud, when's the last time you bought extra field notes?

Myke Hurley: I don't remember. I don't think I do it anymore.

Brad Dowdy: That used to be a common occurrence for us. And now we've understand, understand things are different. Right. You know? So yeah, that's a good example because we used to like race to always buy extra additions. Just like our default. Yeah. But as the default, right. And then, you know, we had the awakening at some point. You don't need all that stuff. Right. Even though you constantly have too much stuff. So mine was the moving rather than the awakening. Yes. Yes. That's true. That's true. So, uh, that's a great question. And that's something always on my mind. Um, even though I don't, you know, exemplify minimalism in this industry whatsoever, but, um, it is, it is something to consider. So, all right, this was from Lurini. Piston fillers is the question. When the ink runs out, do you ever continue using it with the, without first flushing it with water? I do not. I am always a one run through of ink, clean it with water, flush it. Even if I'm putting the same ink back in and Myke, you're the opposite, right? You will use the, you will refill the same ink. If you run it dry, just put the same thing. It's, it's, I don't have a problem with that. You know, if you're putting the same ink back in it immediately and not flushing it, I don't have a problem with that. After maybe like three of those fills, I would flush it at some point. Me, it's just a personal thing, um, to, um, to do. So, yeah, I, I don't think there's necessarily a wrong answer for that. I would clean it at some point though, after maybe three fills. That's, I am, I'm a very picky on my pen hygiene. So I clean it out every time, no matter what. So Dilly asks using a pilot pen varsity for a meeting coworker complimented my cool pen. So I gave it to him. Have you ever done such a thing? You go first.

Myke Hurley: I can't record time where I've given somebody. Oh, actually, no, I can. All right. So, uh, about three, four years ago, I was at the XOXO festival in Portland and I had a couple of retro 50 ones with me and my friend Chase said that he really loved it. So I gave it to him because, you know, I had a bunch of them and it was, it was two of the playing card ones. I can't remember which one it was. I gave him. I think it might've been like the ace of spades or something. And then, or I mean, I think, no, actually I think I kept the ace of spades and I gave him like the king of hearts. I had like two of them. Um, just because he was really excited about it and I already had a bunch of them and I thought that he would really get a kick out of it. And to this day, he still uses retro 50 ones and buys them for gifts for other people. And that's the thing that he does, which I think is really cool. But mostly what I do, which I think is of a similar ilk is, um, I would buy a pen for someone, right? Like in this, this, you know, this typically would be like, you know, I've done it with a Dina. I've done it with some other friends, like rather than give them my one. Cause I usually will probably want it. Um, I buy pens for, for people that, that they seem to, to be excited about.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I've done that, the buying thing. I've also done the giving away thing, but I've done it. Um, it sounds a little bit more creepy, but I've done it in a Starbucks because there's tend to be lots of students there and you'll see them with like a wide range of pens and highlighting. And so I, whenever I go to somewhere to work, like if I'm going to a coffee shop to work, I'll bring extra gel pens and highlighters and, you know, I'll say, Hey, I see what you're using. I just wanted to give you these pens. You know, I have a, uh, a pen problem and these are awesome and you should try them. And then I'll just, it's a little weird, but I've definitely done that two or three times. That is a creepster. That's incredible. I make, I make sure I do it when I'm leaving so I don't have to sit around anymore.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You know, I don't want to be too creepy and like go sit back down and watch them, but I'll do it. It's like, Hey, I just want to give you these,

Myke Hurley: give them the pens and be like, I want to sit down and watch you use it now for a little bit. It's just the thing. All right.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But I've absolutely done that before, like at, at Starbucks saying, Hey, you should try this pen. So, yeah, it's a little weird and I try not to do it unless I feel like really comfortable about doing it. I wouldn't normally, normally recommend that, but yeah, I have, I have definitely done that before. And I used to do it at work when I worked in an office job. People would see my pens all the time and I would, I would either give them the one I was using or come back the next day. I had a lot of times they'd compliment or say something about my pen. And then I'd say, well, I have a bunch of pens. Tell me what you like. And then I'll say, okay, I'll bring you something tomorrow. I've done that a bunch of times. I've even ordered something that if I didn't have it and like, they gave me like a set of particulars that they wanted in a pen, I've ordered something for them and brought it into them at work. I used to do that all the time. Very much. So, all right, last STPAs for this week, it's related to knock and it's from hot cup of loving. And she has two questions. One, when will the chimney top be back in stock later this year? I do not have an exact date. We are reworking how we do the chimney top. In the past, there have been two offerings. There's been the chimney top standard, which had two pouches to fit one small pouch and one larger pouch. And the larger pouch was kind of short and stubby and it fit like gel ink pens and things like that. Then the chimney top XL was designed to have a long skinny pouch to fit full unsharpened black wings because that's kind of the longest unsharpened pencil. So it's kind of a pencil pouch, then another short stubbier pouch. We're redoing the chimney top to just be one product to have the one big pouch from the regular chimney top and then the one big pouch from the XL. So you have the long pencil pouch and you'll have the big gel pen pouch.

Brad Dowdy: That's why they're kind of off the site right now because we're reworking it and going to do a new color and it'll be this year. I just don't know when that's not when I have a tight date for, but it is coming back in a little bit different model or a little bit different form, but it'll be kind of the two best cases from the four that were there before. So hopefully you can be patient for that and it'll be, it'll be good when it's back in. It'll be more of what we want to sell instead of having two products for it. So the second part is, will you always use Kickstarter for new NotCo products? No. And the perfect example of that is this fall, we're launching a, probably our biggest product launch ever, and we're not doing any on Kickstarter at all.

Myke Hurley: Oh.

Notebook Covers

Brad Dowdy: So we're doing, well, at least we're doing something that people have been asking for forever. We're launching a five, a six and a five slim notebook covers and paper products all at one time.

Myke Hurley: I had the ways to see if that was going to be a Kickstarter campaign.

Brad Dowdy: Nope. Interesting. So that's going to be, that's going to be direct. So, yeah. So we'll continue to use Kickstarter from time to time. You know, if we ever make bigger bags, I don't know if that would be a Kickstarter opportunity, you know, like backpacks or totes or anything like that in like a larger format, that might be a Kickstarter type thing. I don't know if that's something we'll have to cross that bridge whenever we have a design we're happy with to, to push forward on, but we're doing a big brand new product launch, not on Kickstarter later this year. So, that will be, that will be, uh, that will be very cool. And I'm interested to see, we're both interested to see how that goes. So it won't always be a Kickstarter thing, but, um, we will continue to use Kickstarter from time to time. Certainly.

Myke Hurley: Interesting.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: All right. Are we done for today, Brad?

Brad Dowdy: We are done. We have a lot more STPA. We'll keep saving those. We need to get some more in the list. So tweet at us with the hashtag STPA. We get those, uh, automatically. And, uh, yeah, all the questions we love to ask, to answer.

Myke Hurley: And ask as well. Uh, we're, uh, you can find us online in a bunch of different places. You can go to relay.fm slash pen addict slash two six zero for the show notes for this week's episode, including links to the old episodes where we did our top fives. If you want, if you really, if you really, for some reason, want to go back and check those out, you can, uh, there is the stationary wiki at stationary dot wiki. If you want to go and fill that out, you should. We're on, there's a subreddit slash r slash pen addict. If you want to go and share some stuff there, you can find Brad online. He's dowdy as I'm on Twitter. He is pen addict on Instagram and he's at pen addict.com and knock.co. I am at I Myke, I M Y K E. Thank you to story worth and to pen chalet for sponsoring this week's show and helping keep the lights on around these parts. But most of all, as always, thank you for listening and we'll be back next time. Until then say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.