French Paper:
Well, I finally discovered Rhodia pads, and they are quite nice. I
would say they are equivalent to Clairefontaine, which I like very
much. Both papers are a great neutral white. The lines are subtle,
and the paper itself is perfect for fountain pen ink. Which is my
seque into the next topic.
German Ink:
When you think about it, the Germans are responsible for a large
share of the fountain pen business, and that includes their inks,
which are generally excellent.
I have a penchant for the non-globalized underdog, so I was really
pleased to discover Jansen ink a few years ago, and have always tried
to promote it.
A couple of months ago, I went to fill an expensive pen with my
favorite Jansen ink, Aubergine. It didn't fill. I withdrew the pen
from the nearly-full 50ml bottle and was shocked to see a huge,
amorphous clump of something indescribably gross clinging to the nib.
I wrote about six letters to Jansen, at all their various snail and
electronic addresses. Never received a response. Finally, I sent the
bottle by registered airmail to Germany (from Italy).
Still no response.
Eventually, after around two months, I called them, and spoke with
Mrs. Jansen, while Mr. Jansen snapped at her in German in the
background. All I wanted was a new 50ml bottle of Aubergine. In my
follow up letter, I suggested that if they wanted to be really nice,
they would let me sample a small bottle of something else, as a
compensation for the $8 postage, long distance call, the
inconvenience, annoyance, long wait, etc.
Well, today the ink arrived. They sent me two of their small bottles.
Ok. I won't make an issue of Jansen being a cheapskate. Honestly, I
think most people would have trashed the ink and then trashed the
company. I really wanted to show them the ink for their benefit. I
think it was kind of rude never to respond, and then kind of cheap to
send me two tiny little bottles, which basically equals the one I
sent in. The end result was that it made me appreciate Terry Johnson
of Private Reserve:
American Customer Service:
I bought some PR Sherwood Green in NY a couple of years ago. Last
year, I opened my last bottle, and had the same experience set forth
above. I guess some call it SITB. I call it the Loch Ness Monster in
a bottle.
I contacted PR and received an immediate response. No, not necessary
to send the ink. I'll send you a new one, and another color of your
choice.
All of this in a matter of days. And, Lo and Behold, after a week,
the package was in my hands, and there were three bottles in the box,
because I explained to him that in Israel it is (or was) virtually
impossible to get PR ink. THAT's customer service. As I look at my
various inks, I see a general tendency to use PR, without any
connection to the service . It's just great ink.
Now that they've come out with Chocolat and Purple Mojo - the two
basic colors that were missing from the lineup - I don't have too
much incentive to look elsewhere. The only non-PR inks I use with
regularity are Penman Emerald, Sheaffer Burgundy, Omas Roma 2000 (all
discontinued) and Noodler Widowmaker. In the browns, I use Noodler
Beaver and Brown and Waterman Havana, with an occasional dip into
Penman Mocha, but now that Chocolat is here, I have a feeling the
others are going to take second place.
I'm not crazy about PR's bottles. But that's what empty Montblanc
bottles are for, right?
Eric D. Zamir-Zimmerman via Gianbattista Barbiani 16 48100 Ravenna Italy +39 0544 30076 Cell: +39 348 259 3955 AIM - ericzamzim MSN - ericzamir YAHOO - ericzamir SKYPE - ericzamir
