Ink cartridge review, to be more specific.
I've always had an affinity for fountain pen ink cartridges, but have never truly embraced all of the options available. Until this point, my most used cartridge has been Pilot Blue Black in most any Pilot pen I own. That's right; they are proprietary. Same with Sailor, Platinum, and Lamy. Proprietary is fine, as long as there are options.
If you want even more options, international-sized cartridges give you that. But they are often limited to short international cartridges, made primarily for pocket pens with shorter barrels that can't accommodate a full-length cartridge. Pelikan makes an excellent standard international cartridge for their Edelstein lineup, but that's about it.
For mixing and matching colors with your compatible pens, short international cartridges are where it's at. And thankfully, that market has blown up over the past several years.
When I first got into Kaweco pocket pens, I felt limited by their stock cartridge offerings. They were excellent, and I used blue black and aubergine with regularity, but I wanted the choices in my ink cartridges to be closer to my options in ink bottles. Yes, I've syringe-filled many an ink cartridge in my day, but that kind of defeats the convenience of cartridges in the first place.
With more brands expanding their short international ink cartridge lineups I'm beginning to get the choice I've always wanted for my pens. And it is time for me to start exploring.
The words “Caran d’Ache” and “good value” will never be used in the same sentence. They are a luxury brand, and luxury pricing applies. On the surface, $5 for a 6-pack of short international ink cartridges may not sound like a lot, but comparatively, it is pretty steep. If I can get the quality I see out of my first cartridge choice - Hypnotic Turquoise - in the rest of their lineup, then I will have no problem saying that the price is worth it.
This bright blue pops off the page. It flows wonderfully from my Fine steel Kaweco Sport nib and has yet to dry out or hard start on me. There is a visible red sheen on the edges of my letters, and while this nib doesn't show off the inks full shading characteristics, I can see the color variation that would be even more present in a broader nib.
In short, this is a fantastic ink. I want more of this, and that is the path I am going down with this next little experiment of mine. I bought a dozen or so different ink cartridge colors and brands and will be testing them out. I also got your recommendations last week and will be adding those to my shopping list.
Right out the gate, they are going to have a tough time beating Hypnotic Turquoise.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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