Quo Vadis Habana

[Luke Scicluna]

I'm in love. Quo Vadis, will you marry me?

 

http://quovadisblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/habana-ivory.jpg

Pocket-patrol

€13.31, or $19.00, will nab you the large size of this fine specimen of a journal.

 

Va-Va-Voom

 

Beautiful.

Absolutely Beautiful.

Did I mention it was Beautiful?

 

Such a simple design, yet it looks so good and feels so great.

 

Let me talk about the black version, as that is what I bought.

 

The cover is a soft, leather-look material, which feels delightful. On the front, you can clearly see the Quo Vadis logo embossed in the bottom right corner. The back sports the full Quo Vadis brand name and logo, and the elastic closure hugs incredibly close to the cover.

 

That is great all on its own, but when you open it up...

 

Gorgeous.

 

Sheets of beautiful 16x24cm, 80gsm ivory paper, just waiting to be filled. Rounded corners mean that you can kiss papercuts goodbye, and I haven't gotten to the feel yet.

 

So smooth...

 

Writing Experience

Such a delight.

 

Such a delight.

 

The pen just hovers over the page, and as it moves along the paper, it leaves such a beautiful line. No feathering. No bleed-through. Just the RIGHT amount of showthrough (which I believe gives character), and just the right amount of grop.

 

Brilliant.

 

If your writing is dear to you, and you like to write, whatever it is you write, you need this journal.

 

I recommend getting it from www.gouletpens.com.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Luke Scicluna

[Tennessee Dave]

Enjoy it.

[GouletPens]

I've long been a fan of the Habana, since back when they had the white paper in them. Even through the change, I love the Habanas now with the ivory paper and continue to use them personally.

[Chris]

So... you like it then?

 

They are nice, aren't they?

 

Chris

[Uncle Red]

Luke, how wide is the ruling on them?

[Val]

*sigh* I loved my first Habana, which I bought after watching Brian's video. The second one, after the change, was a huge let-down for me. The ghosting is so bad that I'm electing to use only one side per sheet (the ghosting is always bad, but when I use something really flexy, I even get bleedthrough). I have an original habana on order from a fellow FPNer, but then I'll be lost.

 

Don't get me wrong, the outside is still gorgeous, and I don't mind the ruling change at all. It's just the ghosting that kills me. I guess I'll have to embark on a search for a new type of notebook.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Val

[inkypete]

*sigh* I loved my first Habana, which I bought after watching Brian's video. The second one, after the change, was a huge let-down for me. The ghosting is so bad that I'm electing to use only one side per sheet (the ghosting is always bad, but when I use something really flexy, I even get bleedthrough). I have an original habana on order from a fellow FPNer, but then I'll be lost.

 

Don't get me wrong, the outside is still gorgeous, and I don't mind the ruling change at all. It's just the ghosting that kills me. I guess I'll have to embark on a search for a new type of notebook.

 

Yes - they took the perfect notebook and destroyed it by fixing things that weren't broken.In all my time of buying and using notebooks this was the worst decision ever made by a notebook maker. Quo Vadis seemed hell bent on copying moleskin's poor quality (paper) rather than establishing their own superior product. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. Now Habanas are just another nice notebook that doesn't quite make the grade for me.

[threeamigos]

*sigh* I loved my first Habana, which I bought after watching Brian's video. The second one, after the change, was a huge let-down for me. The ghosting is so bad that I'm electing to use only one side per sheet (the ghosting is always bad, but when I use something really flexy, I even get bleedthrough). I have an original habana on order from a fellow FPNer, but then I'll be lost.

 

Don't get me wrong, the outside is still gorgeous, and I don't mind the ruling change at all. It's just the ghosting that kills me. I guess I'll have to embark on a search for a new type of notebook.

 

 

Agreed. The echo and bleed through with some ink/pencombinations is a big letdown after the 90g white paper version. I am also disappointed with the buckling end paper, the narrow line spacing, and of course the cream-colored paper. If I want cream-colored paper, why not just buy the webbie that has better paper?

 

Edited September 2, 2011 by threeamigos

[Ghost Plane]

Click on the link in my sig and you can see a review of before and after versions using BB and IB nibs.

 

Concur on the ghosting/bleed thru/echo - whatever you want to call it.

 

If they were going to make their products identical world wide, I can't understand why they went to the lower grade version either.

 

I have an Exaclair Journal and a hard bound Clairefontaine notebook I'm going to experiment with, but neither has all the features that led me to the Habanas to begin with. I suspect I'll settle on the Clairefontaine to get the good paper, then start designing work arounds with elastic bookmarks and such to try to recreate the old Habanas :bonk:

Edited September 3, 2011 by Ghost Plane

[WOBentley]

I also am a big fan of the original Habana. I also stocked up (slightly) and have the one I just started and about 6 more in reserve. I am picking up a few every time I see them. I have no experience with the new one so I can't make any comparisons but I like the original so much I am trying to hold on while I can!

[Orange25]

Yes - they took the perfect notebook and destroyed it by fixing things that weren't broken.In all my time of buying and using notebooks this was the worst decision ever made by a notebook maker. Quo Vadis seemed hell bent on copying moleskin's poor quality (paper) rather than establishing their own superior product. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. Now Habanas are just another nice notebook that doesn't quite make the grade for me.

 

I picked up one of the older style Habanas with the white paper a few months ago. I haven't really looked at the newer style since ivory paper doesn't interest me as much as plain white.

 

If the quality has gone down then that's a great shame. It seems counter-intuitive to take a product and change it to make it inferior to its predecessor.

 

I love my Habana for the quality of its paper and its ability to open out and lie flat. The latter is such an undervalued trait for journals.

[MrsGouletPens]

Luke, how wide is the ruling on them?

It has 5.5mm line spacing.

[Luke Scicluna]

*sigh* I loved my first Habana, which I bought after watching Brian's video. The second one, after the change, was a huge let-down for me. The ghosting is so bad that I'm electing to use only one side per sheet (the ghosting is always bad, but when I use something really flexy, I even get bleedthrough). I have an original habana on order from a fellow FPNer, but then I'll be lost.

 

Don't get me wrong, the outside is still gorgeous, and I don't mind the ruling change at all. It's just the ghosting that kills me. I guess I'll have to embark on a search for a new type of notebook.

 

 

*sigh* I loved my first Habana, which I bought after watching Brian's video. The second one, after the change, was a huge let-down for me. The ghosting is so bad that I'm electing to use only one side per sheet (the ghosting is always bad, but when I use something really flexy, I even get bleedthrough). I have an original habana on order from a fellow FPNer, but then I'll be lost.

 

Don't get me wrong, the outside is still gorgeous, and I don't mind the ruling change at all. It's just the ghosting that kills me. I guess I'll have to embark on a search for a new type of notebook.

 

 

Agreed. The echo and bleed through with some ink/pencombinations is a big letdown after the 90g white paper version. I am also disappointed with the buckling end paper, the narrow line spacing, and of course the cream-colored paper. If I want cream-colored paper, why not just buy the webbie that has better paper?

 

I haven't had any problem with bleedthrough at all! I'm using Heart of Darkness, with a Noodler's pen (#2).

 

 

Luke, how wide is the ruling on them?

It has 5.5mm line spacing.

 

Thanks for answering Rachel! Have been busy recently and didn't have time to check here

[Val]

Just wanted to show a couple of pics with what I mean. Lighting is pretty soft (11 am, no lamp on, blinds down).

The left one shows the standard ghosting I get (I was using a Pelikan m400 using PR fast dry midnight blues).

The right one is an extreme example of a wet ink in a superflex (ie - ink is gushing onto the page). That said, the previous version of the Habana stood up just fine to this same combination (Diamine's Asa Blue in my Waterman's 52 1/2 V with ideal #2 superflex nib) with zero bleedthrough and minimal ghosting.

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7315/img6842p.jpghttp://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3555/img6844d.jpg

Edited September 4, 2011 by Val

[threeamigos]

I usually log pen/ink combinations in the back of my notebook because I always forget what ink I'm using. Here is an example of the echo and bleed through that I was talking about.Never experienced this with the 90g Habana. I know that lots of people must like the new format or why would they make the drastic change.

Edited September 4, 2011 by threeamigos

[Val]

I usually log pen/ink combinations in the back of my notebook because I always forget what ink I'm using. Here is an example of the echo and bleed through that I was talking about.Never experienced this with the 90g Habana. I know that lots of people must like the new format or why would they make the drastic change.

 

(O_o)

 

Some of us have few enough inks that it's a lot easier. My max of 1 color is 3, and they're different enough that I can recognize them. I do have a couple of pens that are confusable, but I haven't kept a log like that. I do write the pen and ink combo I refill to on a wall calendar though.

[threeamigos]

I usually have 10-12 pens inked at a time and either have to refill or flush at least one pen per day. The log helps my poor memory. I write the ink/combo in all the notebooks I have going at the time (usually 3-5 notebooks). The point of my post, however, is to show the echo and/or bleed through with many different pen/ink combos.

 

I'm glad that the OP loves the new Habana, but I guess there are a few of us that would like to see the old version come back. Maybe there will be a special edition sometime in the future that brings back the 90g, white paper Habana. In the meantime, I buy the old version when they become available.

Edited September 5, 2011 by threeamigos

[Luke Scicluna]

Just wanted to show a couple of pics with what I mean. Lighting is pretty soft (11 am, no lamp on, blinds down).

The left one shows the standard ghosting I get (I was using a Pelikan m400 using PR fast dry midnight blues).

The right one is an extreme example of a wet ink in a superflex (ie - ink is gushing onto the page). That said, the previous version of the Habana stood up just fine to this same combination (Diamine's Asa Blue in my Waterman's 52 1/2 V with ideal #2 superflex nib) with zero bleedthrough and minimal ghosting.

 

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7315/img6842p.jpghttp://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3555/img6844d.jpg

 

That is something that I actually like! I feel that some element of ghosting gives character.

 

I usually have 10-12 pens inked at a time and either have to refill or flush at least one pen per day. The log helps my poor memory. I write the ink/combo in all the notebooks I have going at the time (usually 3-5 notebooks). The point of my post, however, is to show the echo and/or bleed through with many different pen/ink combos.

 

I'm glad that the OP loves the new Habana, but I guess there are a few of us that would like to see the old version come back. Maybe there will be a special edition sometime in the future that brings back the 90g, white paper Habana. In the meantime, I buy the old version when they become available.

 

Personally, I can't stand white paper However, if there are a lot of people who want the white 90gsm version to return, then it's their responsibility to re-introduce it (alongside, not instead, of the ivory one).