Most Disappointing Ink Buy

[Blade Runner]

Waterman green is rather unappealing.

 

Quink black - the only ink that stopped flow in my 149. Threw it out.

 

Herbin gris nuage - the grey so pale it was almost illegible.

 

Herbis eclat de saphir - like a number of folks, my bottle had fungus globs. Got a refund.

[inkthefinks]

I was REALLY digging Private Reserve Cosmic Cobalt... until part of it decided to congeal, leaving a nasty layer of gunk in the bottle.

[andru]

What Big Red Banner??.... Gotta love AdBlock and friends.

 

I would have to say that Noodler's Polar Black has been my biggest disappointment to date. I gave this ink every possible chance, but I gave the two bottles I had on hand away. I had skipping problems, hard starting and inconsistent flow in just about every pen I tried. Given the performance profile of Noodler's Black, I was very disappointed with Polar Black.

I have to agree, that is exactly the ink for this topic, for me. This was the first ink I tried after 30 years using Sheaffer Skrip. I loved the idea of it, as I have had my pen freeze up many a time. (I still love the idea of it, and being bulletproof as well is so cool.) But trying this ink also coincided with me exploring other fountain pens, and led to a lot of unnecessary frustration which I assumed was the fault of the pen.

 

Adding small amounts of this black to some other inks (well, I only recall trying Diamine Sepia...) has resulted in a fine black precipitate.

 

On the other hand, I have exactly one pen which I've tried Polar Black in that worked great (even when leaving the pen inked and unused for long periods), and that was a 60's (I think? -- square-ended) Sheaffer Imperial with stainless steel nib.

 

The only other Noodler's black I've tried is Heart of Darkness and it's a great performer in any pen I've tried it with. And as I don't find myself hunched up on a frozen riverbank so often these days, that's just fine.

[ravantra]

Sailor Epinard. A fantastic color. It would be my everyday ink except it has clogged EVERY pen I have used it in including 2 TWSBI's, a Visconti, and Esterbrook, a Lamy 2000 and a Edison Hudson. Every couple months I fill another pen and within a few days the pens start skipping.

 

I love all Iroshizuku inks I have tried except Fuyu-syogun - Old Man Winter. It makes me sad to even look at it.

[CatBookMom]

Sailor Epinard. A fantastic color. It would be my everyday ink except it has clogged EVERY pen I have used it in including 2 TWSBI's, a Visconti, and Esterbrook, a Lamy 2000 and a Edison Hudson. Every couple months I fill another pen and within a few days the pens start skipping.

 

 

 

That's fascinating. I've used Epinard in my Duofold Centennial with a CI nib since I got the ink back in April, and it's smooth and even a bit wet, gorgeous shading. So sorry you're having skip problems.

[Flake]

 

 

Actually, I never said it did NOT shade, but that the shading was not the darker, deeper orange-red I saw in reviews and scans. My complaint is that it was too yellowish, too light to read if writing anything longer than a note or a paragraph. Journaling? Fuhgeddaboutit!

 

I'm kind of the opposite. If I use it in a small nib its a really dark orange, no yellow at all. It looks nice in a flexy nib but I was hoping it would be more yellow in a small nib. :roflmho:

[terminal]

I love all Iroshizuku inks I have tried except Fuyu-syogun - Old Man Winter. It makes me sad to even look at it.

 

Funny you'd mention this. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was my most disappointing ink ever because it still writes ok... but I had high expectations for the color and was VERY underwhelmed.

[French]

Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia. It didn't flow nicely in any of the pens I tried it in, it was a hard starter and just did not want to play nicely with me. I sold it (told the buyer all the difficulties I had with it, didn't try to scam anyone or bilk an unsuspecting buyer), I seem to remember the buyer telling me he loves the ink.

 

Other than this one ink, I'm sort of like Wil Rogers - I've never met an ink I didn't like.

[anaximander]

My biggest disappointment would be Iroshizuku Ajisai. In all the scans and reviews I saw a lovely periwinkle blue colour. When my sample arrived it was a washed out blue that was too pale to be readable in my fine nibs, flat and feathery in my medium and broad pens.

 

I had a very similar reaction to Ajisai. Kiri-same was about the same story.

Not bashing Iroshizuku: this was a disappointment largely because their other inks are so great.

[Ad_Astra]

Waterman Blue-Black and Parker Quink Blue-Black both shift unpleasantly, and I can't recommend them for that reason. I'm sure they're workable as testing inks though.

 

Pretty much every Herbin ink I've bought as well. I know people love the vintage look and the softer color palette and stuff, but to me they just come across as weak and unsaturated to the extreme. Plus, their 30 mL bottles are just about useless for filling 75% or more of my pens after...one fill. Definitely never again.

 

Noodler's Luxury Blue. Just...ew. I love the bulletproofness, but the color, ugh. Again, washed-out and boring.

 

Noodler's Golden Brown? Again, wonderful shading, yeah, but it just looks like an off-shade of greenish-brown sometimes, and that's really not pleasant. I'll finish the current bottle, but I doubt I'll buy another.

 

PR Black Cherry/Waterman Havana/Noodler's Red-Black: All basically the same. Yeah, there's minor variation, but you're going to see that in a comparison test and then never again. I own the first two, and I feel like I have a spare bottle, basically. Definitely won't make the mistake of picking up another until they're both gone.

[goldiesdad]

For me PR Orange Crush ... however I am tryin to like it ... thinking a broad line would give me more color ... so the jury is not totally out ....

[dspeers58]

Noodlers Periwinkel and Noodlers Habanero, one that seems to have serious flow problems (Periwinkel) and the other just does not have much color at all...Just do not like Habanero.

[Pippin60]

Private Reserve Invincible Blue, so washed out it looks like a washed out ink.

[nightwing]

Noodler's Baystate Concord Grape: horrible feathering and bleedthrough, not to mention staining!

 

PR D.C. Supershow Green: very bland colour.

 

Noodler's Polar Brown: I got some weird "halo"/feathering.

 

Diamine Golden Brown: the brown has too much yellow in it for my liking.

[The Scribbler]

Sailor Epinard. A fantastic color. It would be my everyday ink except it has clogged EVERY pen I have used it in including 2 TWSBI's, a Visconti, and Esterbrook, a Lamy 2000 and a Edison Hudson. Every couple months I fill another pen and within a few days the pens start skipping.

 

 

 

That's fascinating. I've used Epinard in my Duofold Centennial with a CI nib since I got the ink back in April, and it's smooth and even a bit wet, gorgeous shading. So sorry you're having skip problems.

 

Yeah, I agree. I have Epinard in a Pelikan M200 with a medium nib and it is just perfect. Never clogged or skipped on me.

 

I wonder if environmental factors play any kind of role (humidity, temperature, etc.)?

[dorala1]

For me, Monteverde Blue-Black is very disappointing.

 

VERY dry flowing ink. Color not very inspiring in several of my pens.

 

My $0.02.

 

Tom Connell

[jgrasty]

I've had a few disappointments:

 

• Private Reserve Tanzanite. My bottle developed SITB within months of the purchase and had to be discarded. I have a bottle of the fast dry version and it has been good so far. Lovely purple.
  
• Private Reserve Copper Burst. For the first year I had this ink, it was my favorite. Alas, one day I opened the bottle and the color had shifted to an ugly greenish yellow.
  
• Private Reserve Burgundy Mist. The color shifted to an unattractive grayish purple.
  
• Diamine Registrar's Ink. The color shifted from a lovely blue-gray to a greenish gray.
  

 

I'll point out that all of these inks were less than 2 years old and all stored properly in a cool, dark place, in their original bottles and boxes. None of my other 150+ ink bottles I have any issues. I've been lucky in that I've not bought an ink I'd never use, though some are so light they're really only useful for mixing or art.

[ravantra]

Sailor Epinard. A fantastic color. It would be my everyday ink except it has clogged EVERY pen I have used it in including 2 TWSBI's, a Visconti, and Esterbrook, a Lamy 2000 and a Edison Hudson. Every couple months I fill another pen and within a few days the pens start skipping.

 

 

 

That's fascinating. I've used Epinard in my Duofold Centennial with a CI nib since I got the ink back in April, and it's smooth and even a bit wet, gorgeous shading. So sorry you're having skip problems.

 

Yeah, I agree. I have Epinard in a Pelikan M200 with a medium nib and it is just perfect. Never clogged or skipped on me.

 

I wonder if environmental factors play any kind of role (humidity, temperature, etc.)?

 

I won't quit trying to figure out what is up with my issues with Epinard. I really love the color and I have a lot of pens.

[shaylenwilliams]

Incedentally, the first two bottles I bought:

 

PR Black Cherry. Wanted a dark red, not dark red/brown.

 

Herbin Bleu Myosotis... Boring. Looked just like Lamy Blue to me.

 

Noodler's Concord Bream was just a sample, thank goodness. That ink feathered so much I thought it was going to take flight.

[CalvaryMaid]

Some disappointments:

 

Noodler's Dragon's Napalm - it was way too bright. So bright, that it hurt my eyes.

 

K & R Konigblau - It feathered and bled horribly when it wasn't skipping.

 

Noodler's Borealis Black - Not very well behaved when compared to standard Noodler's black. I especially disliked the amount of feathering I experienced.

 

Iroshizuku Aso-gao - Although many posters seem to love this ink, it looked and behaved exactly like De Atramentis Hyancith (without the floral scent), which is a much cheaper ink. I didn't see what the fuss was about.