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Members: Product Reviewed: Mont Blanc Permanent Blue – safety This is the second post detailing my experiences with the 8 types of permanent inkI have used with my pen collection over 2 years.The inkreviewed in this piece will be Mont Blanc Permanent Blue and the focus will be on fountain pen safety. The performance of this ink has been extensively reviewed since its introduction in 2013. Briefly, I have found that it conforms to ISO 12757-2 superbly. It IS waterproof, light fast and outer chemical resistant (have tried to erase lines of text with both alcohol and bleach to no avail). Montblanc Permanent Blue flows evenly, dries in reasonable time and exhibits no bleed-through or feathering when used on good paper. Examples of the latter include Cranes Crest 100% Cotton and Classic 100% Cotton. The color is what I would call quietly professional. It does not scream off the page like Private Reserve’s Lake Placid Blue but it conveys a sense of understated elegance suitable for a law, medical or government office. For Canadians, it is now VERY expensive (the Canadian dollar has sunk will the price of oil – och!). Until recently I would have given this product a high recommendation with the caveat that you MUST regularly clean your pen. However, an incident occurred which has shaken my faith in this product and has resulted in my not using it in any of my more expensive pens (e.g. Montblanc, Pelikan, Pilot, St Dupont, Dunhill). For approximately 1 year I used the Permanent Blue almost exclusively in the crown jewel of my collection, the Mont Blanc 147 Diplomat (about 15 years old). During this time it worked perfectly and I was happy with the product. However, with no warning, my 147 stopped writing. Just a reminder, replacement cost for this pen is approximately $1200 CAD so saying I was in a panic is a gross understatement. I know what you are going to say – “you did not maintain this pen correctly”. Let me explain in more detail. My friends have long written me off as a fountain pen fanatic and general weirdo when it comes to ink and paper. After all, what normal person would pay $100 CAD for a 500 page ream of Cranes Crest 100% cotton paper? Further proof of this “disease” (in their eyes) is my obsessive approach to pen cleaning. Specifically, every time I refill a fountain pen the following cleaning ritual is followed: 5 to 10 flushes with water, followed by 5 to 10 flushes with J.B.’s Perfect Pen Flush and final flushing with water until clear. I am seriously considering getting a supply of distilledwater to avoid possible lime scale contamination (eye rolling from my friends here) in my tap water. I also am constantly changing my pens to make sure that they are used on a regular basis. You get the picture – an obsessive who spends time and money to keep his pens clean.This is especially true of the 147 Diplomat. Given this routine it was my belief that the danger associated permanent inks would not be a problem especially if I used a Montblanc ink in a Montblanc pen. As stated above, two months ago I started having problems. Specifically, the 147 would stop writing with no warning. When this happened the first time I used my cleaning routine and adding more flushes with the trusty J.B.’s Perfect Pens Flush. Every time this was repeated it seemed to work at first but then the pen stopped writing. I failed to take into account the large of amount of “reserve” associated with the 147’s large nib. My cleaning routine, which had never failed before, was repeated SEVEN times with no apparent effect. I was beginning to panic when I read about the use of warm distilled water with soap as a cleaning approach. So I repeated my approach, but this time, as a last step, left my 147 soaking in soapy water for 24 hours. In the morning the water was discolored Permanent Blue giving the impression of a burst pipe. On closer inspection several small scaleswere resting on the bottom of the glass. Needless to say I was surprised and relieved. After a further thorough cleaning I reloaded my pen with Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue. I have had no further problems. CONCLUSION: I was shocked by the fact that, despite excellent care (in my opinion), a superb pen could develop a blockage from an ink manufactured by the same company. A friend noted that with all the cleanings, the scales could have been “loosened” and thus vulnerable to the reduced surface tension effect of the soap and water. I will have to do more investigation on this surface tension theory. This incident has shaken my confidence in the Montblanc Permanent Blue and Black products and I have restricted their use to the cheaper, throw away pens in my collection (e.g. Lamy, Rotring Art Pens). It is now my feeling that over long use, DESPITE proper cleaning procedures, this ink can still badly clog your pen.