Jacques Herbin Noir Abyssal

[lgsoltek]

Thank you very much Namrehsnoom for surprising me with a travel miniature set of 5 Jacques Herbin inks.

Noir Abyssal is one of the 5 Les Essentielles inks in this set. It flows wet and writes smoothly. It's mostly water resistant. But it's black. Blacks are boring.

Splash

Sample

(Rhodia)

(Tomoe River)

Comparison

(Maruman looseleaf)

Miscellaneous

[namrehsnoom]

It’s really black... and I don’t see much variation in colour span. Some blacks range from lighter grey to dark black, but I don’t see that here. Might be fun for true black&white sketches like the lovely one you show above, but for writing I prefer some colour in my inks.

[Bhavna]

This looks like a dream black for lovers and seekers of black. Thank you for the review and your beautiful handwriting!

[Intensity]

Hm. I don't know why J. Herbin felt the need to create another simple black, considering they have the famously great Perle Noire already.

 

In my subjective opinion, the best black inks should fall under these 3 categories (that can overlap):

- deep black with no shading for specific uses - example: Aurora Black

- highly waterproof black ink for documents or art outlining - example: Platinum Carbon Black, De Atramentis Document Black, Noodler's Black

- black inks that have some shading, in which case it's more interesting if the ink has off-black components such that some hint of color comes through. For instance Iroshizuku Take-Sumi has beautiful gentle shading and a hint of cool bluish something that makes it look like ink and not just some generic black print. Then there are inks like Kyo No Oto Nurebiairo and Octopus Schwarz. These are more interesting for watercolor-style art too.

 

This one doesn't quite fall under any category well: it has shading, but rather bland gray gradient, it doesn't have very high water resistance (still smears), and it has no interesting nuances being neutral gray.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Intensity

[dennis_f]

Hm. I don't know why J. Herbin felt the need to create another simple black, considering they have the famously great Perle Noire already.

 

In my subjective opinion, the best black inks should fall under these 3 categories (that can overlap):

- deep black with no shading for specific uses - example: Aurora Black

- highly waterproof black ink for documents or art outlining - example: Platinum Carbon Black, De Atramentis Document Black, Noodler's Black

- black inks that have some shading, in which case it's more interesting if the ink has off-black components such that some hint of color comes through. For instance Iroshizuku Take-Sumi has beautiful gentle shading and a hint of cool bluish something that makes it look like ink and not just some generic black print. Then there are inks like Kyo No Oto Nurebiairo and Octopus Schwarz. These are more interesting for watercolor-style art too.

 

This one doesn't quite fall under any category well: it has shading, but rather bland gray gradient, it doesn't have very high water resistance (still smears), and it has no interesting nuances being neutral gray.

 

Intensity, I'm a lover of black-black inks, and I find your categories and conclusions perfect.

 

Personally I'm not loving this new black, precisely because of that slight bit of (underwhelmingly grey-toned) shading.

 

I wonder: I've always found Perle Noire slow to dry. Perhaps Noir Abyssal has faster dry times? Lgsoltek, could you comment on that?

 

D.

[lgsoltek]

 

Intensity, I'm a lover of black-black inks, and I find your categories and conclusions perfect.

 

Personally I'm not loving this new black, precisely because of that slight bit of (underwhelmingly grey-toned) shading.

 

I wonder: I've always found Perle Noire slow to dry. Perhaps Noir Abyssal has faster dry times? Lgsoltek, could you comment on that?

 

D.

 

I don't find NA slow too dry.

[lgsoltek]

Hm. I don't know why J. Herbin felt the need to create another simple black, considering they have the famously great Perle Noire already.

 

In my subjective opinion, the best black inks should fall under these 3 categories (that can overlap):

- deep black with no shading for specific uses - example: Aurora Black

- highly waterproof black ink for documents or art outlining - example: Platinum Carbon Black, De Atramentis Document Black, Noodler's Black

- black inks that have some shading, in which case it's more interesting if the ink has off-black components such that some hint of color comes through. For instance Iroshizuku Take-Sumi has beautiful gentle shading and a hint of cool bluish something that makes it look like ink and not just some generic black print. Then there are inks like Kyo No Oto Nurebiairo and Octopus Schwarz. These are more interesting for watercolor-style art too.

 

This one doesn't quite fall under any category well: it has shading, but rather bland gray gradient, it doesn't have very high water resistance (still smears), and it has no interesting nuances being neutral gray.

 

Because Perle Noir is not expensive enough for this high-end line?

[Intensity]

 

Because Perle Noir is not expensive enough for this high-end line?

 

That's what I thought: the "Jacques Herbin" line was incomplete without a black ink, so this is the token black ink to round it out.

[DrDebG]

Thank you for the time taken to do this review. I am, however, underwhelmed.

[lapis]

I think I envisage a hint of brown and a half a hint of purple in it but I'm not sure, so for me, too, it remains too understated.

[dennis_f]

 

I don't find NA slow too dry.

 

That's curious. For me it's one of my slowest driest inks -- upwards of 20 seconds (if not 30) using a Fine nib on Rhodia or Mnemosyne papers.

 

Be that what it may, I was more curious about knowing what the dry time was like on Abyssal.

 

In any case, thanks for posting this review; as always your pictures and posts are outstanding.

D.

[lgsoltek]

 

That's curious. For me it's one of my slowest driest inks -- upwards of 20 seconds (if not 30) using a Fine nib on Rhodia or Mnemosyne papers.

 

Be that what it may, I was more curious about knowing what the dry time was like on Abyssal.

 

In any case, thanks for posting this review; as always your pictures and posts are outstanding.

D.

 

 

By NA I mean Noir Abyssal.

[dennis_f]

 

 

By NA I mean Noir Abyssal.

 

 

Reading my phone without my glasses; I read NA as Noir! My mistake. Thanks for clarifying. Good to know it dries quickly.

D.

[inkstainedruth]

Personally I'm not loving this new black, precisely because of that slight bit of (underwhelmingly grey-toned) shading.

I was thinking the same thing. To me it looks like some vintage Skrip V-Black I have. And, frankly, like a Noodler's El Lawrence wanna-be.

Thanks for the review, Lgsoltek. I can pass on this one (which, given I bought 8 bottles of ink at OPS over the weekend, is probably a Good Thing...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Goulven Josse]

I just tried "Noir Abyssal" in a wet Pelikan right after having used Perle Noire in the same pen (with a bit of cleaning in between, test on basic Clairefontaine) : this one feels significantly darker, it has less if any shading and it nicely feels smoother with a higher flow - all subjective first impressions. I had also tried Aurora Black and Waterman Noir Intense in the same pen and this Noir Abyssal is closest to Aurora's ... To the point where I'm wondering if Herbin's goal wasn't to imitate Aurora. Perle Noire still has its own unique pure-grey-to-very-black look but as a relatively frustrated seeker of the ultimate (and safe) black (my darkest ink seems to be a blue, Bleu des Profondeurs, also by Herbin), I have to say this one is now topping my list.

[A Smug Dill]

6 hours ago, Goulven Josse said:

a relatively frustrated seeker of the ultimate (and safe) black

 

If you're using a (modern?) Pelikan Souverän piston-filler, then in my experience with such it would have excellent cap seal effectiveness, in which case even pigment inks such as the very waterproof Platinum Carbon Black is safe to use. It's only an issue if such black inks are allowed to dry out in the feed and/or ink reservoir. Don't make the mistake of leaving the pen uncapped or improperly capped (although Pelikan pen caps can sometimes seemingly unscrew themselves from motion due being carried in a pocket or bag), and in all likelihood it's going to be fine and safe.

[Goulven Josse]

Thanks, Smug Dill, I'll keep that in mind - although at the moment I 'only' have an M215 (Rings - with a not so reliable cap indeed).