Laban Pens - A Quick Comparison

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Last year, Luxury Brands of America added Laban Pens to their portfolio of brands that they distribute (including Platinum, Waldmann, Colorverse, Girologio, and others). Founded in Taiwan, Laban Pens has been making pens since 1981 (and inks in 2020). While I own all of their mythology series inks, I didn’t own any Laban Pens, so I wanted to take a closer look at their various models. Thank you to Bryce Gillett from LBA for loaning these pens for review.

Note:

• These aren’t all of the pens that Laban makes/sells, just the ones I was able to get from Bryce since their inventory is often flying off their shelves.
• Since these pens are on loan, I did not ink them up.
• Some of the models are also available as rollerballs/ballpoints, but I am only reviewing the fountain pens.
• I confirmed with Bryce that Laban nib housings are glued in, but you can pull the nib/feed out (it took more force than I was comfortable with, so I did not do so).

325 (and 326):

One of the best known models of Laban Pen is the 325. Most of its colorways sport a cream & light brown cap and finial, while others have a solid black cap/finial. The 325 is a great canvas for highlighting various barrel materials. They announced the 326 earlier this year, which is the same pen as the 325 but with special artisan resins for the barrel. The first, and only colorway so far, is Blue Mirage.

The 325/326 is a fairly light pen, comes equipped with a gold-toned Jowo 6 nib, and is available in Extra Fine to Broad and 1.5 for steel, and Flex EF and Flex F in 14kt gold. Note that this is Jowo’s “flex” nib which isn’t very flexy, even in 14kt gold. The retail price starts at $160 (steel nib), or $360 (14kt gold nib).

Two examples of the Laban 325 model, made with Jonathon Brooks resins, one with cream cap/finial and the other with black cap/finial. Both gorgeous!

The many colors of the 325.

Antique’II:

The Antique’II is the second in the Laban brass series (the first being Antique), and has etched/engraved lines down the cap and barrel. It is made from recycled brass, so expect some patina on the trim (clip/finials/cap band) over time.

The Antique’II is available in EF to Broad. It uses a smaller, two-toned nib, which is made by Bock. I was unable to remove the nib or unscrew the housing to confirm if it is compatible with Kaweco Sports but it looks like it should. It is a slimmer pen with a smaller nib, but the brass gives it some heft. The pen retails for $120.

Laban Antique’II Fountain Pen in Grey.

Antique’II nib (left) next to a Kaweco Sport.

“Jewellery” Series - Abalone and Mother of Pearl:

The Abalone pen comes in two trim colors, Silver and Gun Metal (grey). The Mother of Pearl (MOP) has silver trim. Both start at $270 with a two-toned, size 6 Schmidt steel nib (EF to B). The Mother of Pearl starts at $330 with the same nib options. Both the Abalone and MOP pens are made from real abalone shell and mother of pearl.

Laban Abalone with Gun Metal trim (left) and Mother of Pearl.

Formosa:

The Formosa has a blue swirled resin base that is covered with a silver-plated overlay. It is equipped with a specially-engraved, silver-toned EF- Broad Jowo 6 nib and retails for $280.

Galileo:

The Galileo has a multi-layer overlay design - a resin base, topped with two different plated overlays. Despite two overlays, the Galileo is not a super heavy pen. It is very comfortable to hold because it’s not very hefty. There are currently two colorways, the one shown below (black, rose gold, silver) and rose gold (cream, silver, rose gold). It is equipped with a two-toned EF-Broad nib and retails for $280.

This Laban Galileo has a black resin base, rose gold gear layer, and a silver-plated overlay on top.

Galileo in hand, surprisingly as not heavy as it looks.

Rosa:

The Rosa is another pen in Laban’s Resin collection and has trim bands around the cap, and at the top & bottom. I like the slightly conical ends which makes it visually more interesting than cigar or flat ends. It is equipped with a two-toned EF-Broad nib and retails for $140.

Laban Rosa in Lilac.

Skeleton:

The Skeleton is another overlay pen in Laban’s Filigree collection. Unlike the Formosa or Galileo pens, which have non-transparent bases, the Skeleton has a clear, transparent acrylic base which is then covered with silver, gun metal, rose gold, or in this case, a rainbow plated-metal overlay. The Rose Gold version has a two-toned nib, while the other colors (including Rainbow) have a silver-toned nib. EF-Broad nib sizes are available and most colors retail for $280, while the Rainbow is $300.

Laban Skeleton in Rainbow.

Skeleton uncapped. Not gonna lie, I wish the nib was also rainbow and not silver-tone.

Taroko:

Like the Rosa, the Taroko is part of the Resin collection. The Taroko is a cigar-shaped, gold trim pen. Unlike the Rosa, the Taroko does not have trim rings near the top or bottom of the pen, giving it a clean, classic look. It is equipped with a two-toned EF-Broad nib and retails for $140.

Laban Taroko in Pinnacle.

Laban pens capped (left to right): 325, Antique’II, Abalone, Formosa, Galileo, Mother of Pearl, Rosa, Skeleton, Taroko.

Laban pens posted - While the pens are postable, there is nothing preventing the cap band or threads from potentially scratching the barrel when posting. As such, I gently put the cap on the barrel for the photos. It would also make some of the pens (especially the MOP) extremely back heavy.

Comparison with other pens (L to R): Platinum 3776, Sailor Pro Gear, TWSBI Eco, Laban Pens, Visconti Homo Sapiens, Pilot Custom 823, Pelikan M800, Leonardo Momento Zero.

All of the pens come with a Laban-banded converter (already installed in the pen), orange nib bookmark (and a little tag to let you know the sticker is below the pen panel), and booklet - all encased in a blue box and white box sleeve. Cartridges are not included.

Laban’s converter is standard international. The clear piston knob is less distracting in their Skeleton pens.

Laban’s packaging (minus white box sleeve) shown with the Laban Rosa. I like the orange nib bookmark (on top of the box.)

The Laban pens come in a wide range of styles and price points, and are outfitted with reliable nibs (based on my experience with Schmidt and Jowo nibs on other pens), making them worth checking out. After spending time with all the pens, I’ve been eyeing the Laban Rosa in Lilac and the Taroko in Pinnacle and might have to reach out to Bryce about buying one of them 😀 Laban Pens can be purchased from all of our site sponsors, including Vanness Pens, Pen Chalet, JetPens, and Goldspot, and you can see them at next week's San Francisco Pen Show at the Luxury Brands tables.

(Disclaimer: All pens were on loan for review by Bryce Gillett of Luxury Brands of America. All other pens are my own.)

Pentel EnerGel Kuro Gel Ink Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

It's back-to-school season! Admittedly, the majority of the stationery supplies I have to acquire for my children at this time of year are not as exciting as the stationery I'd like to be playing with, but ALL stationery is fun in its own way. I wish I could send my kids to school with a box of Blackwing pencils, but it will have to be the store-brand #2 classics, as requested by The List.

But pens? We can have a little fun there. Gel pens are a staple of note taking in school, but The List doesn't say what kind they have to be. We have our old reliables, but it's always fun to try something new.

Pentel has a new build of their EnerGel model called the Kuro, and I think it's the perfect gel pen for this year's school adventures.

The Kuro has a slim body in a black rubberized material that is all non-slip and slightly cushioned, and the grip area has extra texture to it. It's smooth, but textured enough that your fingers don't slip on the barrel. It has a lightly flexible plastic clip and a click button top. The clip and click are in the color of the pen's ink, for easy identification.

The tip is 0.7 mm, and it writes very smoothly. It downright glides. I had no skipping or blobbing with these, and I've been using them all day every day at work for a week.

The ink is nicely saturated with bold, bright colors available in the set. This set has black, purple, pink, red, blue, light blue, green, and orange--enough colors for some excellent color coding. There are also 12- and 24-color sets available, as well as individual pens. They've been great in my planners, especially because they have a quick-dry, no-smear ink. They are also refillable. The nose cone unscrews to access the Pentel LR7 refill.

The 8-color set costs $13.50, with individual pens costing around $2, and refills cost $1.35. Overall, they're one of the more affordable gel pens out there right now, which makes them even better for school, where pens vanish into the portal that lurks at the bottom of every backpack.

I've really enjoyed writing with these pens. And while I've turned the standard colors over to my children for school, the pink, purple, and light blue have stayed on my desk at work. Because mom has homework, too, and everyone needs good gel pens.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Pilot Custom Heritage 912 - Ranking the Nibs

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Last year, I was fortunate enough to get to test 14 of Pilot’s #15-sized 14K gold fountain pen nibs on the Pilot Custom 743, so I could see which ones would be my favorites. This year, I not-so-shyly asked Jaclynn Burleigh of Pilot USA if I could test their #10-sized 14k gold nibs in their Pilot Custom Heritage 912 pens and she said yes! The biggest difference between the 743 & 823 and the 912 & 742 is the size of the nib - the former utilizes the size 15 nib and feed while the latter takes size 10.

Side note: August sees the two of the largest US pen shows (DC and San Francisco), so you should take advantage of the opportunity to try all the nibs for yourself at the Pilot USA tables and let me know which ones are your favorites! But if you can’t, read on!

I have several pens with size 10 and 15 nibs, but I don’t have them all (nor do I want to, for now ;-) ) so I was curious to see if my favorites from last year’s 743 nib ranking would translate to the 912 nibs. It’s been a year since I’ve used some of these nibs in the 743 size, so I tried not to bias myself by re-reading last year’s article (I did rearrange them according to new rankings). I had limited time with these pens (as they needed to be sent back to Pilot so they can take them to different shows), which is a good thing because this would end up being a 10 page article, lol. I decided to follow a similar approach as in my last nib ranking, which was based off of the one the Bossman did in his Custom Heritage 912 writeup.

A few things to keep in mind:

• I am right-handed but have a “stupid steep” writing angle - 75 degrees isn’t uncommon for me, while most people have a 45-50 degree angle.
• I tend to write primarily in cursive, and occasionally in print (but not like the Bossman’s block print), typewriter font and calligraphy-esque styles like Copperplate and Italic. My go-to nib size from any maker/country/region is Medium. I also prefer broader nibs as well as stubs/italics. I rarely reach for Extra Fine, especially since I own very few of them.
• Pilot asked that I dip these pens instead of inking them up, which I don’t think is the best way to test the flow in the nibs, but it’s enough for short writing samples. I dipped, then dragged the tip across the ink vial so there wouldn’t be blobs of ink on the page.
• The first writing sample with all the nibs was done in the Maruman Bodoni A5 Notebook, while the others were written in an Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River. I used a sample of Pilot blue ink.
• My Chinese teachers from high school would be shuddering, but hey, it’s accurate, just not beautiful. The character means “always” or “forever”.
• Thank you Pilot USA for sending these 912s so I could do a nib showdown!
• Last but not least, I mostly followed Brad’s formatting but I did not read his ranking (nor mine from the 743 ranking) so I wouldn’t be biased.

My aging eyes were so happy to be on #teamsticker even if the stickers didn’t all align with the front of the nib.

Based on writing samples of all of these nibs, do you think you can tell which ones I will like more than others? (Bodoni notebook)

Writing sample of the “regular” nibs on Tomoe River 68 gsm.

Specialty nibs - Stub, Music, Waverly, Posting, Falcon/FA.

Line width comparison of the Extra Fine & Posting nibs, and the Waverly & Fine Medium.

15 - Extra Fine

Admit it, you knew this was coming. I don’t hate EF nibs, I just really don’t prefer them most of the time from any brand. That said, I was expecting to like this more than the PO nib because I remember disliking the size 15 PO the most. For some reason, that wasn’t the case here. The EF gave me more feedback than I liked, so it was my least favorite of the nibs.

14 - Posting

The size 15 Posting nib was my least favorite to use because it felt like I was writing on the top of the nib, with it almost curving backwards on the paper. The original idea behind the nib was to write on postcards, which had limited space and therefore the extra fine line allowed you to fit more words. The angle of the nib also made it very stiff, unlike their regular and soft nibs, so you could also write on multiple sheets, like with carbon paper (does anyone remember what that is?) or forms in duplicate/triplicate. I’m not sure if it’s because the nib is smaller but this wasn’t as uncomfortable to write with, and while it was still uncomfortably fine for me, I liked it more than the EF>

You can see the downturn of the Posting nib, which gives it a firmer writing experience as well as a drier line.

13 - Coarse

You would think that I’d love this mega broad line because I love showing off inks, but like its size 15 sibling, this nib lays down quite the Sharpie line! It gives a smooth writing experience but since I don’t have large handwriting, this isn’t a very practical nib. This would still be a great platform for a nib grind, but I’d probably get a Broad or Double Broad for grinding before I’d get the Coarse.

Of COARSE this is a fun nib if you need a thicc line.

12 - Waverly

Unlike the Posting nib, the Waverly was designed with a slight upturn on the tip of the nib, which makes it much more pleasant for folks who “push” their nibs, like lefties. As a rightie, I didn’t really notice the difference as it still wrote with a smooth, slightly broader than Fine Medium line. I’m sure I’d rank this much higher if I was a leftie, but since I’m not, I’d pick any of the remaining nibs instead of trying to hunt this one down.

The Waverly’s upturn is more noticeable from the side.

11 - Music

The Music nib was not offered in the 743, so I was not able to test this last year. The writing experience is very stub-like, wider down strokes and narrow side strokes. The down strokes are wider than the Stub’s. Similar to the Coarse, its lines are a bit too thick for my writing, so it’s less practical for me, but I do like the line variation, which is why it gets a higher rating that the Coarse.

10 - Fine

The Fine gives a nice writing experience with a fine line. As I mentioned earlier, I like laying down ink and this Fine just doesn’t give me as much as I’d like.

9 - BB / Double Broad

I liked the not-quite-as-insane width of this nib compared to the Coarse but it is still too broad for my everyday use. As with the Coarse nib, this would also be a great canvas for a nib grind. Even though this is impractical for me, I ranked it higher because I’d picked this over a Fine if I had to choose between the two.

This BB has one too many Bs for me.

8 - Soft Fine

I liked this more than the Fine because the slight bounce from the softer nib gives it an almost imperceptibly wider line and ever so slight line variation (more from the release of pressure than from adding pressure). That said, it’s still a bit too fine for me.

Soft Fine, you’re finally number nine! (it was #10 last year.)

7 - Fine Medium

The top seven are much harder to choose from, so I used two criteria to help me decide: (1) what would be a better everyday writer for me and (2) what nib would I pick to buy next.

This one was REALLY hard for me to put in this spot, but having owned this nib in both the size 10 and 15 sizes, I have come to accept that while it is a great writer, it is, say it with me, just a bit too fine. It is a very practical size for every day but this inkophile wants to lay down more ink, and go through fills quickly and this FM is too fine to do that.

6 - Medium

Yep, my go-to nib size, Medium, barely made the top half of this list! It is such a nice and smooth writer that it’s one of my favorites, but I have enough Mediums so it barely made the top half of this list.

Medium is 7th because I’d rather get one of the other remaining nibs first, it’s not cuz I don’t love you.

5 - FA or Falcon nib

Not to be confused with the Falcon pen (aka Elabo), the FA nib has cutouts on the side of the nib that gives it the ability to flex a bit. It is not like vintage flex, more like semi-flex. The size 10 FA is actually softer/flexier than the size 15 FA, and gives a bit more line variation than the 15. I have both and prefer the 10 FA because I do like to really slow down and write in a Copperplate-like style when using it. Even though I already have one, I wouldn’t turn down another FA if it were to cross my path, but having both means it’s lower in the list for me.

You can see the cutouts from the top of the FA nib.

A better view of the side cutouts.

#10 vs #15 size comparison.

Writing samples of the 912 FA vs the 823 FA, inked up with the Bossman’s Fire on Fire on Fire! You can see that I can get slightly wider down strokes with the 912 FA vs the 823 FA.

4 - Broad

I am shocked that I still don’t have any Broad nibs in either the 10 or 15 size, though I do have it in a VP nib and I love it. This would be a great ink layer-downer nib without having an overly broad line and as such would be a great addition.

Broad. It me.

3 - Stub

As someone who occasionally likes to do italic calligraphy, as well as write cursive with stub nibs, I was really curious to see how Pilot’s stub nib would feel. I absolutely loved writing with it! It is a fairly smooth stub, unlike Pilot’s sharper steel nibs like the ==CM== (Calligraphy Medium) which are more like italics. The only reason this is ranked third is because this wouldn’t be as practical for me as an everyday writer, but it’s definitely high on my list of nibs to get next.

Stub, where have you been all my life?

2 - Soft Fine Medium

I ranked the Size 15 SFM as #1 and I already knew that I loved the size 10 SFM since I’ve had it for several years now. Going into this test, I wondered how it would rank against the Soft Medium and while I still love this nib a lot, if I had to choose between a SFM and SM, I’d choose the latter. The slight softness of the nib makes the line a bit broader than the regular FM, which means it is the perfect width.

Soft Fine Medium, I still love you, even if you’re #2.

1 - Soft Medium

I don’t have this nib and I want it. I love the slight bounce that this gives over the Medium, but it also makes the line a touch wider too. I could have easily swapped the SFM and SM spots but this one ranked higher because I don’t have one. Yet.

Soft Medium, I need this so much.

How did the size 10 nibs do compared to the size 15 nibs?

Ranking:

There was a bit more movement in the bottom half of the rankings versus the top half, but I was surprised that I liked the Waverly and Coarse nibs more last year than I did this year.

And there you have it, my ranking of the size 10 nibs from the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 collection! We already know that the Bossman and I don’t agree on most nibs and this is no exception (how dare he rank my #1 Soft Medium as #13??). That’s the beauty of this rabbit hole - we all like different things and that’s ok!

It’s the circle of life, I mean, nibs!

Oh, one more thing, this article also marks my 4 year anniversary of writing for The Pen Addict! Thank you so much to Brad “The Bossman” Dowdy for taking a chance on me four years ago and you still put up with the longest articles ever (barely over two thousand words in this one!). And an even bigger thank you to all of you for reading, commenting and encouraging me - it really means a lot! Can’t wait to see what the next year brings!

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