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Good Morning, I recently purchased a wonderful Gama Forever fountain pen in a beautiful glossy black finish. One distinguishing factor of this and many other Indian eyedropper pens is the fact that they are made from ebonite, aka vulcanite, aka hard rubber. I am sure that in this forum many are familiar with this material. It is the first time dealing with it for me, personally, so I had this question: Is the gas that Ebonite emits when new or when heated "safe"? I mean "safe" in the sense that it does not pose any detrimental long-term effects to my health. I am aware of the ubiquity of this material in pen manufacturing of yesteryear, so I would think it is! But I just wanted a peace of mind. I look forward to your contributions. Nurmister Edit: I write this due to my recent acquaintance to Volatile Organic Compounds, a set of harmful gases emitted by numerous petroleum-based products. Luckily, I suspect that ebonite does not fall under such a category since: i. Formic acid is used only during the(raw?) rubber manufacturing process. ii. Sulfur is used for vulcanization (but the rubber itself should be desulfurized before further processing, hopefully). iii. Ebonite hates petroleum!