Troublemaker Mango With Mold

[Susan3141]

Hi all,

 

I ordered four Troublemaker inks from Shigure Inks when they got some in stock a few weeks back. I was really excited to snag a few of these inks because I'd seen reviews and found several colors I wanted to try. And they sell out FAST.

 

Yesterday, I inked my Sailor Tequila Sunrise with Troublemaker Mango. Not long afterwards, I received an email from Shigure stating that they'd received reports of mold in the ink. They refunded everyone who purchased Mango and suggested that we discard the ink. Good job by Shigure letting us know of the problem and refunding everyone who bought the ink.

 

At first, I thought, "Mine doesn't have mold. I didn't see any junk on the surface when I opened the bottle, and it didn't smell funky." But I asked the rep at Shigure how one could know if their ink had mold. He said to look through the bottle with a flashlight or bright light. You'd see a milky substance in the ink. Sure enough, the mold was in my ink.

 

 

YUCK.

 

So, of course I dumped the ink and cleaned out my Sailor right away. For now, I guess I'll fill my Sailor from sample vials just to make sure it doesn't infect my other ink.

 

Here's the thing: I bought four bottles of ink. Maybe only Mango was affected, but maybe not. The problem is, the three other inks I purchased are dark, so you can't see through the bottles with a flashlight or bright sunlight. I even poured one of the inks into a glass jar to spread it out a bit, but I still couldn't see through it. I don't know if that milky mold (bleep) is in the other inks.

 

I contacted Shigure because I do not want any of my other pens to be infected. I asked, "How can I be sure my other inks are okay?" The response was basically: give them a smell to see if they seem "off." And: stick a Q-Tip or chopstick in the ink to see if there's any resistance or if you pull out any gunk. Well . . . the inks smell like ink (so did Mango). And the Q-Tip test didn't seem to be adequate, because, again, the ink is so saturated, I'm not sure the milky stuff would be noticeable even if it's there.

 

Does anyone know if there's a way to test ink for mold? If not, should I just dump all the ink and call it a day? This has made me leery of Troublemaker Ink, but I don't want to give up on the brand if this is just an isolated incident. BTW, I know that Private Reserve had this problem (I've read the posts about it).

 

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Susan

[kestrel]

I wouldn't dump them all just now. Wait a few weeks and keep an eye on the ink. The mold tests you used were good. Another one I use when I get suspicious is sticking a disposable serological pipet (aka micropipet) into the bottle or vial and trying to draw up some ink from the bottom of the container. If I get a blob of something stuck to the end of the pipet I throw ink, container, and pipet in the trash can.

 

Shigure contacted you. That shows good customer service on their part. They are willing to work for your business. Anybody can make a mistake and a company should be evaluated, in part, with how they respond to those errors. In this case it was a bad batch of ink and they tried to make things right.

 

I have found SITB in bottles of ink from J. Herbin, Private Reserve, Montblanc, and Monteverde. I still use inks from three of the four. When I contacted J. Herbin and Monteverde they were quick to replace the contaminated ink. I didn't reach out to Montblanc or Private Reserve for reasons not germane to this discussion (i.e. not a problem with the company).

 

Good Luck with your inks.

[Parker51]

It may be a long shot, but perhaps you have access to some disposable coffee filters. If you do, you can use one in a funnel to filter a small amount of ink from one of the questionable bottles to see if you have some foreign substance in the ink. If you do in the sample you took it will remain in the filter. The best filters for this are the old bleached white paper kind.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Parker51

[KreepyKen]

I'll do you one better. After Alex contacted me about the mold, I also confirmed this milky substance in mine. And the ink does not smell at all of mold or mildew. Interestingly, this is my second bottle of Mango. I got my first bottle way back in November (actually, my awesome wife got it for me for Christmas). I loved it so much, I got a second bottle in the latest free-for-all. Figuring what the heck, I checked my first bottle, and sure enough, it also has mold. Both bottles. Same ink. Same mold. One from November, one from now.

 

I have 9 other bottles of Troublemaker inks, checked them all, and just like you, found that they are too dark to see into.

 

But it appears that this is a longstanding issue, at least with Mango ink. Could it be a contaminated ingredient in Mango? It's obviously not just an isolated incident, so I'm really nervous about the other colors (even though I've got three or four pens inked up with various colors right now, and all seems well).

 

I'm researching now to see if there's a reasonable way to salvage the ink. And if so, I'll probably treat all 11 bottles I have, just in case.

 

[Croma]

Hello:

I recuperated several inks with mold. I filtered it with a coffe filter (or tea bag filter) and after, I added a bit of TIMOL to ink and solved it. Well, note the timol has a strong chemical smell, but is normal. With a small amount of it in ink, the smell is acceptable.

The timol is available at drugstores and chemical supplies store. I bought a small package of 100 grams, and I have enough timol for all my lifetime and all the inks I could ever have.

Regards.

[Mew]

Maybe its called Troublemaker inks for a reason?

[Susan3141]

Apparently mold has also been found in Kelp Tea and Hanging Rice. My bottle of Abalone has a strong odor. I’m planning to experiment with coffee filters to see if I can actually capture the mold if it’s there. I wish I hadn’t thrown out my bottle of Mango so I could experiment with it first.

That said, I’m swearing off Troublemaker Inks for now. They never responded to my email asking about the issue. I’m surprised they haven’t issued some sort of recall.

Kudos to Shigure Inks for immediately contacting their customers about the problem. I’ll definitely buy more ink from them, just not Troublemaker.

[KreepyKen]

Hello:

I recuperated several inks with mold. I filtered it with a coffe filter (or tea bag filter) and after, I added a bit of TIMOL to ink and solved it. Well, note the timol has a strong chemical smell, but is normal. With a small amount of it in ink, the smell is acceptable.

The timol is available at drugstores and chemical supplies store. I bought a small package of 100 grams, and I have enough timol for all my lifetime and all the inks I could ever have.

Regards.

Good info, thanks! I'll look into the Timol. I saw a post here in FPN about using Phenol, but it seems you need to use a lot, and I don't want to dilute the ink with too much liquid. Also had someone mention Moldstat Plus, but you can only buy it by the gallon and it's green (don't really want to put that in my bright orange ink).

 

I'm planning to use a coffee filter to get the bulk of the solids, then use syringe filters to get any particles and bacteria, and finish with a biocide to keep it clean. With the phenol and Moldstat seemingly out, I was about to reach out to DuPont chemicals to try and get a sample of one of their ink biocides. If Timol is readily available in small quantities, that would probably be a lot easier.

 

Thanks!

[KreepyKen]

Apparently mold has also been found in Kelp Tea and Hanging Rice. My bottle of Abalone has a strong odor. I’m planning to experiment with coffee filters to see if I can actually capture the mold if it’s there. I wish I hadn’t thrown out my bottle of Mango so I could experiment with it first.

 

That said, I’m swearing off Troublemaker Inks for now. They never responded to my email asking about the issue. I’m surprised they haven’t issued some sort of recall.

 

Kudos to Shigure Inks for immediately contacting their customers about the problem. I’ll definitely buy more ink from them, just not Troublemaker.

 

Oh geez. I've got both Kelp Tea and Hanging Rice. Luckily, I don't have either loaded in a pen yet (I do have Abalone, Blue Guitar, and Mango loaded, though).

 

I agree on Shigure Inks. I totally appreciate Alex's proactive approach, and will happily continue to shop there.

[A Smug Dill]

After Alex contacted me about the mold, I also confirmed this milky substance in mine.

It's almost living art! This part of your photo:

looks like a woman in a long skirt on a scooter being followed or chased by someone on a motorcycle who is wearing a scarf.

[KreepyKen]

It's almost living art! This part of your photo:

looks like a woman in a long skirt on a scooter being followed or chased by someone on a motorcycle who is wearing a scarf.

That is an absolutely amazing analysis! LOL

[Mannyonpil]

"Mango with Mold" is an odd name for an ink.

[Uncial]

It's almost living art! This part of your photo:

looks like a woman in a long skirt on a scooter being followed or chased by someone on a motorcycle who is wearing a scarf.

 

Or the library ghost from Ghostbusters on a jet ski, being chased by Slimer wearing a scarf.

[Uncial]

On a more serious note:

I have three of the Troublemaker inks. Abalone and Milky Ocean both have a very powerful chemical smell, so I would presume they would be safe enough - assuming of course that the chemical smell is an included mold inhibitor. Kelp Tea, however, has no smell at all and is entirely neutral. A toothpick test gathered no blobs on any of them.

[Susan3141]

So, I received this email from Troublemaker Inks:

 

Hello Susan,

Apologies for the late response. We’ve talked to Shigure Inks and we’ve discussed this issue. It’s actually not mold but an impurity in one of the dyes we use for Mango. We’ve brought this up to our supplier and they’ve assured us that the sedimentation is safe and will not affect the your pen’s performance. You can just take a blunt syringe and suck the sediment out.

We use the necessary biocides for all of our inks and we can assure our customers that every single one of our inks are safe to use, even in vintage pens.

Thank you so much for your email! We apologize for this and rest assured, we are doing our best to not have this issue reoccur.

-Kai

 

It raises more questions for me.

 

1. If this is "sedimentation" why does it float in the ink? I would expect sediment to sink to the bottom. I need a chemist to help me understand this.

 

2. Isn't sediment also a problem? Getting that stuff in your feed surely could gunk up the works.

 

I'm going to try using a syringe and see if I find any gunk in my other Troublemaker inks, but I'll confess, I'm still leery.

 

I am glad Troublemaker Inks responded. And, at least if it isn't mold, maybe my pen isn't infected, so that's good.

[KreepyKen]

Thanks for passing along, Susan! I did wonder why my old bottle didn't seem to have more of this material in it, even though it's been sitting for an extra seven months. It also explains why the ink doesn't smell like mold.

 

I still don't like the idea of goo in my ink, but I definitely feel better about it now. Thank you!

[amberleadavis]

Great analysis!!

 

BTW, check out the biocide shoot out threads for discussion about biocide.