Irish Green

[lapis]

Introduction

This review is going to be a fast one because I've been waiting for this ink for months, everybody has been talking all about it (well, maybe), and I now want to get it off my chest.

Of course there are many similar greens available from many other companies but since Irish Green appears to be the missing ink to racing green, this review compares only MB's racing green, MB's White Forest (Season's Greetings 2008 and/or 2009) and Caran d'Ache's Amazon. BTW I write Irish or even IRISH like this and racing like that because MB appears to have now capitalized their ink's names here, as Herbin always has.

Of all of the new 8 MB inks, which started off being launched at the end of 2009, the new Irish Green is the latest issue. And, just like Toffee Brown and Oyster Grey, which are two completely new colours to the clan, so is Irish Green. No, Irish Green is by no means thought of by MB as being a "replacement" and/or "substitute " for racing green (like Midnight Blue and Mystery Black are for the oldies blue-black and black).

 

Insights

Since I have no taste, I shall here and now admit that I have never liked the looks of racing green. It has already been described -- by me and others -- as a dirty, muddy green. It has also reminded me of the colour of a US army vehicle. Salesmen (and women) at MB boutiques told me that they also did not like the colour of racing green but were thrilled to announce that the new Irish Green was less of a greeny-brown but more of an emerald green (to quote them literally). For me (and them) that would represent an ever so slightly brownish green.

 

 

Pens and papers

As said above, I'm in a hurry (sure, for an ink which you already know you will always love, you'll likely spend more time describing it to others). As seen above, the "usual" ink notings of mine are on a halfways decent copy paper, here often a 28-pound HP-paper or a 120 gram HP paper. Since Clairefontaine and Moleskine are among the paper sorts most often chosen by others, here are a couple of scans on my pocket booklet pages. Oops, "Moleskin" needs an "e" on the end of the name.

 

Saturation, intensity, and waterproofness

I consider this ink to have a fairly high saturation and intensity. It is in any case more saturated and more intense than any of Herbin's, Waterman's or Pelikan's inks. Washing and rinsing therefore take a bit more time, but this ink is more water resistant on paper. I wouldn't call it really bulletproof, but after washing a dried out page for one whole minute under running water, almost nothing happens in the sense of disappearance.

 

Flow, wetness, and drying time

This ink has a nice flow and lubrication, just like racing green as well as all other MB inks (except, of course, the bottled blue-blacks which contain iron-gall). The drying time is comparable to that of other MB (non-iron-gall) inks: 15-20 seconds is more than usual, but for a saturated and "almost" waterproof" ink, nothing amazingly disadvantageous. If the ink is already dry, it'll remain practically unsmudgeable with a normal wisk of the hand.

 

Bleeding, feathering and shading

Bleeding with this ink on any paper remains -- to a relative degree -- at a minimum. This appears to be the least on CF paper, then comes HP, to be topped off with an intense bleeding on Moleskine.

 

Shading

Shading here is nice, although IMO only moderate. Not being a shading expert, I'd like to attempt the speculation that the "green" -- at the end of an upward motion of your hand and/or a lessening of the pressure you exert on the paper -- turns into a slightly more bluish green, in that it loses a half a tick of yellow. But only very slightly. All in all, a nice final colour resolution.

 

Colour Comparisons

I don't know what is all that "Irish" about this colour. IMO, "emerald" would be the perfect naming here. That means a dark green with maybe just a small touch of brown, or, do I see a touch of blue as well? In any case, it also reminds me nicely of the good ol' days when I used to go scuba diving just outside of Vancouver or L. A., where they used to speak of "the emerald sea". "Wow".

 

Having said that, it just occurred to me that I then couldn't resist taking a fresh look at White Forest (which definitely does have a more noticeable tinge of blue), and Amazon, which definitely does have a less noticeable tinge of blue but at the same time which absolutely is one of my all-time favourites as re a rich, dark "classic" green. Both of these appear to be less intense/saturated than Irish Green, but still more green than racing green....

 

Availability

Being a MB ink, it will likely be available almost all over the world (okay, even if not all that up close in your corner store). As said above, it is already here on the market, costs 12.00 Euros (list price) for a 60-ml bottle whereas the older stuff came in at 8.90 for the 50-ml bottle.

See my review of MB's Midnight blue. Here, as of packaging, everything seems to remain unchanged.

BTW, the "sealing label" over my box opening says MAR 2015. What that means is that the ink (which I just bought today, and which was likely manufactured around March 2010) will be best before 2015. Of course, almost any ink will be keepable and useable forever, if you take enough care of it.

 

Last thoughts

I find that the colours of these scans on the screen represent quite roughly those which I see in the original writings on paper. If worst comes to worst -- yes, a lot depends on the lighting -- the scans you see above are a tick lighter and a half a tick bluer than the real thing.

Sorry, I still don't know why this stuff is called "Irish", but I'm sure that some of us do know the association. I do, however, find it to be a beautiful colour, and if you don't already have White Forest and/or Amazon, be sure to try this one on for size.

 

Mike

[PenTieRun]

Hey, thanks for the extensive review, Mike. You make me want to rush out and get some of the White Forest, which looks exactly like the pine trees in my back yard. I'm not much of a green guy, so it makes sense that I LOVE Racing Green and have bemoaned its demise. The new Irish Green is a nice color if you're looking for a standard green. Not really my color, but I appreciate the review...and the tease with White Forest.

[carroll]

It looks a lot like Private Reserve Sherwood Green.

[razr]

Good review. I've got a bottle of MBRG on its way to me. MBRG seems to be an odd one, grey to green (judging by scans here on FPN). I really like the Irish Green, beautiful, vivid green

[farseer911]

I like the color. I really want to like a green ink, I really do, but for some reason can not get on the band wagon....

[Diego]

Thank you for the review. I also have Irish and Racing Green ink bottles, as well as some cartridges of Waterman Green. If it's OK to you, I put a picture of these three inks so we can have more tests.

 

To me is a Grass Green, while the Racing Green is a Olive - Black Green.

I'll check your Midnight Blue test now

 

Here is my test:

It's in spanish but this is the order: Waterman Green, Racing Green and Irish Green.

 

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4705140253_ddcd8a86be_b.jpg

[lapis]

Thanks for your posting. Of course, it's OK with me. The more comparisons, the better!

 

Mike

[encremental]

Great review, as always, Mike. Another winner from Montblanc, I think.

 

It would be a real shame that if this ink was always regarded as the unwelcome changeling. Racing Green is just gone, and we have to mourn in our own ways and then move on. If this was, say, Irish Pink, we wouldn't be forever dragging racing green into any discussion of its qualities, would we? Irish Green is an ink in its own right and should be judged as such.

 

If you want to compare it to any ink, then I think one might profitably glance in the direction of Parker Penman Emerald. Diego's extremely accurate scans show what I mean. The faintest whisper of a higher level of blue, but a lot of the boxes are checked. Great shading and something of that 'pop' which C d'A Amazon doesn't quite manage. PR Sherwood, Ebony Green & Spearmint are in the same area, but they have their own baggage re: handling qualities (as does Penman Emerald itself, I have found). Irish green is nothing if not well behaved. If you yearn for Penman Emerald, you may well like this.

 

farseer911, I know what you mean about green. For me it has to be gungy (Racing Green) olivey (R&K Alt Goldgrun), or just really interesting. For me, Irish Green is really interesting.

 

John

[Lloyd]

Nice looking ink! Does this ink offer any water resistance? Racing Green was pretty durable.

[lapis]

Hey John! Thanks for the kind words. I'm afraid I have to say that I know exactly what you mean (I think). At least for me, it's sort of like this: a blue is a blue is a blue. Now there are hundreds of different shades but let's say I want a "pure", "true", medium-to dark" blue. Somebody asked this lately. Then all we have to do is name our favourites like Éclat de Saphir, Visconti, MB, Omas, Pelikan, asa gao, Levenger's Cobalt etc etc and there we have it. All you gotta do is buy all 4 or 6 or 8.

But.... green is a completely different cup o' tea. There's brown-green, grey-green, blue-green, yellow-green, green-green.... oh my....

 

That's why it's so hard to judge green inks. Dum... dee... dum... dee... dum...

 

Mike

[Pentech42]

Thanks for the review, the local MB store didn't have that so I must keep waiting.

[lapis]

Meinem langjährigen Freund Herrn Lloyd zugeeignet

****************************************

 

Achtung: This represents an aforementioined screening, the original of which was forced into a large glass of water and allowed to drown for 5 (five) minutes, hereby fulfilling my anticipation that this ink is more durable than I am.

 

Mike

 

 

[Lloyd]

Gracias. Do you know if the ink continued to "dissolve" as the paper dried (I've had many inks that look ok at first removal but wick outward as the paper dries) or if remained as you posted it?

 

 

I'm glad there's Google Translator; I was worried that the German translated as "to satisfy the annoying pain in the %$@ Mr. Lloyd".

[lapis]

Lloyd, I don't get it. (Sorry for my bad Anguish.) Do you mean:

A. Does the ink disappear as in feathering during that time period over which the wet ink dries after writing on the dry paper? ...

... or...

B. Does the readability of the washed out text disappear after same has dried out on the once drowned paper?

I think you mean B. but have as yet no insurance.

 

Mike

[Opus104]

Thanks for a great review. This ink is excellent looking.

[Lloyd]

Lloyd, I don't get it. (Sorry for my bad Anguish.) Do you mean:

A. Does the ink disappear as in feathering during that time period over which the wet ink dries after writing on the dry paper? ...

... or...

B. Does the readability of the washed out text disappear after same has dried out on the once drowned paper?

I think you mean B. but have as yet no insurance.

 

Mike

 

B. I find some inks maintain legibility after a prolonged soak but then fade to naught as the paper re-dries.

[lapis]

Well, see... now I know what yer talkin' about (I think). I.e. sometimes when we stick some written work into water, the ink seems to remain halfways legible... but... after drying out, it seems as if that water had contained some bleach, no?

 

BTW, what I originally wrote in the review itself ("... after washing a dried out page for one whole minute under running water") apparently indicates that, as far as waterproofness is concerned, there is -- at least here -- a considerable difference between 1 minute and 5 minutes. Whew.

 

MB's Irish Green is, in this case, similar to their racing green (and others). After having been soaked and then re-dried, the ink does seem to maintain some legibility. The last scan above (posted yesterday at 10:03 PM) was made about one minute after the 5-minute soaking (okay, I dried it a little wee bit on some kitchen towel before scanning). Good thing I hung onto the past product.

 

This scan has now been made 16 hours later after the paper has dried out completely. I see no difference. This dried out critter seems to be just as legible.

 

Bill

[Lloyd]

Thanks. I looks like a winner to me! When I first joined FPN, MB inks were thought poorly of. Now, they're seen as superb (IMO).

[encremental]

Lloyd, you are so right.

 

It's quite bizarre... when I joined FPN (5 years ago maybe?) MB wasn't rated at all, and Racing Green, which I personally really liked and tried to promote, was seemingly unknown. I don't think I did much to raise its rep on my own, but something or somebody did!

 

Also, at that time, Noodler's was The Ultimate and beyond criticism in thread after thread after thread (and we know how that one turned out!).

 

John

 

I've come to the conclusion that you can't go wrong with FP manufacturers who also make their own inks, even if these may not be the most exciting.

[kathleen]

Thanks for a great review. This ink is excellent looking.

 

Thanks, Mike, I am fairly new to fountain pen use and very slowly and deliberately building an assortment of inks. Named Kathleen, a most Irish name, I have thought that I should make a beautiful Emerald green ink my signature color. I would like to purchase this MB Irish Green. After reading your review I know I will not be disappointed with the color or its performance. Where can I purchase it?

Edited June 27, 2010 by kathleen