The Cartridges On My Mb Bohème Retractable Fountain Pen Are Always Dry

[WilsonLaidaw]

I have had a MB Bohème retractable nib fountain pen for some years. I really like writing with it as it has a very smooth medium oblique nib in it (much smoother than in my Meisterstuck Le Grand). However from new it has had a problem, the cartridges dry out very quickly, which not only means they often seem empty when I come to use it but it needs washing out frequently to get rid of dried up ink.

 

Have others had this problem? Is in inherent in the design and sending it for service is a waste of time and money? I tried pushing a very thin rubber O ring around the cartridge to see if it was an air leak from the cartridge insertion flip up trap door and that did seem to reduce the evaporation very slightly, so maybe that is the design fault.

 

Wilson

Edited April 3, 2015 by WilsonLaidaw

[KellenPAC]

Never had a problem with my Boheme. Its rotated with 2 other pens so its not a daily writer. Has sat for weeks without use, flows perfectly fine. Worst problem I have had is air trapping the ink at the top of the filler, but a quick flick usually causes the ink to fall.

I do use MB ink that I refill from the stopper.

Edited April 4, 2015 by KellenPAC

[Mister Mont Blanc]

To better understand your problem, what exactly do you mean by "dry out very quickly?" Cartridges are usually short lasting because they have a low ink capacity so I'm wondering if that is what you are referring to.

[WilsonLaidaw]

To better understand your problem, what exactly do you mean by "dry out very quickly?" Cartridges are usually short lasting because they have a low ink capacity so I'm wondering if that is what you are referring to.

I might use the pen once, which at a guess might use 10% at most of a newly inserted cartridge but when I come to use it again two weeks later, it only writes for a brief time and when I look, the cartridge is empty. At a guess the cartridges contain about 50% of the amount of ink in a fill for my Le Grand but I very rarely seem to have to fill up Le Grand, even though I use it quite a lot more than the Bohème. I can come back to Le Grand, if I have been away travelling, weeks after I last used it and it will be fine. If I do that with the Bohème it will always need a new cartridge.

 

Wilson