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This is a pen I was going to review whether I had a good or bad experience. I'm glad to report that this is a great all-round ebonite pen. The same review is up on my blog along with reviews of some other pens (if anyone is interested). Hope you enjoy reading my review! http://a63.tinypic.com/16ga5ar.jpg I have mentioned above that the design "is" inspired by Mora Stylos' Oldwin Classic. I am not sure about that. It's my guess that it is inspired by that design. I haven't been explicitly told that it is. It could very well be a coincidence that the designs are similar. I do not want to take away from the manufacturer who worked hard on designing and making the pen. http://a68.tinypic.com/34sm3gn.jpg http://a65.tinypic.com/14e7yif.jpg http://a66.tinypic.com/fthmjs.jpg This is the first pen to get 59/60, more than any of the pens I have reviewed so far and it truly deserves it. http://a67.tinypic.com/15xuwaw.jpg http://a66.tinypic.com/2z8rneq.jpg http://a65.tinypic.com/30s7nya.jpg http://a66.tinypic.com/28b6wc4.jpg http://a66.tinypic.com/2eojm74.jpg

Hi, This review has been posted in my blog at https://inkpensblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/asa-tangerine-nauka-review/ . Please check it for my other reviews. I was casually browsing ASA Pens’ catalogue at asapens.in one day and I noticed a new listing for a Nauka in tangerine acrylic. It was a bright orange version of translucent Nauka (TransNauka). It was a limited edition (only 250 pens) according to the listing and so I made an order the next day itself. I already had one in ebonite and and one in translucent clear acrylic. I loved those pens and thought it would be a nice addition to that set. Even though the website said it would take four weeks for delivery , the pen reached me in a week’s time (Subbu of ASApens told me the reason later). It came in a nice looking ASA branded wooden box as opposed to the regular bubble wrap. It was a gorgeous pen. The acrylic was bright orange and the body of the pen had a brushed finish. The golden coloured clip augmented the beauty of the pen very well. It came with a golden coloured medium Jowo nib. Okay. The pen is beautiful. But, what about writing performance ? It is one of the best nibs I have used. It is tuned very well and wrote very smoothly. It came a close second to my Lamy 2000 in the smoothness contest. The best Jowo nib I have written with. Hats of to Subbu sir if he has done some magic to this nib. I tried a few inks in this pen. J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hermatite and Private Reverse Orange Crush were the first two I tried. But, I settled with Diamine Sunset. That ink matched the pen in colour and in character. ASA Nauka has been made in various materials and has been reviewed a number of times in FPN. So, I am not going to the details of the design, filling mechanism etc. ( These are the Nauka reviews in FPN that I have seen. Sagarb's review , s_t_e_v_e's review, Pen_andy's first impressions, bobje's review of ebonite nauka, bobje's review of dartmoor nauka, mehandiratta's review of TransNauka, amk's review and the latest touzeen's review of "Dolce" Nauka) The cap finial is a big bulbus part which almost glows. I wonder how it would have looked if it was polished well instead of the brushed finish. Like a Mont Blanc Starwalker kind of finish !!! who knows.. The Tangerine Nauka is slightly bigger than the ebonite Nauka in girth and length. Actually, it is slightly longer than the clear transnauka as well. I don't know if it is by design or it is just this pen's peculiarity as all of them are handmade. Below are some comparison photos. Out of this, the ebonite Nauka continues to be the most comfortable pen to write for long sessions due to its slightly slimmer grip section. But, that does not in any way mean that the Translucent brothers are not comfortable. They are also very nice to hold and have very good balance. I have one gripe with the transNaukas. The cap threads are at the end of the section and they get exposed to ink when filling up and it gets stuck there. The ink can spread to the cap threads as well. It take a bit of effort to clean up those threads. You can see blue ink in the clear transNauka's pen threads and cap threads. When I thanked Subbu for this beautiful pen, he gave me another pleasant surprise. My Tangerine Nauka is the first one in the limited release set. So, it is 1/250. I wish if the serial number was stamped in the pen as well. That was the reason for the fast delivery as well. Overall, it is a very nice pen in all aspects and I carry it everyday along with my other Naukas in my backpack.

ASA TranNauka - JoWo 1.1 Nib The review is simultaneously posted on my blog here : Link The pen I am about to review has sold in huge nos. and probably one of the best-selling pen of ASA. There was a time when I was after Mr. Subramaniam to make a demonstrator pen with screw in nib units from JoWo/Schmidt but somehow he was not able to procure the good material which could withstand the threading to be done for those units and then we gave up. Then one fine day he informed me that he had procured a new material and will be launching an already successful Nauka in the demonstrator version (which was named TransNauka) and I was too excited for the pen and I told Mr. Subramaniam it would sell in huge nos. and therefore I convinced him that we should do a group buy for the same on FPN (TransNauka Group Buy) and believe me, it was immensely successful. ASA TranNauka – In love with Rains The group buy was so successful that he had to stop taking orders on his website for a fortnight even after the Group Buy was closed because of his limited production capability. I have already reviewed a few pens from ASA as below: ASA Rainbow : LINK ASA Viraat : LINK (Absolutely love this fat pen) ASA Spear : LINK ASA Porus : LINK ASA Patriot : LINK ASA I-Can : LINK ASA Galactic : LINK It’s been three months since I have got this TransNauka and further below is my effort to do a detailed review of the pen. Design : 4.5/05 There is an old age saying: “Beauty lies in the eye of beholder” And to my eyes, this pen is the just pure aesthetic pleasure. It’s a beauty. TransNauka inspires awe when it is inked and I believe it one-ups the already existing Nauka. It’s simple, classic, sublime and is on the lines of Bauhaus Design movement which is a unification of art, craft, and technology. The design of Nauka was inspired by famousMORA STYLOS OLDWIN CLASSIC and in fact, one of the fellow fountain pen connoisseur Prithwijit was the force behind the development of Nauka. ASA TransNauka – Uncapped The pen without cap looks like it’s just one piece as the grip section merges with the barrel in such a form that there is no step down which is generally prevalent in many pens. The pen gradually tapers towards the bottom to an almost pointed end. Similarly, the pen tapers towards the grip section till it meets the threads at the top which holds the cap. ASA TransNauka – Comparative pic when pen uncapped and capped The pen comes only in the brushed matte finish and personally prefer the brushed version better than the polished version as the polished version tends to develop micro abrasions and smudges and also looses shine over the period of time. The cap of the pen unlike the bottom of the barrel is not torpedoed shape at the top rather it is like a hemispherical dome. The pen I bought comes with chrome finish ball-end clip and it also comes sans the clip. The cap is almost 3/4th the size of pen making it a very large pen. ASA TransNauka – Cap and Barrel ASA TransNauka – Cap is 3/4th of Pen when uncapped I found the pen very minimalist with no branding. One thing I believe can be improved is to reduce the gap between the cap finial and nib unit when the pen is closed. The pen is beautiful and is bang for the buck at the price and yeah this beauty is handmade. Built & Construction : 04/05 One look at the pen and you won’t actually believe that this pen completely hand-turned. It’s almost perfectly shaped and finished from the exterior. ASA TransNauka – Lovely Finish One thing I found that as much as the exterior is well finished and shaped, the interior of the barrel was not paid much attention. There are certain undulations in interior (1 or 2 places) of the barrel which result in the formation of O-rings like shape inside the barrel with ink. I received two pens, matte brushed finish and the clear polished one. The clear polished one was all over the places with regards to finish and thus it was not launched officially. This brushed finish is superb barring one area with regards to barrel interior area. The brushed finish is also better because of the fact that it hides the lathe marks and also is not smudge-prone. The quality of material used is quite good but is brittle in nature and thus one has to be careful with regards to handling (against falls). The acrylic used is the hard non-modified PMMA and apt thickness of the material are used in pen and is quite better compared to ones used in TWSBI. ASA TransNauka – Cap View showing material thickness and finish ASA TransNauka – Material thickness in Barrel and Grip Section The pen is quality finished one which needs to be handled carefully and if proper care is taken it will last you ages. I love my TranNauka but I care for every pen that I own. If you are the one who keeps throwing his/her pen here and there then I suggest you go for the ebonite version. Balance & Size : 04/05 The cap of the pen doesn’t post securely and that’s because of the design. But.. But… But… the pen is so big even uncapped @ 135 mm that there is no need for posting. The pen is little heavy towards the nib and I believe this could have been countered by providing solid crystal end at bottom of barrel. Nevertheless, this was no issue for me, it’s a minute difference and some of you won’t even notice. ASA TransNauka – Writing with it – Unposted and Posted Initially, I had trouble adapting to the grip of the pen because of gradual slope of grip section from barrel to top of nib unit but now that I am using the pen since 3 months I have gotten used to it. The grip might also be fat for some because of the design and might not be so good for people with small hands. Now for me, it was okay because I prefer big pens with good girth. The pen is big yet light in weight but one thing I noticed is that when uncapped it is lighter than Ranga Bamboo Demonstrator but almost 4 gms heavier when capped and both are equal in length when uncapped but when capped the TransNauka is larger of the two. ASA TransNauka – Weight – Capped and Uncapped Few specification of the pen are as follows: Length of pen (closed) – 160 mmLength of pen (open and unposted) – 135 mm (including nib)Length of pen (open and posted) – 176 mmLength of Cap – 78 mmMaximum Dia of Cap – 21 mmMaximum Dia of Barrel – 14 mmDia of Barrel ( Near Barrel Bottom) – 8 mmMaximum Dia of Grip Section – 13.5 mmMinimum Dia of Grip Section – 11 mmWeight of Pen with Cap – 27.9 gms (inked)Weight of Pen without Cap – 17.13 gms (inked) Below are the pictures of the pen in comparison with others : ASA TransNauka vs Pilot Custom 823 vs ASA Patriot vs Lamy Safari – Capped ASA TransNauka vs Pilot Custom 823 vs ASA Patriot vs Lamy Safari – Uncapped As clear from above pics its a bit fat compared to others. Nib : 3.5/05 The pen can be bought in a variety of #6 sized nib options from JoWo or Schmidt and in various point widths. The one I have here is JoWo Steel 1.1 Stub nib in Black Oxide finish. ASA TranNauka - Nib Shot in Rain The nib is a screw in nib unit and easily replaceable. The nib that I got was a lemon and was scratchy out of the box. I had to tune it and now it performs the way I want. ASA TransNauka – JoW0 1.1 Nib in Black Oxide Finish ASA Nauka vs Pilot Custom 823 vs ASA Patriot vs Lamy Safari – Nib Comparison Advice to people if you are buying the pen from ASA do avail the option of pen/nib testing this might delay the pen delivery but pen and nib will be checked for writing before dispatch and yeah there are no extra charges for that. Ink Filling Mechanism: 05/05 It can take international long or shot cartridges, international converter and can be used as an ED also. The pen looks best when eye dropper-ed and I applied silicone grease to the threads before using it as ED pen. ASA TransNauka – Using as an ED Pen Ink capacity as an eye dropper is 4 ml and will vary with every pen as it is handmade one. Below are the images of handwritten review of the pen sample writing: ASA TransNauka – Handwritten Review – Page 1 ASA TransNauka – Handwritten Review – Page 2 ASA TransNauka – Handwritten Review – Page 3 ASA TransNauka – Handwritten Review – Page 4 Conclusion : 21/25 The pen was bought at group buy price of Rs. 2200 and it was a steal at that price. And now the prices have increased yet it is a value for money option. Beautiful pen but I won’t recommend this to people with small hands. What I Like: Beautiful Design Handmade Quality Finish- Exterior Good Balance and Size Good Ink Capacity Well PricedWhat I don’t Like: Internal Barrel Finish Poor OTB Nib How to Buy: The pen was bought via group buy on FPN and there will be another group buy in near future for the same. Simultaneously who don’t like waiting for group buys can buy directly from ASA website : LINK. And the last I checked it's available on pre-order only with waiting for 4 weeks. For more reviews you can check my blog here : LINK

Does anyone know how to contact ASA pens for replacement parts. I managed to break the section on my ASA Translucent Acrylic Nauka Fountain Pen and would like a replacement. I am more than happy to pay for it. I have been in touch through the contact link on the site, but have had no response. Any help is appreciated. http://asapens.in/eshop/fountain-pen

Introduction: I was just casually browsing for some pens and landed down on the ASA TransNauka (this was in between my studies for my math exam). But then on FPN I saw a review of some Tangerine Nauka and had no idea what it was. I read it and then I was hooked. I am a professional artist (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw_cp6tNIvk you are welcomed to check my video of drawing a minion) and while I work with many colors, very few give that spark- black, white, blue, grey, red and orange. This was an orange pen. The glow of that material struck me. So, the ASA Tangerine Nauka is a limited-edition fountain pen (mine was #37) handmade in Chennai, India by Mr. Lakshminarayan Subramanium. Probably handmade is not the word, handcrafted is the one. The pen came in a handmade wooden box with ASA branding. Inside was a red velvet pen sleeve and of course the pen. Unfortunately one side of the box wasn't pasted quite properly so it came off during shipping. It was quite an easy fix but what I liked was that Mr Subramanium offered to ship another box as a replacement free of charge to me. Seriously, give this guy a medal or something. I love the customer service provided by him. I contacted him over Whatsapp and he responded to every silly message of mine promptly. Construction, Profile and Appearance (9/10): The profile is quite reminiscent of a boat (Nauka means boat in Hindi). It is an oversize pen which looks beautiful. The nib and clip are both gold plated but both had some small noticeable scratches, which is why I cut a point. But the construction is quite near perfect for me. The matted surface is expertly done and overall the build quality is great. The Texture in a macro shot Filling System (10/10): My favorite filling system is a converter because it is so reliable and has less maintenance than other systems. The ease of filling and convenience cant be beaten. While this is a 3-in-1 system, which means a cartridge, the included converter or eyedropping will work for this pen. I would love to use it in eyedropper mode. The nib (9.5/10): The heart of the pen is a #6 gold plated Jowo nib in medium. The nib looks quite standard with some basic scroll work and has the words Iridium Point Germany on it. The nib had some scratches on it. The nib is quite smooth on good paper with some feedback which I will smoothen out and the flow is perfect. The nib is a nice match for the big pen but I think a chrome nib would look fantastic on it. A writing sample with Camlin Scarlet Red ink. Price and Ease of Ordering (10/10): The price of this pen is worth each and every penny. I bought it at a 10% discount and the whole process was a long but a most cherishable one. Conclusion: This pen has become my favorite along with my late TWSBI Eco and is a serious contender in the below 100 dollars range. I can recommend this to anyone who wants a quality handmade fountain pen. Go give it a try guys. I had to edit this. I was just touched by the respect Mr Subramanium gives his customers. I am almost 15 and he, throughout the whole process addressed me as 'sir' even after my refusal and acknowledgment of the same. Thanks for reading this review and I am Adit Sreesh Kamath now signing off..

Hello All... I am back and this time with a new group buy ... and this time the pen is limited to 250 nos. And the pen is ASA TransNauka Tangerine ... comes with the clip and without clip... The pen is priced at Rs. 2900 for shipping within India and US $85 for shipping outside India... For buying this pen kindly use the link below: http://asapens.in/eshop/asa-tangerine-translucent-nauka-acrylic-fountain-pen-india-online Use code : TANG10 for the group buy discount Kindly hurry before it goes out of stock... The shipping period is 4 - 6 weeks after order... Request to all members to kindly reply in thread after registering/making payment for the group buy here...

In 2015 when the Lamy Al Star was released in the amazing Copper Orange color it created such a buzz and made everyone want to own An Orange Pen. I did get the pen as soon as it was released and loved it but that just made the Orange Craving worse. In the hunt for more Orange Pens,I bought a Parker Duofold Centennial but it just didn't seem "fun" and casual enough to be enjoyed. So I ordered a couple of Blanks of Orange Crush from ExoticBlanks.com and handed them over to Mr. Subramaniam of A.S.A Pens in Chennai,India. Having used many A.S.A Pens over the past 3 years I knew I could trust A.S.A Pens with good craftsmanship and service.The Iconic model from A.S.A Pens,the Nauka,had been my daily driver for almost 6 months and I was positive about getting a Nauka made in the Crushed Orange acrylic. An impatient wait of 2 months later, I received my A.S.A "Dolce" Nauka. This pen has been review and loved many times on this Forum so I will not go into the microscopic details.If you would like you can check put the "up to the millimeter" details provided brilliantly by Mr. Sagar here:https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/300214-asa-nauka-review-of-a-classic/ I hope to share my first impressions of a beloved pen in a mesmerizing material done with almost perfect craftsmanship. I have always found the Nauka to be comfortable for my grip over extended use. I have owned the TransNauka for almost a year now and it regularly enters my pen rotation. Much has been said about the French "Influence" over the model,its unique cap threads and streamlined design so I will let some pictures do the talking. Also I find the material gives the pen a breath of fresh air. The pen has been constructed with very tight tolerances,comparable to my Edison Nouveau Water Lily (a.k.a Unicorn Barf). There are no rough patches,lathe marks,cross threading issues or gaps. I cannot comment on the the ease of working with the material from ExoticBlanks but visually it is Flawless. Maybe Mr. Subramaniam can comment on the ease of work ability with it. A few comparissons with other pens. Left to Right: Omas Ogiva Alba, A.S.A TransNauka, A.S.A "Dolce" Nauka, Edison Nouveau Water Lily. I went for a JoWo Steel Dual toned Medium nib which allows me to use the pen in all occasions from work to personal. Out of the box the pen wrote with a smooth wet line. A.S.A Pens also provides the full range of JoWo nibs in all their tip sizes. The pen can be used with either a Cartridge,Converter or as an Eye Dropper. I have been using it as a C/C but might try out a dark ink to see if it brings out more contrast in the barrel. The little things:This pen is a compliment monster. Expect at least one every time you use it.The material is oh so gorgeous.I would say the same as on the Delta Dolce Vita and Aurora Sole pens.The problem of unscrewing the barrel while the section is still threaded to the cap has never happened to me.I practiced holding the pen right under the clip,effectively holding the section,while unscrewing on my older TransNauka.Due to huge demand the Turn over of A.S.A pens is inconsistent but the communication was clear and The Clip on most Indian pens has a tripod at the point of contact with the cap/fabric.This needs to change.Surprisingly there is no branding on the pen.I do not know if it was intentional or missed.Anyway it is not missed.The dual toned Jowo nibs are really good looking.When I started out to write this review it was more of a showcase for the material and craftmanship of A.S.A Pens rather than Utility. But the more time I spend with this pen I have come to know that any pen cannot be Utilised to its full potential with amazing material and Craftmanship and in the respect A.S.A Pens has far exceeded my expectations as this is the only pen I want to carry with me!

I just received a custom Nauka and am intetested in a single pen case for it. The pen is huge, 163 mm in length. Would greatly appreciate any suggestions for a single pen case or other alternatives. In production or someone who could custom make one. Preferably leather so I could take it with me, but open to other ideas.

ASA Nauka in blue and red ebonite Can a humble pen offer a homily in human imperfection? This is one of the questions that the ASA Nauka, turned by a penmaker in Chennai, India, makes me want to answer. Lakshminarayanan Subramaniam runs ASA Pens, an online and bricks-and-mortar retailer offering multiple pen brands and at least 16 models specific to ASA. It is difficult to type the 16 letters of his first name, and even tougher to pronounce, so well take his lead and just go with L. In 2015, Subramaniam began collaborating with Joshua Lax, president of the Big Apple Pen Club in New York, to create a pen based on the Sheaffer Crest of the 1930s, and the Oldwin Classic of 2002, created by André Mora for the Paris company Mora Stylos. The Nauka positions the cap threads next to the nib and then gracefully sweeps, unbroken, to the end of the barrel. The Naukas huge cap looks like the stub of a cigar. Nauka means boat in Hindi and Bengali, and I think the name refers to the sweeping sheer line of nautical architecture. Uncapped, its about the size of a Montblanc 149. The development of the Nauka is equally as interesting as its conception, because it relied on a prolific group of Indian pen enthusiasts who worked together to design, prototype, and market the pens first round of manufacturing. Im not all that interested in the minutiae of dimensions, but elegant photographs in a review by FPN contributor Sagar Bhowmick display them all. I ordered a couple of Naukas, including one in a mottled Indian blue-red ebonite and another in a tasteful Conway Stewart acrylic material called Dartmoor. I had hoped the Nauka in Dartmoor would be gorgeous, and a joy to write with, and it is both. But what is remarkable is that the pen I have the most fun with is the humble, eyedropper-filled, ebonite model. This results partly from a gigantic 40-millimeter nib by Ambitious, an Indian company, with a black ebonite feed that supplies ink in reliably generous quantities. Whenever I write with it, at whatever direction or speed, however long its been sitting on my desk, the Nauka's medium nib -- more of a broad, really -- lays down a wet, glistening line of ink. The nib and feed introduce what is most interesting about the ebonite Nauka. The slits that form the fins of the feed, for example, are irregular in length. Maybe theyre hand-cut, maybe theyre not, but theyre definitely not uniform. The gold-colored nib is imprinted with the words IRIDIUM POINT, wrapped around a circle. The letters are a little eccentric. I dont know, maybe there were too many letters to wrap properly around the circle. Maybe the Ambitious nib designers ran out of energy and were rushing to make a deadline. And nothing about the rest of the pen is uniform, either, because this is a hand-made pen, made by a human being on a lathe. There arent all that many Naukas out there Im guessing 500 at the most -- but this eyedropper is different from all the rest. Mine is clipless, and I found a bronze ring in the shape of a lotus, the national flower of India, to serve as a rollstopper. If you squint, you can see imperfections in the ebonite, little dark spots about the size of an opening left by a pin. If you use a macro lens to shoot photographs of the barrel, you see marks left by the tools that created the pen. I can see one tiny nick in the cap, exactly parallel to the cap opening, and when I see that nick I can hear a curse from the lathe operator who realizes the need to spend more time to smooth that out. He Im guessing the operator is a he either smoothed out as much as he could without creating an even bigger divot in the surface, or finally said, screw it, this looks good already. Many of the lathes that turn ebonite pens in India are still foot-pedal operated, and I dont know whether ASA lathes are driven by motors or feet. But I know the humans operating those lathes had a lot more on their minds than a 1-millimeter-long tool mark. In a wonderfully hopeful turn of phrase, the FPN contributor "sandburger" wrote that Indian ebonite is like wood, gloriously inconsistent, with the power to surprise and delight. I agree completely. There is much literature on the subject of human imperfection. Robert Browning wrote a poem called Old Pictures in Florence that, among other things, talks about lesser-known artists and how they contribute to the work of greater artists. The New York-based psychiatrist Dr. Janet Jeppson Asimov, widow of the science fiction author and biochemist Isaac Asimov, wrote an essay this year for The Humanist called In Praise of Imperfection. She writes that the imperfections of human brains actually improve the way we function. We learn more from mistakes than we do from successes. When I was in university I had the good fortune to spend a few days in Venice, and one afternoon I was admiring the irregular lines of a gondola along a bridge where gondoliers were taking a break. The gondola, as you probably know, is an asymmetrical boat, because the single oar sticks out on the starboard side. The port side needs to be longer so the boat doesnt turn left all the time. And the gondola is heavier at the bow than at the stern, to account for the weight of the gondolier. If you look long enough at the polished black sides of a gondola, you see undulations and imperfections. As I was staring at one of these gondolas, hypnotized by the play of light and water on the shiny surface of the wood, I told a gondolier that it was beautiful. He responded that it was beautiful because in it you see the hand of the human being who made it. This review originally appeared on Giovanni Abrate's website, newpentrace.

Hello! I would like to exchange the JoWo nib unit on my ASA Nauka with another different JoWo nib unit (of the same size), but I have been neither able to unscrew it from the pen section nor pull out the nib & feed from it. Please, does anyone know whether it's possible or not? And, if possible, how should I do it? I understand that JoWo units are screwed on the pen section, so I have tried to unscrew it... but I have exerted quite a force without it moving any millimetre! It seems to be glued or "fused" to the section... Thank you!