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Hello again to all my FPN friends, We all have those combinations of pen and ink that bring us pure bliss and lift us out of the mundane world to new heights of inky euphoria. What I would love to read about is your favorite combinations, exactly why they are your favorite, and your description of the experience. It's important to explain your reasoning because everyone likes a different kind of writing experience (e.g., buttery smooth vs. slight feedback, etc.). Knowing your preferences would help other readers in discerning whether or not your favorite combinations would also be suitable for them as well. Personally, I'm looking forward to reading your responses because I selfishly want to have as many Zen pen experiences as possible. Before some smart aleck posts something like, "I only use inks that write perfectly in all my pens" or "all my pens write perfectly with all my inks," anyone who has been in this hobby long enough knows that different combinations of ink, pen, and paper create different writing experiences (or, in some cases, disasters). I'm curious to know which combinations give you the most enjoyable writing experiences. In order to narrow down the variables, let's focus on your favorite pen and ink combinations for writing on standard copy paper (70gsm or similar). Since that type of paper is available in pretty much every part of the world and is what most of us are stuck using whenever out of the house, it will allow for the most people to try the combination. Although it's fine to include the visual effects that make the writing experience lovely (color of the ink, sheen, etc.), what I'd really like to read about is the feeling when you write. After having many amazing colors that make my pens feel like writing with sandpaper or molasses, I'd like to focus on ink/pen combinations that just feel downright amazing when you right. Let me start us off with two amazing experiences I had this week: Combo 1 - Materials: Penbbs 308 with JoWo #6 1.1 Oblique Cursive Italic (ground my fpnibs.com) + Sailor Jentle Miruai Experience: I prefer ultra buttery smooth feel for quick daily writing and this combination is downright amazing. The pen is light and well balanced with some nice girth to the section, making it extremely comfortable for even my somewhat small hands. The nib isn't as forgiving as a stub, so I have to pay attention to keeping consistent pen angle and avoiding over rotation. However, when I do keep everything in alignment, this nib and ink combination feels like writing on a silken cloud. You know there is something underneath but it doesn't feel like paper....just pure smooth goodness. Combo 2 - Materials: Delike New Moon 2 F nib + Noodler's Ink Prime of the Commons (4:1 dilution with water) Experience: This combination surprised me. PotC has been too wet or too dry in many of my pens, but for some reason just flows perfectly in this pen. It's just dry enough to allow some slight shading and bring out the green component in the ink with no feathering or bleedthrough (the dilution fixes that). This writing experience is a little different from Combo 1. You feel a little bit more of the paper underneath, but it's still buttery smooth and has some added bounce (not softness or flex) when writing that is delightful. This is one of those combinations where I can write on the paper without actually having to make full nib-paper contact. Can't wait to read some of your blissful experiences!

Hello! I was just given this pen by my mother-in-law (from France) who knows I love anything vintage. I've wanted to get a MB pen for quite some time and always admired her collection. I'd love to get new ink for this so I can actually use it, but... I don't know what model it is. I even contacted MB and was told by a rep that she didn't think it could be an MB pen because they never made one like this. (I think she must be rather new there to not realize there's a lot of pens they USED to make, but do not anymore.) So on to the details: It appears to be chrome over brass (or another non-magnetic metal, possibly just solid stainless). It has three sliding switches which once you begin to slide one down, it will release whatever tip was currently selected and locked in. To just retract the tip, you select one of the other two sliders and slide it about 1/4 of the way down, and the extended tip then springs back up into the pen body. One of the selectors is a pencil, and to extend the lead, you slide the selector all the way out and hold it, which makes it protude about 1/2" and then you can rotate the pencil tip and it pushes more lead out. Then release the slider and the pencil tip just protudes from the pen body about 1/4". At the top of the pen is the MB snowcap, as part of a thumb-screw, which can be undone by hand, this removes the triangular spring clip which has the stamping "MADE IN GERMANY". Once removed, you can see the top of the retracting springs inside the pen body. There is a small brass set screw under the spring clip, but when I removed it, the mechanicals of the pen did not seem to come out easily, so I just left it be. At the top of the body is the name "MONTBLANC". No other words or numbers can be seen. It may be that the pen units are replaced by unscrewing them, but I didn't want to try this, for fear of damaging the unit. Does anyone have any knowledge of this piece? Merci Beaucoup!