(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
I saw the Pineider Snorkel Filler on the Goulet Pens website and thought, “What a great idea!” The purpose of this instrument is to make it easier to get the last drop of ink using the snorkel along with a fountain pen converter.
The Snorkel comes in a simple envelope. Inside there’s a diagram demonstrating how different converters fit on the top end of the snorkel. Pineider says that the snorkel will work with most fountain pen converters.
So, I gathered up several of my converter-fill fountain pens, and gave the snorkel a try. I always struggle to fill pens from nearly empty Iroshizuku bottles and Sailor ink bottles, so I was pretty excited about the snorkel.
I tried the following converters with the Pineider snorkel: Faber-Castell, Nakaya/Platinum, Sailor, Leonardo, and the Pilot Con-40.
The Faber-Castell converter fit loosely on the snorkel as you can see in the first two photos. When I tried filling the converter, it worked partially, filling to about one-quarter full. This was not encouraging.
The Nakaya/Platinum converter was very loose on the snorkel, and I couldn’t get it to work at all.
Similarly, the Sailor converter did not fit tightly on the snorkel. I tried pushing the lip over the rubber ring to get a more snug fit, but the Sailor converter was too small in diameter, so it wouldn’t go over the rubber ring. As a result: no fill.
I had better luck with the Leonardo converter. It fit tightly onto the snorkel. I had to fiddle with the snorkel and converter to get a complete fill, but it worked! Hurrah! A success!
Last, I tried the snorkel with a Pilot Con-40. The Pilot was wide enough to fit over the rubber ring, so I was able to get a good fill with the snorkel.
I tried the snorkel with a few other converters I had on hand. The Schmidt K5 piston converter (used in Karas Kustoms pens) fits snugly. However, the converters that came with my Shawn Newton and Franklin-Christoph pens fit loosely, so they won’t work with the snorkel.
Only three of the converters I own work with the Pineider snorkel: the Leonardo, the Pilot Con-40, and the Schmidt K5. All of the others in my collection (Nakaya/Platinum, Sailor, Faber-Castell, and whatever brand(s) Newton Pens and Franklin-Christoph use) did not. According to the Goulet website, other converters that will work with the Pineider Snorkel filler include Cross, Kaweco, Lamy, Parker, and Sheaffer. It does not work with Waterman, Montegrappa, or Jinhao. This is pretty disappointing, especially since Pineider claims that the snorkel “fits most converters.” Unfortunately, the brands that don’t work with the snorkel are the fountain pen brands I prefer!
The Pineider Snorkel Filler costs $15.00 at Goulet Pens plus shipping (so around $20 total). Honestly, I don’t think the snorkel is worth the cost, especially since you can use other methods to get the last drops of ink into your pens. For example, I pour ink vestiges into empty sample vials and fill my converters directly from them, though that can be a little messy. You can also purchase syringes ($5.00 for two) and transfer ink from the bottom of bottles into your converters that way.
(I purchased the Pineider Fountain Pens Snorkel from Goulet Pens with my own funds.)
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