Idipbananasintocoffee in Wonderland

Or how I stumbled, fell down the rabbit hole, and proceeded to tumble down several corridors and into several more holes

Once upon a time, when I was a newbie, I started a spreadsheet to track my new pens and how much they hurt my wallet. Naturally, as with any other hobby I’ve ever had, I abandoned that endeavor at one point (or rather, I stopped regularly updating the spreadsheet), and went on my merry way to spend more money on pens than on food and clothes combined. I’ve since started using the fountain pen companion website (if you still don’t have an account there, what are you waiting for) and I’m meticulous about updating it. I actually even put in pens that I sold/broke/consider unusable and archived them. Isn’t that neat? However, and this is a big however, the website doesn’t allow you to see your expenditure on this hobby. So, when I stumbled upon my old spreadsheet on my Cloud, my fate was sealed. Curious as to how much I spent on the hobby, I went in and added the pens I have since acquired.

Let’s just say, I’m glad I don’t remember the prices of all of the nibs I have purchased, and I don’t have the patience to add the prices of notebooks and inks. And, of course, I’m also grateful I still have both kidneys still so I have the option of selling one when I inevitably get into credit card debt.

All jokes aside, I wanted to talk a bit about what I look for in pens, and how my tasted have changed since I started.

As previously mentioned, I am the type of person who will start collecting/acquiring and falling into the FOMO trap any chance they get. During my ongoing collecting phase, I’ve been obsessed with Pilot pens (Metros first), Wing Sungs, TWSBIs, PENBBS pens, and then, after a bit of a hiatus, I moved onto Karas Kustoms, then upscale Pilots (well, give or take, 742, 74, 91), then gold nib pens, then more expensive steel nibbed pens like the Diplomat Elox Matrix and Leonardo Furore and Momento Zero (still waiting on that preorder to be fulfilled), then Sailors, and recently, custom pen makers’ pens. It’s a natural progression. But I think it’s also interesting to go over what drew me to each of those.

Pilot Metropolitans

I got my first one as a gift when I first started/got back into pens; it was your basic-first-Metro-black with a plain black finish that sported an F nib. Of course, as a completionist, I had to subsequently get one with an M nib and one with a 1.1 stub. I was extremely lucky that my wife was also a tiny bit curious about them back in 2016, so I’d just swap nibs between our pens since the finish and nib combos I wanted didn’t exist. That is how I ended up with the M nib on my black dot Metro and a 1.0 stub on my black zig-zag. From my understanding, both have since been discontinued, and I consider myself lucky that I have them. I just wanted to max out my writing experience without breaking the bank, since I lived in a seventh world country at the time and a pen that cost $15-20 at the time was about what I made in a week.

Because I was lazy for the first two chapters, I combined em. Left is the Wing Sung 601, absolute unit of a workhorse, right is one of the discontinued Pilot Metros in zig zag pattern

Wing Sung, Jinhao, Moonman, and other affordable brands

Of course, after my initial, slow entry into the hobby, I got an Ahab that smelled horribly but actually wrote so well I am still incredulous that some users report having to tinker with them. And that was also about the same time when I learned that one of my coworkers also loved fountain pens, and when he mentioned Moonman and Lorelei brands, I had to check them out. He got me a Jinhao 992 and a Moonman M2, and I was hooked. The 992 was okay (actually, it was absolutely mind-glowingly good for a pen that was $0.70!) but the M2 absolutely blew my socks off. So, whenever I got the chance (and my paycheck), onto AliExpress and Ebay I’d go. To this day, I do not mind any of those purchases (except the Curidas clone but I bought that one years later). They actually still work pretty damn well to this day. Wing Sung 3003, 601 and 698 are some of the best pens out there that are stupidly affordable and so reliable I have yet to find a pen that will tolerate — and write! — after being inked with a shimmer ink for three years as well as the 601.

TWSBI pens

This is when I started slipping into the more dangerous territory. Now I know some of y’all will say “But

@idipbananasintocoffee

, them pens crack like your back when you get up in the morning”, and although I have heard of that, I have yet to have a TWSBI crack. I had one of them (mini AL) slightly crack at the part of the body where it meets the aluminum grip, but for the price of shipping, I got a new barrel. The pen wrote anyway, by the way. All of them have written well out of the box, have never dried out, and still to this day write first time every time. My first custom nib grind — another damn rabbit hole, hold my watch — was done by FPnibs on a TWSBI AL Rose. I have the wettest, crispest cursive italic on that M nib. Another fun fact: the 580 takes Sailor PGS nibs without any hacking. Take that as you will.

Not all of my TWSBIs, naturally. Left to right: Black ECO, TWSBI mini AL, TWSBI AL Rose, TWSBI 580, TWSBI ECO Transparent Red

PENBBS

A frequent visitor to r/fountainpens, I have become a follower of FOMO trends perpetuated on the subreddit. How else would I find out that PENBBS made some of the most affordable starter pens with the most colorful acrylics and in various shapes and filling mechanisms? My first experience with their upturned F nibs wasn’t as glorious as everyone else seemed to have, so after the 309 in Hawaii colorway, I got some 308s. And some 355s. And some 471s, 456s (one of the absolute best vacuum fillers out there), and then I got myself the magnetic filler which was a gimmick but fun as heck. I chased the finishes as much as the filling mechanisms. I’m a proud owner of LE finishes in some models like the Hidden Path in 480, Aurora in 267 (currently unavailable everywhere), Niangao 456, and Fireworks 471 to name a few. When I switched to my next victim — after a hiatus because I thought that would be it, 55 pens with which I moved to the US — I told myself I would only buy those models with filling systems that I can’t get in any other pen brand. And, of course — and I still am NOT obsessed with the zodiac — I’ll get a pen for my Chinese zodiac sign. Just you wait. Oddly enough, I never got the newer models, like the updated 309 (forgot the number that model is) or new LE pens. But I treasure my collection of 16 PENBBS pens.

If you counted, you’re right, I didn’t include all of them. PENBBS 456 in Autumn, Niangao, and Symphony; the 487 in Spring; 480 in Hidden Path; three 308s in a very underrated finish named Storm, then the Snow and Koi; my first one, the 309 in Hawaii; the double ended 469 in Snow; the 352 in Frostfire; the 323 in Misty Mountains; the pride and joy 355 in Smog; the 471 in Fireworks.

Karas Kustoms

Ah, nothing like American made, trustworthy machined pens to become a true American. I wanted to experience a good Bock nib (prior to KK pens, I only had a Kaweco with an okay nib so… I had to), so in quick succession, I acquired all of their models. All of them. The Fountain K (two of them because I also had to have a different grip on one), the Ink, the Vertex… but that is where the rabbit hole turned into Narnia because they also offer amazing titanium nibs, and where’s titanium there is gold, so… natural progression.

Two Fountain Ks (black with the copper grip you can’t see because of course I’ll take the photo of it capped, and the Jawbreaker) and the Vertex LE.

Upscale Pilots, gold nibs, and fancy steel nibbed pens

It was like a rapid fire. Especially when I discovered r/pen_swap and scored a 742 by swapping a Pilot Custom 91 for it, and I had gotten the 91 for $80 on eBay. Yes, you read that right. I practically paid peanuts for a fantastic pen with the WA nib, which, again, I think is pretty damn good and so forgiving I still get frustrated that other pens aren’t as forgiving. But that was the end of my need for more affordable pens. I still love them, of course. Hell, most of my collection is comprised of affordable pens I’d never sell. But once you try $200+ pens, you never go back apparently. Pilot pens remain my favorite out of the bunch. The softness of their nibs, the way they glide on paper, the variety of nibs… you just can’t go wrong with it. They have 16 nib options (yes, I said what I said; 15 on the 912 model, and another, “signature” nib on the 743 if I’m not mistaken, although that one is super hard to find, so don’t come at me with torches and stakes). I make a point to try their nibs at pen shows and now I know I want the SU nib on my first 912, not the FA nib. The FA just doesn’t cut it. And PenAddict raved about the SU so much I had to try it. So… yep, he was right.

Pilot Custom 91, Falcon, Custom 742, Justus 95, Vanishing Point.

Pen Addict was wrong about the WA nib being underwhelming though. I totally have more experience than someone who’s been the first and last word in stationery since 2012. Anyway, Alt-Goldgrün in that pen is… divine.

The Diplomat steel nib F was amazing out of the box. The Leonardo F? Not so much. It skipped horribly. I had to send it back to have it tuned and now it flows like a sonnet by Shakespeare. Note to self: have all nibs tuned to your liking.

Leonardo Furore in Aquapetra, Diplomat Elox Matrix, Pelikan m205 Demonstrator, Franklin Christoph 02 in Antique Glass and Cathedral.

I also wanted to mention Esterbrook Esties with their amazing finishes. Go for the custom nibs though. They’re better.

Raven (pump filler), Maui, Rainforest.

Sailor

I fell for the finishes. I know, I know, FOMO. And I don’t even like tea, but I love the tea time series. Just look at them. My complaint about Sailors is the a) price and b) how many more finishes can you possibly make up? Go make more nibs, geesh. Did I acquire most of the nibs I could on their pens? Absolutely. In 14k, I have the F, M, MF, B, Zoom, and MS (which, by the way, skips and needs to get adjusted). I wish I could have Pen nibs in Sailor bodies. But man… do I love em. There is something magical about the MF nib when it’s well tuned, something unlike any other writing experience out there.

Should’ve taken this picture in some sort of an order. PGS Purple, PG Imperial Black beaten to death by (left to right) Promenade, PGS Manyo Nuts, PGS Moroccan Mint Tea and PGS Christmas Pudding, and observed by PG Stellar Black Hole.

Custom pen makers

Another horrible rabbit hole that ended with “Off with their wallet” has recently been custom pens, and I ain’t even mad. In the last two months after the Orlando Pen Show, I have bought more pens than ever before. I started with Hinze and Zodiac, followed by Tailored Pen Company which lead into following many, many more custom pen makers AND blank makers, then I got myself a Black Robin pen and won an Etturnings pen at their giveaway. I am not stopping any time soon. Of course, with pens that look like a rave and pens with names of Shakespearean characters, I had to have inks to match. Basically, the hole got so deep not even a “drink me” potion will help me get out. Plus I might try to put that liquid in a pen, knowing me. Of course, with such beautiful finishes, I have to have grinds to match and…

Zodiac Pen Co Pisces, Etturnings Birdseye Maple, Hinze Pen Co Bifrost, Tailored Pen Co (I’m changing the name to) Rave in the Honeycomb, Zodiac Pen Co Gemini twice because I love them.

Wonderland

As with any hobby, the more you invest, the more you’re… well, invested. I fully expect the hobby fatigue to settle in, however. One can’t spend all of their money forever. I’m still searching for that one grail pen that will be the ultimate, most amazing, most perfect pen ever made in the history of anything that has ever been made.

And I fully expect not to ever find it.

Not to sound cliche, but I believe the acquiring phase and the collecting phase in the hobby does not end with The One Pen. It’s the actual enjoyment of the chase and the experience of using fountain pens that make the hobby so worth investing in. At the end of every phase I ended up with the current grail, or at least close to it. I got myself my first grail at the beginning, a matte black Pilot Vanishing Point. Then I got a Pilot Custom 91. Now I want a 912. I got a PENBBS 456 in Niangao, had to get the 355 (V2) in Smog, and for the longest time, I was obsessed with having to have that pen. I got a Sailor Promenade, then had to get a PGS. Then I had to get the Pro Gear 21k, and now, of course, I want the Pro Gear Angel’s Delight which is way too expensive on Ebay. Then I needed to go for Raden Stripes Vanishing Point. Now I want the Visconti Homo Sapiens (Dark Ages of course), but, I’ve learned to finally set a boundary. It’s going to be the pen I can get only when I reach a certain milestone that is about two years away. I can wait.

However… in two years, who is to say there won’t be another The One for a different milestone?

The point of the hobby is to enjoy it. When it becomes stressful, it becomes work, and no one wants to work after work. For now, I’ll be enjoying my 123 pens… and look for the next tunnel into a new hole.

That — I cannot wait for!