All around the world, people will be gathering to celebrate their love of pens, maybe even with a Pelikan or two! I always ink up a bunch of Pelikans for the Hub and this year is no different, except I inked up a pen that, until earlier this year, I hadn’t really paid much attention to: the Pelikan Pura P40.
(Note: I am typing this after I hand wrote my notes so don’t try to decipher the handwritten content, lol).
The Pelikan Pura P40 is a cartridge fountain pen. The “P” designation in the model indicates that it is a cartridge fountain pen, while its more well-known siblings, like the M200, M400, M800, etc. have the “M” designation, for piston fillers. Side note: “K” is for ballpoint, “D” is for pencil).
Pelikan Pura P40, Bordeaux, inked with Visconti Bordeaux on 68 gsm Tomoe River Endless Recorder.
The Pura is a metal pen with a snap cap, and a steel nib (Extra Fine to Broad). It also snaps to post. The grip is smooth with a slight taper towards the nib. I didn’t have any problems with the grip section being slipper, but I also don’t generally have a problem with metal sections either. There is a slight “lip” where the nib starts but my fingers didn’t really make it down that far, so I don’t know if that would prevent one’s fingers from sliding.
You can see the metal grip, along with the “nib lip”, which my fingers never reached. The nib looks a bit like the Lamy Safari nib but it isn’t the same. To my knowledge, it also isn’t removable.
I think the pen looks very sleek though I wish that the metal stripe lined up with the nib when uncapped. Not a big deal unless I’m staring at it 🙂
You can see the reflection next to my thumb, even though the nib is face up.
It is a slightly heavy pen, compared to most of my pens which are acrylic, or lighter metal, like my Schon pens which are aluminum. This wasn’t an issue when writing because I don’t post my pens, but it really felt back-heavy when I tried to post. It takes a bit of effort to get the cap on and off the back end for posting, but it was definitely secure.
It was definitely too long and back-heavy for me when posted.
The nib is smooth and writes nicely. Having written with it at the Chicago Pen Show, where it was a pretty wet writer, I paired it with a drier ink which I picked for the color, before realizing that the name of the ink and the pen’s colorway were the same.
I don’t clip my pens to anything other than the elastic in pen cases, but the Pura seems to have very little room/clearance for thick fabric. That said, it worked pretty easily when I slid the clip over my Rickshaw pen roll, but you can see that it probably doesn’t love it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it slid over a single sheet of this paper.
The clip is pretty flush to the cap but it slides on surprisingly easily. It doesn’t look like it would like this thick fabric for long.
Aside from the grip, which might be slippery for some folks, my only other “gripe”, and it is a minor one at that, is that the polished metal is a fingerprint magnet. As I mentioned above, It takes a bit of force to snap the cap on, especially to post. Now that I think about it, the other thing is that converters don’t fit, so you have to use cartridges, which is not the end of the world but it adds a bit of hassle if you want to use bottled ink.
Comparison pens (L to R): Esterbrook Estie, Pilot Custom 823, Diplomat Aero, S T Dupont D-Initial, Pelikan Pura, Lamy Studio, Leonardo Momento Zero, TWSBI Eco, Sailor Pro Gear.
The Pura’s grip is the most similar to the Lamy Studio, which isn’t entirely surprising since both are German pens.
The Dupont doesn’t really post, so I didn’t force it.
The Pelikan Pura P40 is a solid pen and a good writer, especially if you prefer a slightly heavier pen. It’s not often you find pens with this heft in this price point - one of the few that come to mind would be the Diplomat Aero which is similar in both weight and price. The MSRP for the Pura P40 is around $190 USD, with a street price of around $150, making it pretty similar in price to the smaller and lighter M200 series. I’m enjoying the Pura but we shall see if it results in the “gotta catch ‘em all” vibe that I get from the other models, especially since there are new colors AND a pattern coming out later this year sneak peek on the Pura webpage. I can’t wait to find out what my fellow Hub attendees think about this pen!
(Disclaimer: The Pura was part of my payment for working at the Pelikan table at the 2024 Chicago Pen Show. All other pens are my own.)
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