PIUMA Minimalist Fountain Pen 30% Off Thru Friday (Sponsor)

The PIUMA fountain pen by Los Angeles-based ENSSO is a study in functional simplicity. It is named for the Italian word for feather as a reference to the simplicity of quill pens. It’s precision-machined from solid blocks of metal including aluminum, brass, and titanium. The interchangeable nib system made by Bock in Germany screws inside the pen grip and rests a few millimeters inside to create a unibody appearance. The cap threads are wider to allow a fast opening and closing of the pen. In addition, a millimetric gap defines the connection between the cap and the pen body.

In time for the holidays, ENSSO is offering a 30% discount on the PIUMA fountain pens until December 8. For more information please visit ENSSO’s website.

My thanks to Ensso for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

DeAtramentis Benjamin Franklin Ink Review

In my formative fountain pen years, you know, like three years ago, I fell in love with DeAtramentis Benjamin Franklin ink. It’s a basic dark blue, but at a time when I had somewhere around seven inks instead of seventy, it set itself apart.

I remember writing with it and feeling like a real fountain pen user for the first time. Basic black and blue inks were boring, and I had yet to discover the oranges, pinks, and purples that I would eventually fall in love with. Benjamin Franklin had character and stood out on the page. My handwriting looked wonderful.

The ink is wet and flows wonderfully, even from a dry nib like the Pilot Prera italic nib I used for this review. It feels wet and lubricated, and flows well. The color is dark for sure, along the lines of a darker blue black ink. As you may or may not know, blue black inks make up some of my all-time favorites and daily workhorses. This one doesn’t have the black or grey you may see in other blue black inks, but the blue is deep and rich. And it even has a hint of red sheen.

As I was re-familiarizing myself with Benjamin Franklin, my first thought went to one of my current favorite inks: Montblanc JFK. Another dark blue, JFK is a shade or two lighter, shows off a touch of grey, and overall, has more character. They are close though. My next thought went to Diamine Cult Pens Deep Dark Blue, but as the name would lead you to believe, it is a deeper, darker blue than Benjamin Franklin.

I learned something new during this review as well. According to Vanness Pens, DeAtramentis Benjamin Franklin is the same ink as DeAtramentis Standard Dark Blue. Seems kind of dishonest from DeAtrementis to repackage one of their standard inks as if it were something special. Fortunately, both inks are the same price - $13 for a 35ml bottle - but it’s a strange move. I can only assume the rest of the historical lineup has the same duplication.

Regardless, this is an excellent ink at a fair price. I’ll be using this one a lot, and will try not to misplace this bottle like I did my original bottle.

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

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The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 285 - The Love Toaster

Myke and I pre-recorded last week so we had a lot to catch up on this week. We covered the latest Field Notes news, including their Abercromie & Fitch collaboration and the issues that came with it, more Tiffany Sharpie follow-up, and Myke’s attempts to get fountain pens delivered to a hotel in Las Vegas.

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Harry’s: Check out Harry’s Holiday sets!

Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code INK at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

Lovepop: Reimagining cards and how you buy them