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Ink Review : Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz --- Ink of the Year 2017 --- In 2011 Pelikan introduced the Edelstein series of high-end inks, available in a variety of colours. The theme of the Edelstein concept is the gemstone – each ink corresponds to the beautiful colour of a gem. The Edelstein line of inks is presented in 50 ml high-value bottles, that are truly beautiful, and worthy of a place on your desk. In this review I take a closer look at Smoky Quartz, the Edelstein Ink of the Year 2017. This is a limited edition ink, that could be gone in the near future, although it’s not unheard of for Pelikan to change its mind. In any case, with 2017 slipping past, I thought it appropriate to further examine this ink. Smoky Quartz is a warm brown ink, that spans a broad palette, ranging from very light (the smoky part) to almost black-brown. It is a rather complex mix, with some orange and grey-green undertones, as evident from the chromatography. The result is a very fine writing ink, that can handle all nib ranges without a problem. In finer nibs, the ink is more of a light brown, but the broader/wetter your pen, the more the darker brown appearance of the ink comes into the picture. Combine this with some nice shading, and you get an ink that’s worthy of your attention. To show you the impact of saturation on the ink’s look & feel on paper, I made some scribbles where I really saturated portions of the paper with ink. This gives you a good idea of what the ink is capable of in terms of colour range. When fully saturated, Smoky Quartz becomes a very dark – almost black – brown. Technically, the ink behaved perfectly, with good flow and saturation, and a good contrast with the paper even in the finer nibs. With broader nibs there is some really nice shading that enhances your writing. Overall a pleasurable ink to write with. Drying times are quite reasonable in the 10 second range with M-nibs. Smoky Quartz copes well with a wide variety of paper – and can even tolerate the crappy ones. Only on Moleskine, the ink looks quite ugly, and has noticeable feathering and bleed-through. On other papers the ink behaved impeccably, looking good on both white and more yellowish paper. Surprisingly, Smoky Quartz is a very water-resistant ink (see water test at end of review). With the droplet test - where I drip water on the paper, and keep it there for 15 minutes – readability remained excellent, with only some minor smudging of the text. With running tap water, a perfectly readable green-gray image of your writing remains, even after a 30-second exposure. Respect! This certainly is an ink you can use in the workplace. Inkxperiment -Eerie Woods When using Smoky Quartz for drawing, you can get some interesting results – owing to the orange & green-grey undertones in the ink. In the drawing I used 90 gsm sketch paper, that I completely soaked in water. I then spread a line of Smoky Quartz with a brush, and added some accents with a glass pen dipped in bleach, defining the trees. Final touches around the trees were made by dipping the still wet paper with a Q-tip cotton swab with a tiny bit of Smoky Quartz on the tip. Conclusion For me, Edelstein Smoky Quartz is one of the best Inks of the Year that Pelikan ever released. It’s a warm brown ink with a broad tonal range, that not only looks nice, but is also very water resistant. This makes it a fine ink for use in the workplace. If you like brown inks, and haven’t gotten a bottle of this ink yet – now is the time. Highly recommended! my overall score: A+ Technical test results on Rhodia N°16 notepad paper with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types

Noticed an announcement in the Marketplace section of FPN for the new Pelikan M200 Smoky Quartz, available for pre-order and due to ship in August. Nice looking, dark brown translucent pen, darker than the amber one from awhile back. What do you think? I'm not sure I will pre-order it, but I will definitely buy one. Loving the ink too, which kind of surprised me, being a fan of Brilliant Brown.

Ink Shoot-Out : Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz vs J. Herbin Lie de Thé Last year, Pelikan pleasantly surprised me with its Ink of the Year 2017 - Smoky Quartz, and I've been really enjoying this smoky brown liquid. Fellow member Jan2016 then suggested that J. Herbin Lie de Thé is a very similar ink. That of course peaked my interest... so I got me a bottle of Lie de Thé and decided to pitch both inks against each other. Time to do a detailed comparison, and find out which of these is the better ink. Enter... the Ink Shoot-Out. A brutal fight spanning five rounds, where truly formidable inks do battle to determine who is the winner. And this time it's really a battle of giants! In the left corner - the new star from Hanover and Prussian heavyweight : Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz. In the right corner, the crown jewel of Paris and offspring from a long line of giants : J. Herbin Lie de Thé. The boxing hall is packed to the roof, the crowds are cheering! Let the fight begin and may the best ink win... Round 1 First Impressions These are indeed heavyweights with a firm impression on the paper. Both inks leave a well-saturated line with excellent contrast to the page when used with my Lamy Safari M-nib on Rhodia N°16 notepad paper. Both inks also show subtle shading, without too much contrast between the light and darker parts, which I find aesthetically pleasing. The inks look quite similar, but there are some differences: Lie de Thé is a lighter brown, with more yellow undertones. This also shows in the chromatography of the inks. This lighter nature of Lie de Thé is most obvious in swatches, less so in written text.Lie de Thé lays down a wetter line. Smoky Quartz in contrast is a drier ink, but a really well lubricated one. With broader nibs, e.g. with the scribbles made with a 1.5 mm calligraphy nib, Smoky Quartz shows a bit more character, with a more pleasing appearance.Both inks make a great first impression. But when they climbed into the ring, the German champion radiated more confidence. I prefer its slightly darker hue, and the fact that it shows more character with the calligraphy nib. These inks are well matched, but for this round Smoky Quartz gets a small advantage from the judge. The chromatography clearly shows that both inks have lots in common. They have a really similar composition, with only a touch more yellow in the French ink's mix of dyes. Round 2 Writing Sample The writing sample was done on Rhodia N°16 Notepad with 80 gsm paper. Both inks behaved flawlessly, with no feathering and no show-through or bleed-through. With the EF nib, the darker complexion of Smoky Quartz comes into play, resulting in more contrast-rich writing. I also noticed that Smoky Quartz leaves a crisper line on the page, especially when using broader nibs. My guess is that this is due to the really pronounced initial wetness of Lie de Thé, which results in a slightly less well-defined line. Colourwise both inks look similar in writing, although there is definitely more of a yellow undertone in the J. Herbin ink. Both inks also shade nicely, without too much contrast between light and dark parts. This aesthetically pleasing shading gives more character to your writing. For this round, the focus is on writing, and here Smoky Quartz got a slight advantage. It works better with EF nibs, and also shows a crisper line. Not much of an advantage, but enough to result in a win on points. Round 3 Pen on Paper This round allows the batlling inks to show how they behave on a range of fine writing papers. From top to bottom, we have : FantasticPaper, Life Noble, Tomoe River and Original Crown Mill cotton paper. All scribbling and writing was done with a Lamy Safari M-nib. Both champions did well, with no show-through nor bleed-through. But this round is not about technicalities, it is about aesthetics and beauty. Are the fighters able to make the paper shine ? One thing is immediately apparent: these inks are at home on a wide range of papers, both white and off-white ones. On more absorbent paper like Fantasticpaper (top), the inks look really similar. With Tomoe River - definitely a non-absorbent paper - Lie de Thé shows its lighter nature. But it also lays down a less crisp line, making it look less interesting and losing some of its beauty. Both inks are on par with each other, but Smoky Quartz has a slight advantage in the looks department - it shows a more consistent look across the range of papers. For this round, victory is granted to Smoky Quartz. Not a knock-out, but definitely a win on points. Round 4 Ink Properties These inks are not fast-drying, requiring 20-25 seconds to dry completely (with an M-nib on Rhodia paper). Lie de Thé takes a bit more time to dry. Both inks are reasonably smudge-resistant. Some colour rubs off when using a moist Q-tip cotton swab, but the text itself remains crisp and clear. Being the lighter ink, the smudging is less pronounced with Lie de Thé. To test water resistance, I dripped water on the grid and let it sit there for 15 minutes, after which I removed the water with a paper towel. Both inks are remarkably water-resistant! The brown colour disappears, but a clearly readable dark-grey residue remains even after a 15 minute soak. Really impressive. For this round, both champions were well-matched, but Lie de Thé gets a small advantage for its less pronounced smudging. Round 5 The Fun Factor Welcome to the final round. Here I give you a purely personal impression of both inks, where I judge which of them I like most when doing some fun stuff like doodling and drawing. Both inks do well, and allow for some nice effects when using a water brush. I really enjoyed using them. With both inks, you can coax a broad colour range out of them. Dilute them with water, and you get the yellowish hues used for the background. Really saturate them, and you get a very similar looking dark brown. The foliage in the picture shows the undiluted colour, where Lie de Thé is obviously the lighter coloured ink. But overall, both champions did equally well, and no clear winner emerges. So for this round, I call it a draw - I greatly enjoyed playing with both of them. The Verdict Both inks are real jewels, that work on all types of paper. And being water-resistant, they make fine inks for use at work in an EDC pen. Is there a clear and definite winner? No. But the German champion did show a bit more promise : better contrast with EF nibs, and overall a crisper line on non-absorbent paper. Small advantages, but enough for this judge to declare Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz the winner of this fight.

It's here! The long-awaited Pelikan M200 Smoky Quartz Fountain Pen is here! Made to match their ink of the year, Pelikan has released this beauty into the world. It comes as just the pen, or it comes with a unique collectible bottle of the Edelstein Smoky Quartz Ink if you buy the Pen & Ink Set! You can buy the pen only for $148.00 (MSRP is $185.00), or you can buy the Pen & Ink Set for $172.00 (MSRP is $215.00). This gorgeous pen is a Limited Edition, so you'll need to hurry if you want to get yours. Also, remember that at Pen Chalet We offer free domestic (US) shipping on any order over $50!

Starting in August 2017 Pelikan will ship the upcoming Classic 200 Special Edition Smoky Quartz pens. The Classic 200 Smoky Quartz will consist of a fountain pen, a ballpoint pen and a fountain pen set with a special ink bottle of Edelstein Smoky Quartz. The set will feature a Edelstein Smoky Quartz ink bottle with golden lettering and this will only be available in the set. We offer all pens for pre-order. Should you have any questions or wish further information you can check the pens here: https://www.fritz-schimpf.de/Neuheiten/Pelikan-Special-Edition-Classic-M200-Smoky-Quartz-Kolbenfuellhalter.html https://www.fritz-schimpf.de/Neuheiten/Pelikan-Special-Edition-Classic-M200-Set-Smoky-Quartz-Kolbenfuellhalter.html https://www.fritz-schimpf.de/Neuheiten/Pelikan-Special-Edition-Classic-K200-Smoky-Quartz-Druckkugelschreiber.html or send us an email to service@fritz-schimpf.de Regards Fritz Schimpf

The new Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year 2017 Smoky Quartz has arrived today. We have made a quick comparison with other known brown inks. The color is not as warm/red as the Hazelnut Brown by Graf von Faber-Castell or the Toffee Brown by Montblanc: The closest match we have found is the Diamine Macassar. The Smoky Quartz is a very nice brown ink which is a really nice addition to the Edelstein ink offer. Best regards