Review yesterday, giveaway today! The Laban 325 is a fun pen that I was fortunate to be able to review. Now, it is going to one of you. This giveaway is for my review pen, the 325 in Sun, with a Medium Steel nib. To enter, read the rules below, and click those buttons!
Laban 325 Fountain Pen Review
Founded in Taiwan in 1981, Laban has been present in the fountain pen world for a while, but only came on my radar in the last several years. In using the Laban 325, I can only wonder what took me so long?
I’ve had this pen inked up on and off for the past three months, and every time I pick it up and write with it, the same group of words come to mind. Solid. Nice. Pretty. Quality. Fun. What more can I ask for from a pen? Not much. The Pen Addict Review Crew have been reviewing Laban fountain pens since 2019, to generally high praise, and I’m only going to add to the chorus today.
Let’s start with what you see: the barrel. The 325 is on the larger size of the scale, especially given the cap overhang. The design works together as a whole, but the initial visual is that this is a big pen. When in user mode, aka uncapped, the 325 hits the perfect user length at just over five inches. The diameter befits its size, with a tapered section providing a nice grip area.
Aesthetically, the 325 features three distinct visual areas. With this Sun model, both ends use an Ivory marbled acrylic, with the heart of the barrel showing off a beautiful Orange cracked acrylic. Many of the 325’s are designed similarly, with different color acrylics taking prominence on the barrel.
LAMY Safari for scale.
Gold trim wins the day on the 325, with the clip, finial, barrel and cap bands, and matching gold plating on the steel nib. The nib itself is Laban-branded Jowo #6, and the Medium tip was perfect out of the box. This is an international cartridge/converter filler, and ships with Laban marked on the converter.
Writing comfort is perfect for me. To say that I don’t notice the pen when writing is a high compliment. When I’m putting ink on the page, I want nothing more to get into the flow. I don’t want to think about the pen, nib, ink, or paper. The 325 allows for that.
Should you consider trying out a Laban fountain pen, specifically the 325? At $128, it doesn’t have a lot of price competition. The entire $75 to $150 range is honestly a bit confusing. Benu, Narwhal, and Opus 88 do well here, fancy Kaweco’s live here, maybe some solid maker pens. The 325 is one of the lower priced Laban pens, and has some of the Leonardo Momento Zero feel to it for around $40 less. So yes, I think they are compelling.
L’Ecritoire ink, from Paris. Courtesy of a pen friend.
Laban makes several different styles of pens in their lineup, and given the feel and functionality of the 325, I’m interested in moving on up the price bracket to see if the value proposition continues to hold. Seems like a good plan for 2025.
(This pen was provided by Luxury Brands USA at no charge for purposes of this review.)
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Misfill, Nice Things Edition
Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:
— Just nice things, vol. 1 - by Ricardo (Extra Fine Writing)
— Values Journaling Series (Comfortable Shoes Studio)
— Chunbo Zhang Sandwiches Rich American Fare Between Ancient Chinese Treasures (Colossal)
— Updates For A New Year (Fountain Pen Love)
— My New Work Notebook: A Surprise Filofax (Notebook Stories)
— Diamine Kopi O Kaw (Inkcredible Colours)
— Ink Review #2692: Octopus Fluids Witch Green (Mountain of Ink)
— Product Review: Shachihata Daily Log Stamp - Weather and Days of the Week (The Well-Appointed Desk)
— Book Tour 2025, Attention, Social Media, Not Bullshit (Craig Mod)
— Dapper’s Willow Anniversary (Take Note)
— Packing List: South American Motorbike Adventure! (Carryology)
— Howful studio is pushing the boundaries of Risograph with paper clocks and pocket calendars (It’s Nice That)
— Winning. (Present & Correct)
— Practice Your Cursive as a Citizen Archivist and Preserve Thousands of Historic Documents (Colossal)
— purple: nahvalur original plus lavender tetra fountain pen review (a fleeting ripple)
— The world’s oldest pants are a 3,000-year-old engineering marvel (Ars Technica)
— 2024: some of my fountain pen highlights. (Fountain pen blog)
— One New Desk, Three Modes (The Cramped)
Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!
