Noodler's Switch To Plastic Bottles

[dcwaites]

As Nathan says, you buy the ink, not the bottle (except for Visconti glass mushrooms, they're special...).

I am quite happy to buy ink in a pouch, as below, because it saves on postage.

 

http://justwrite.com.au/image/cache/catalog/products/blackstone_fountain_pen_ink_blue_60ml_pouch-700x393.jpg

[TSherbs]

As Nathan says, you buy the ink, not the bottle (except for Visconti glass mushrooms, they're special...).

I am quite happy to buy ink in a pouch, as below, because it saves on postage.

 

Well, not every "you" is all the "you"s out there who buy inks. I am sure that Mr. Tardif appreciates the independence of the individual consumer enough to appreciate that all the "I"s out here will decide for ourselves why we make our purchases and whether the container is important to us. For "me," sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, depending on a large number of variables that I am interested in determining for myself.

[mhosea]

I can certainly appreciate that each individual has their preferences, and for those who object to the use of plastic for environmental reasons, perhaps there is nothing for it other than to lobby Nathan to choose the other route (higher prices to cover whatever the cost of jars).

 

But, for those who would not mind receiving the ink in plastic but would like to store it in glass, I humbly suggest perusing the wares of places like http://www.specialtybottle.com/ or something similar closer to you if you aren't in the US. You want a wide-enough neck to get larger pens into. Of course you have to pay shipping (would suggest trying to buy all you're likely to need in one order). You also have to make your own labels. Name your poison (and maybe buy a special jar to put it in). Now that I think of it, I'm actually kind of tempted buy a bunch so as to standardize the bottles in my ink cabinet. What an insane idea! But it's just the sort of weird thing I might do.

Edited October 19, 2015 by mhosea

[bobje]

Another option is buying empty Waterman, Diamine, Monteverde, or Aurora bottles, usually with boxes, for about $1 each from Goulet or Anderson.

[Algester]

buy the bottles and decant as needed

[PS104]

Twelve pages to slog through was too much but...

Glass is heavy which increases shipping costs

What concerns me is that glass is inert and doesn't impart anything to the ink. I'm not sure that plastic has that quality.

Years ago the manufacturers of alcoholic beverages converted from glass to plastic for many of their products. Lighter weight, less chance of breakage, etc

Again I wonder what the chemical interaction is between alcohol and the plastic. Might be another reason to climb back on board the wagon.

Despite what the man told Dustin Hoffman in 'The Graduate' I suspect plastic is still not understood by the layman and may have qualities that are harmful to our health (but that haven't been told to us by the manufacturers, similar to what Big Tobacco did in bygone days) but as long as you don't drink the ink you may be OK (even if they don't list the ingredients)

Nathan runs an incredible enterprise and I support whatever measures he deems necessary.

As far as volume is concerned I prefer the non-metric system. At least I know what I'm getting. I'm not impressed that all the EU countries use it as their economies are in the loo. They tried that with gasoline. It was a flop. We still buy it by the gallon.

[Algester]

I thought we buy gas by the barrel (by proxy oil) not gallon? and thats the international standard not in litters not in ML not in gallon but either drum or barrel... BAH

 

cheap wine comes in tetra pack (that I know has passed the food grade standard) but not the high class ones <_< >_> they still come in tall glass bottles

 

while yes drinking from plastic in the long run is like drinking from lead crystals and bronze vessels... you know the good old days

Edited October 19, 2015 by Algester

[tfwall]

The bottle did not fit in the square based Noodlers box well

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

[Charles Rice]

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

I for one toss ALL boxes as soon as I get the ink. So sure, nix the box.

[AndyYNWA]

As far as volume is concerned I prefer the non-metric system. At least I know what I'm getting. I'm not impressed that all the EU countries use it as their economies are in the loo. They tried that with gasoline. It was a flop. We still buy it by the gallon.

I don't think in what way you measure liquids has anything to do with the health of an economy.

 

Also, far from all EU countries have poor economy, most of them are fairly healthy. 9 of the 23 richest countries in the world are members in the EU and only one of them has oil. If you also add Norway and Iceland that are tightly linked to the EU, it's 11 of 23.

[blINK]

Boxes are easier to stack than bottles. So for the "extra" ink that is stored, I like the boxes.

 

Of course I could just get some boxes of my own and put the bottles in there and then stack the boxes.

[Brian C]

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

I wouldn't miss it at all.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

 

I would. They are really useful for stacking up and lining up rows and columns of ink, for those of us who already have too much ink and shouldn't even be reading this topic .

 

I'm trying to climb back up onto this wagon again. Yeah, but will I stay there ?

 

[mhosea]

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

 

With a plastic bottle no box is needed. The only advantage is better stackability.

[mhosea]

BTW, shopping for bottles has been interesting, and one begins to appreciate the dilemma that caused all this. The 3oz "French Square" is absent from the online catalogs I'm finding. You can order 2oz or 4oz standard from many places, but I expect if you want 3oz, you're going to have to special order it.

[dcwaites]

I don't think in what way you measure liquids has anything to do with the health of an economy.

 

Also, far from all EU countries have poor economy, most of them are fairly healthy. 9 of the 23 richest countries in the world are members in the EU and only one of them has oil. If you also add Norway and Iceland that are tightly linked to the EU, it's 11 of 23.

 

I did think it was drawing a long bow to link the metric system to the health of one's economy. Anyway, I prefer weighing myself in kilos to pounds.

The numbers are smaller...

[sirgilbert357]

Well, not every "you" is all the "you"s out there who buy inks. I am sure that Mr. Tardif appreciates the independence of the individual consumer enough to appreciate that all the "I"s out here will decide for ourselves why we make our purchases and whether the container is important to us. For "me," sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, depending on a large number of variables that I am interested in determining for myself.

 

I agree, in part. The ink is just the most important thing to Noodlers, but some of us care about the whole package, even the outer box the bottle comes in. I'd happily pay a bit more for a glass bottle...in fact, I did.

 

When I bought my recent bottle of Noodler's Black, I expected the plastic bottle. So, I ordered an empty Pelikan Edelstein bottle too. Glad I did, because I got the plastic bottle. I cleaned and sanitized the Pelikan bottle and cap, scraped the writing off it (except for the very small "Pelikan" in the bottom right corner) and decanted as much Noodler's Black as I could into it. My reasons are twofold:

1. I just like the look of glass better, and the Pelikan bottle is functional and attractive to me.

2. If there is any moisture loss or evaporation that results from the plastic bottle, I'd like to avoid it. The remaining ink in the plastic bottle will get used quickly enough that I doubt it will be a problem, but no way could I use the whole bottle before it *might* become an issue.

[sirgilbert357]

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

 

In the case of Noodlers (which is obviously the reference here) I could do without the box. I still *prefer* to get it, but if the box going away means the price stays competitive or we get the glass bottle back, then yes, I would happily scrap the box. Just don't change anything about your labels. I love the labels on the bottles...

[Strombomboli]

 

How strongly do you feel that there needs to be a box at all?

 

Would you miss it if it went away?

 

I would miss the Noodler's boxes very much, because I store these inks in a bigger box and thus see the ink boxes from above which works fine, since the name of the ink is noted on top of the box (and even in a readable manner now [sticker]). They are stored in alphabetical order in that bigger box.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Strombomboli

[dcwaites]

Perhaps skip the boxes and do what Diamine does -- have a small sticky label on the lid that tells you what colour you have. It would probably work better than the current, often quite faded, rubber stamping.

But then, if you are going to skip the boxes and stick with plastic, perhaps look for square sided bottles to ease the 'Stacking Problem'.

 

Or, as I mentioned above, look into pouches to make it cheaper to flog overseas.