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I have been using Noodlers Baltimore Canyon blue for a couple of weeks now and really like it. This is a very saturated and strong blue similar to Monteverde Horizon Blue, Diamine Blue Velvet, Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue and the like. In fact it is not that far from the vibrancy of Baystate Blue! It is fairly well behaved, without much feathering or bleed through, but does suffer from the occasional hard start. Noodlers claims that it is waterproof, sheening, archival and permanent. In my tests it is very waterproof but I did not detect any sheening. Who knows how Noodlers tests to make the claims of archival and permanent? If these two characteristics are very important to you I would probably recommend Montblanc Permanent Blue which has been tested to meet ISO standards. I chose a Lamy Safari with a Broad nib for the main body of this review. The names of the comparable inks were written with a glass dip pen. The swabs in the scans show a much larger difference between the color and saturation of Baltimore Canyon and Baystate Blue. Here is a photo closeup that is more accurate to the swabs.

I love the color blue, and I love writing with blue ink. Of the 8-13 pens that I have inked at any given time, at least half will be inked with a blue ink. Currently, I have about 30 different bottles of blue ink. There are scores of great reviews and comparisons of blue inks on FPN. Why another? Mainly because I felt like sharing this, but also to perhaps spark some interest in sharing your blue inks. Of the blues shown below, all but the Akkerman ink, I have a bottle of. Well, not quite, I just finished the bottle of Monteverde Caribbean Blue. These are not necessarily my favorite blues, but they are all very good inks. Qualities each of these inks share: All are medium to wet inks - Akkerman Cerulean Blue is the driest and J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche is the wettest All have some lubrication - Monteverde Horizon Blue seems to be the most lubricated and Akkerman Cerulean Blue seems to be the least All are well behaved in the several pens I have used them in. All are easy to clean. All are well behaved all on but the cheapest paper with no bleedthrough and minimal seethrough. Each of the colors are very pleasing to the eye. There is no offensive smell/odor (which I seem to be particularly sensitive to) Here is a quick comparison of several very nice blue inks: Monteverde Sapphire Blue (MSB), Monteverde Malibu Blue (MMB), Monteverde Horizon Blue (MHB), Monteverde Caribbean Blue (MCB), Akkermans Dutch Masters 01 Cerulean Blauw (ACB), Stipula Calamo Deep Blue (SCDB), J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche (JHBP) All samples are written on 68 GSM Tomoe River Cream Paper. The following is a scan, with photos thereafter. In terms of shading qualities, I find that Monteverde Caribbean Blue shades the most. J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche and Stipula Calamo Deep Blue also shade nicely. Of the Monteverde inks, Horizon Blue seems to shade the best. In terms of sheening qualities, Monteverde Malibu Blue wins. Of the Monteverde inks except Caribbean Blue show some sheen, along with Stipula Calamo Deep Blue. 1st line: Monteverde Sapphire Blue 2nd line: Monteverde Malibu Blue 3rd line: Akkerman Cerulean Blue 4th line: Stipula Calamo Deep Blue 5th line: Monteverde Horizon Blue 6th line: Monteverde Caribbean Blue 7th line: J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche So, share with me, both in photos and writing, what some of your favorite blues are.