Kobe No. 43 University Town Fresh Green: Ink Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Kobe inks are made for the Nagasawa Department Store in Japan. They are named after various places in the city of Kobe. University Town Fresh Green is number 43 in the series. It is a vivid green ink with plenty of shading and sheen.

I did my ink testing with a Diplomat Aero fine nib which doesn’t show much shading, but you get a good idea of how the ink looks in a fine nib. It’s not a neon lime color, but more like fresh grass or spring leaves. It’s a fairly dry ink (at least in a fine nib), and is not water proof.

Chromatography shows the ink’s composition of light yellow, peach and green.

My Pilot Parallel 2.4mm demonstrates the ink’s gorgeous shading capabilities, ranging from deep green to light green.

On my Col-o-ring Ink Testing card (review here), you can see the dark green sheen in the ink splats.

Kobe University Town Fresh Green is a terrific color. I’m planning on using this ink as much as possible—even though I’m not much of a green ink fan—I love this stuff. Although it works well in fine nibs, it really shines in wide nibs. You can purchase this ink from Vanness Pens, $30.00 for a 50ml bottle or $3.00 for a 4ml sample.

(My wonderful husband purchased this ink for me for Mother’s Day from Vanness Pens.)


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Posted on June 2, 2017 and filed under Kobe, Ink Reviews.