[Mini Review] Lamy Petrol 2017 L.e.

[Intensity]

Disclaimer: I enjoy doing mini ink reviews for my personal reference, and I'd like to share them with others if they might be of help to gain an insight into the ink's appearance and performance. I generally don't have time to put together super comprehensive reviews, like some of our fantastic reviewers here do (thank you so much for your hard work!), but hopefully these mini reviews will still be useful as another point of reference.

 

Lamy Petrol

 

Lamy releases limited edition color inks and accompanying Safari or Al-Star pens annually. Petrol was a 2017 special edition color for textured Lamy Safari with black hardware and nib, and this ink. Because Lamy only made a fairly small amount of this ink, it quickly sold out and became somewhat of an unobtanium (in truth it is still available, but be prepared to pay 3-6 times the original $12-per-bottle price of this ink on eBay or classifieds boards). I hope Lamy will eventually bring this ink back. I have 3 bottles stocked up and sadly had to pay extra for each one, but I believe this is a great ink that should be made freely available to anyone who is interested--not only because of its color, but also because of its performance.

 

This ink is a saturated green-teal-black with a matte finish on paper. It has some shading in broad or dry nibs, but mostly it is fairly uniform in fine nibs. There is a red-black color-shift where sheen develops, and the metallic component of the sheen is a kind of light pink in color. In practice, it is very difficult to see the metallic sheen from this ink, unless you are writing with a wet pen on Tomoe River, and even then you will not see it much. The red-black color shift is more readily apparent in larger concentrations.

 

The degree to which this ink will look more or less green is highly dependent on illumination and paper used.

 

This ink has moderate flow, one can produce fairly fine hairlines with this ink. It is well lubricated. In my experience it has tamed some difficult nibs and poor performing pens (generally they have something wrong with their nib grinds or alignment) that skip much less or not at all with this ink.

 

One of the properties of this ink that I like is that it removes staining from converters and cleans ink windows, if you let it sit in a pen for a couple of weeks.

 

Water resistance is moderate: a legible black-gray line remains, but there's some smeary wash of dyes that are lifted, so be careful to dab wet paper quickly. No feathering on good paper.

 

I think this ink also makes a good candidate for water brush art. As you can see on the water test rectangle, there is some range of hues that the ink can produce in [more] capable [than mine] hands.

 

Papers used in this review are:

Fabriano Bioprima 4mm dot grid - a kind of ivory color, lightly textured, uncoated

Rhodia Dot Pad 5mm dot grid #16 - bright white (perhaps with a slight lavender tinge)

Nakabayashi Logical Prime notebook - coated and super smooth ivory-toned Japanese paper, shows things like sheen and hue variation pretty well

Tomoe River 52g "white" - off-white slightly ivory Japanese paper which shows sheen and shading very well

Col-o-Ring sample paper - bright white and thick

 

Photographs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scans:

 

Fabriano Bioprima:

 

Rhodia Dot Pad:

 

Color comparison on Nakabayashi Logical Prime notebook paper:

Edited December 18, 2019 by Intensity

[lapis]

Excellent review. You certainly have taken the time to put together a super comprehensive review! I got a bottle shortly after it was issued. I was never really into teals, but this one is "better" than most. Has a lot going for it... physically and chemically. I still loathe the company for the simple reason that they are not willing to cough out bottles of their own LEs here in Germany. It's not only impractical for me; it must also be embarrassing for Lamy that I have to import their bottled LEs from non-German countries.

[namrehsnoom]

Thanks for the great review. I’m currently using my last cartridge of this one for note-taking at work, in a Lamy with F-nib. I really like Petrol as a writing ink, it has no problem with EF/F nibs, still producing a nicely saturated contrast-rich line. Enjoyable...

[KaB]

thx for the review. Especially for the comparison with Noodlers Aircorp blue-black

[Sailor Kenshin]

Wonderful review! I keep trying to love this ink....maybe soon.

[DrDebG]

I agree with the others. This is an excellent review.

 

Like Sailor Kenshin, I try to love the ink . . . over . . . over . . . and over again. And the funny thing is I love teals. But - not this one.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I agree with the others. This is an excellent review.

 

Like Sailor Kenshin, I try to love the ink . . . over . . . over . . . and over again. And the funny thing is I love teals. But - not this one.

 

Maybe we should Sell It Forward....but I'm going to give it one more try this winter.

 

Maybe in a Safari. Nib or Other Pen suggestions for this ink, anyone? C/C preferred. Thanks.

[Bill P]

My of my favorite Inks....thanks for taking the time to prepare and share your review....

[DrDebG]

Maybe we should Sell It Forward....but I'm going to give it one more try this winter.

 

Maybe in a Safari. Nib or Other Pen suggestions for this ink, anyone? C/C preferred. Thanks.

 

I actually have my Lamy Safari Petrol pen and the 25mLs or so that I have left up for sale. I would really like someone else to enjoy it. It isn't for me.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Okay, you all talked me into it. Another go-round. The paper is Rhodia Ice.

 

http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/6315/7686/3759/Lamy_Petrol-640p.jpg

 

I suppose going from bleccch to meh is a step in the right direction.

[Intensity]

Haha . “It’s just ink!” With that said, I’ve changed my mind on quite a few inks over time, as my understanding of them and tastes have evolved.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Intensity

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks for the review, Intensity...I may change my mind after all.

[DrDebG]

Thanks for the review, Intensity...I may change my mind after all.

 

No! No! No! Your going to "the dark side"! Don't do it!

 

Just kidding!

Edited December 20, 2019 by DrDebG

[Sailor Kenshin]

No! No! No! Your going to "the dark side"! Don't do it!

 

Just kidding!

 

Muahahaaaaa.

 

PS: I gotta admit, it's slinky 'n' smoooov in this EF Safari...

Edited December 21, 2019 by Sailor Kenshin