Pen review: BENU Talisman aka lucky charms and pen spotlights

When a pen reminds you of your sibling you buy it

See, not only do I insert pens in every single conversation every day all day with anyone who has ears and happens to be in vicinity of yours truly, I also insert people into pens I buy/collect/obtain. I can’t expect everyone out there to buy me a pen (sadly), so I have to make do with what I have, and what I have is imagination, love for my friends and family, and sadly, a credit card.

When I first saw a BENU pen, I wasn’t excited. Gaudy, I said; too sparkly, I said. But then, there were more models, and more innovative finishes, and then there was the Four Leaf Clover, and suddenly I slipped, fell, and pressed several buttons and eh, it kinda got purchased and came to me.

Let me tell you, though… for a BENU, it’s not as sparkly — nor gaudy — as one may think. For starters, it sports only two colors, black and green; the sparkles are very tasteful, and there’s a bunch of them clovers imbedded in the pen. The nib is a no. 6 Schmidt, which, apparently, I love¹. And, another surprise, it definitely reminds me of my brother.

Has my brother’s eyes.

BENU has quite a few “Talisman” pens, aka their Talisman line includes other pens that also sport bits and pieces of trinkets that are considered lucky. I just happen to like the idea of something very St. Patrick-y. I’m personally a fan of themed pens. This is an excellent themed pen. As you know, I also have a winter/Christmas themed one, and two more that are totally related to other seasons, I swear.

Some random notes: the pen apparently has a bunch of four leaf clovers crushed and mixed with resin. I’m not sure if I really can believe that, as it feels like a tedious, ungrateful task to go out in the field to pick four leaf clovers — not the three leaf ones, because they’re subpar, but the OG Luck Plants with four leaves — then bring them to your studio, and proceed to crush them only to kinda pour em to the resin and make a bunch of pens. Honestly, I’d hope they didn’t do that, and that I totally misunderstood and made this up. Like, how do you even measure the amount of luck you put into each pen? Are some pens luckier than others? Could I have gotten a less lucky one? I mean it definitely messed my savings account, I’ll tell you that.

Anyway, my evil streak is showing and I’ll go on and tell you what kinda isn’t my thing about this pen. There are quite a few fake four leaf clovers in it, which, okay, I would assume they’d add. But most of them are concentrated on the top of the cap, where they overlap, and it looks, honestly, just a tad lazy. I also have some of them looking quite unfinished, as in, they’re missing at least one of the leaves, and it looks like the darkness ate them.

Hello darkness my old friend.

And, since we’re playing the devil’s advocate, I will say that — come on — I would’ve vastly preferred the K5 converter in lieu of K2. It’s not that big of an expense now is it.

Sorry for the potato quality, my furry son kept trying to bite the pen.

But that’s it. That’s what I don’t like about this pen.

What I do love, though, is that it’s so cool that it draws a good type of attention and you get to bring it to work when you have your annual “Green Potluck” where you bring green food and trust me, I ain’t eating any meat that’s green². It definitely LOOKS like a pen you should bring to a St. Patrick’s related green potluck.

It’s not obscenely big like the Euphoria; in fact, it’s noticeably smaller if you put them side by side, but it still uses the no. 6 nib, which is a huge deal, because why ever go back to no. 5 nibs when you tasted the no. 6. I bet I’ll say a similar thing when I finally obtain a no. 8 nib.

So, the good sides: the pen is light (but not too light for you to just forget you’re holding an instrument), classy despite them sparkles, and the shape is super interesting. Basically, it looks like it’s pinched on the cap and about 3/4 of an inch from the back end. And it has seven sides, which also means it won’t roll off your desk if you leave it unattended. The clip is actually useful, and for you weirdos who post pens, it posts. Honestly, it’s a solid workhorse pen, and if you intend on getting one BENU, or are just trying out BENUs, maybe this is not a bad option for you.

The nib, however, is probably my favorite thing about this pen. It has the perfect amount of feedback while being consistently smooth and reasonably wet. Before today, I hadn’t inked it in a bit (I will say you should forget about disassembling the nib unit, Schmidt decided to hate me it seems), and when I did it this morning, I was floored yet again with how much I love this nib. Consistent and crisp lines, my friends, is what I can say about it. This is one of those steel nibs that make people who covet gold nibs wonder if they wasted money on said gold nibs. Like Diplomat, for example. I have four BENUs, and every single nib has been perfect (well, one of them I haven’t yet inked, as you might know, but the rest — from F through M to B — all of them are absolutely perfect. And juicy).

I inked this pen with a tolerable green ink, since, you know, green is disgusting. And before you ask, my brother’s favorite color is green, yes. The things we do for love.

The ink, as I said, is tolerable, and by tolerable I mean it’s a great green ink for green ink lovers. It’s Anderillium³ Green Kingfisher Green⁴, and it looks like a green-black, at least to me. I love their inks — normally I’d suggest Flying Squid Blue, but that wouldn’t match, but please keep it in mind for any blue pen you might want to ink up soon — and this one is a solid choice. I assume Diamine Kelly Green would work better, maybe Diamine Meadow, or something else; but this is what I picked and I’m sticking with it.

See, it looks good.

All in all, I’d recommend this pen for several reasons: it’s a good looking and reliable pen that will help you celebrate St. Patrick’s day all the better. It feels sturdy enough, and it won’t break the bank too badly (for a BENU). If you’re an experienced fountain pen user and know what you like, maybe go into more flashy BENUs, but if not, and if you just want the name without the intensity, this may be the pen for you.

What’s your favorite BENU pen?

And please tell me you also hate beer. Even if it’s dyed green and looking better.

Still encouraging you to pledge, but as mentioned, that’s optional. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. And may your bananas always be the perfect color.

1. I have the aluminum Muji fountain pen and it’s okay, but the no. 5 just doesn’t speak to me. Same goes with an old Senator pen I have. Just meh, you know?

2. My wife makes some mean Brussels sprouts with bacon and dates. It’s amazing. Ask me for the recipe.

3. Seriously, please rename the brand. I had to check the name of it seven times and it’s still giving me the red squiggly line of us illiterates who can’t spell this word.

4. Yes… that’s the actual name. Green Kingfisher Green.