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I just posted on YouTube my favorite pens of 2022.

Hi guys, I am looking at this pen with a lot of of interest. But I don’t want to pay over £30 for a pen that will break on me. Has anyone been using this for a while? Can you attest to their reliability? I want to try a vacuum filling system and these have the nicest body by far. I am particularly fond of the Sherry Acrylic. I know the nibs aren’t the best on this brand, but I would be willing to change it if it’s possible. I am getting more interested in custom grinds... Any advice/experiences? thanks 😊

Pilot Parallel italic nibs perform wonderfully in italic calligraphy applications, and they can be successfully ground, hacked, and shaped for a variety of effects. With simple shrink-wrap tubing usually used for electronic connections, the diameter of the nib unit can be expanded to fit snugly into the section of a Penbbs 456 fountain pen. This enables calligraphers to place the high-performing Pilot Parallel nib in a more elegant pen, and to add wide italic functionality — from 1.5 mm to 6 mm — to the Penbbs 456. Use scissors to create a 5-mm-long “collar” from 7-mm heat-shrink tubing. Then, use a hair dryer to shrink the tubing tightly around the Pilot nib unit. The additional diameter enables the modified nib unit to fit snugly into the Penbbs 456 section. The interior diameter of the Penbbs section is about 5 mm, and the interior diameter of the Pilot Parallel is about 4.5 mm, so the tubing needs to increase the diameter only slightly. Because heat-shrink tubing is slightly elastic, it also serves as a type of extended o-ring in this application. My first attempt, with a 10-mm-long collar that covered all of the Parallel feed’s fins, proved too difficult to insert into the Penbbs section. But 5 mm is about right. There is plenty of room within the Penbbs 456 cap for the Parallel italic nib, and the nib starts up quickly after two days of non-use. The Penbbs 456 is a vacuum filler, and it’s also still possible to vacuum ink into the barrel through the Parallel nib. These photographs display the 2.4 mm Parallel nib in a Penbbs 456 in the koi material, described in English as “tiny happiness.” The ink is Diamine marigold.

I have been travelling around France this past week with my new PenBBS 456 in my pocket and was very well satisfied with it. Prior to getting this one, my travel pen was the Wing Sung 601, also an extremely good instrument, albeit more understated. (By which I mean that it doesn't draw much attention to itself, and when you start writing, it sort of merges with your hand and becomes an imperceptible elongation of your arm; you don't really notice it anymore after a couple of seconds of writing.) Both pens have their advantages and disadvantages, which I quickly looked at in this comparison. Disclaimer: This isn't meant to be a comprehensive review of either pen; I just wanted to provide information that is usually overlooked in reviews (most of them are first impressions anyway, not being acquainted well enough with the pen to comment on points of detail) and maybe help someone decide between when they're looking for a travel FP. My main point of comparison was how they're suited for situations where you don't have much time, nerves or resources to refill or change ink a lot, and how they react to pressure changes (e.g. in an airplane, when travelling by car or train in mountainous regions, etc.). As I said, I've just returned home from a week of travelling, so the pens have just recently been subjected to practical tests regarding these questions. Dominique Paper: Rhodia N°19 Dot Pen: PenBBS 456 F Ink: Diamine Bilberry

Looks like we can hope for more colors of the PenBBS vacuum filler. One eBay seller had one "cedar" 456 for sale earlier today.

The Penbbs 456 fits into my category of amazement at things that have happened in the last decade. You can buy a computer that fits in your pocket; communicates quickly and cheaply with almost anyone on the planet; shoots and edits high-quality photos, video, and audio, and then broadcasts them. For about $100 you can host a beautiful website that communicates news, information, or rich media content; sells products; and networks people together. You can communicate with your family and friends while youre a passenger in an airplane. This is amazing. Heres another amazing thing. For $40 I can buy an elegant fountain pen in an obscure vacuum filling system, made precisely from a lovely acrylic by people who really like fountain pens, and it writes beautifully. This is what I enjoy about the Penbbs 456. The galaxy acrylic material is refined and simultaneously dramatic and understated, and actually lives up to its name. The nib is juicy and smooth, and even though fine nibs are not my favorite size, this one is so good, and places ink so precisely, that I dont want to replace it. The pens weight and proportions fit the Goldilocks criteria for my hand, not too big or too small. The build quality is impressive and thoughtful, with metal reinforcement at locations where there is a higher chance of breakage, like the end of the cap, and the intersection of the section, the barrel, the cap threads, and the vacuum seal-break position. The clip is milled, not stamped, in an elegant sword shape, in what appears to be stainless steel. The pen is $40, shipped to my home. A subtle and clever detail that shows self-understanding: the cap band is stamped SHANGHAI. Not China. There is magic, lore, legacy, and value in one of Asias most fascinating cities. Heres what I dont like: the mirror polish on the clip attracts fingerprints. The end cap that operates the vacuum filler is machined so precisely that I worry about the threads stripping. The pen is offered in only two nib sizes, fine and medium. If I want an italic nib, I have to order one from somebody else, take the risk of messing up the feed, and hope that it fits. On the other hand, I could buy a TWSBI Vac 700, choose whatever nib I want, and have it shipped to my home for about $65. With any nib other than medium or fine, its about the same price. In comparison to the Penbbs 456, the disadvantage is in the limited choice of materials and the awkward and oversize design in the Vac 700. The Vac 700 is clunky, and I can guarantee you that the material doesnt look anything like Penbbs galaxy. On the other hand, TWSBI customer service is spectacular. And for a person like me, who is fascinated by the stories behind pens, its difficult to learn more about the thoughtful people behind Penbbs. What do I know about Penbbs? It was created by fountain pen enthusiasts who operate the Chinese discussion forum equivalent of Fountain Pen Network. They also make ink, and theyre in Shanghai. Somebody named Long is important in the organization. One of their key distributors for the West, Beini Zheng, runs a fun Instagram account and really likes make-up. She owns two cats named Amber and Niangao and occasionally convinces Penbbs to name pens after the cats. And one cat ... heres the really fantastic part ... has a nib with an inscription. Amber is a cat. Its impossible for me pass on a pen in an elegant amber acrylic, named for Beini Zhengs cat. Advisory to Penbbs: keep the cats and the clever nib inscriptions, keep pushing Shanghai, and help people outside China learn more about your story. The Penbbs 456 is about the size of a Lamy Safari or Platinum Preppy, but a little heavier. Chinese poetry for a Chinese pen. The ink is Sailor nioi sumire. I dont know why, but my tablet doesnt want to insert apostrophes. Perhaps this is an eccentric quirk, like a typewriter with a lumpy lower-case j.