scribo My search for an Omas-worthy nib: A Review of the SCRIBO Feel Melograno

[sannidh]

PRELUDE

Compensating for missing out on an Omas Extra Flessible nib

 

I managed to snag an Omas Arte Italiana Vision fountain pen back in 2015 when Omas was still around. The Art Vision in green/emerald with a medium nib is absolutely adorable and perfectly showcases the design flair Omas was known for. Just take a look at the ruthenium-plated ‘O’ on the finial. However, the extra-flessible nib always intrigued me, especially when Omas launched the Ogiva Alba & Cocktail series with that option. But my courage couldn’t match my budget or rather the lack of it. So in mid-2020, I went for a Scribo with a Feel the Flex nib to address this emotional gap. A chat with ever-gracious Frank from Fontoplumo assured me that Scribo indeed had the Omas equipment as the other reviews suggested, so the nibs would be similar, if not identical. Somehow, the newly resurrected Omas pens don't quite capture the finesse that the classic Omas pens had in abundance.

 

If you like a pictorial blogger view, here is the link:

A Review of the SCRIBO Feel Melograno

 

PRESENTATION (3/6)

A cardboard box and a canvas wrap

 

The packaging is pretty basic and seems to be a combination of eco-friendliness and cost-friendliness. The cardboard box didn’t survive my move, it looked like it lost a fight crumpled under a paper weight. So, no photos or fond memories of the box. I mean, if you're charging over $500, wouldn't it make sense to spend 1/20th of that on a box that doesn't self-destruct? Anyway, rant over, I did manage to keep the off-grey canvas wrap, so at least there's that!

As you can see, the wrap can carry two pens and a polishing cloth. Alas! they forgot to include the polishing cloth.

 

DESIGN (4/6)

Somewhat Greek-y Functionalism sans a Greek-key

 

I had the chance to chat with Luca from Scribo, who I later found out is the founder of the company. This conversation happened because the metal parts of my pen decided to oxidise themselves within a month. Rust spots popped up all over the cap band and parts of the clip, like the pen had gone on a deep-sea dive. I was shocked to see such quality issues with the plating so soon. Even my Platinum #3776 took a good 3-4 years to show off how thin its gold plating was, but for the price and the gold nib, I could live with it. 

A penalty of -2 for all the trouble, but the excellent customer service from Luca within COVID-19 restrictions adds +1. @luca-baglione and his team handled all the issues with incoming customs when the product was mistakenly declared as merchandise by the postal department here. He was gracious enough to send a free sample bottle of Rosso Melograno ink along with the pen. I love the colour more than Rosso Chianti which would be the one to go with the pen.

Melograno in Italian translates to pomegranate tree. One of the reasons I chose this variant is that I did not have any fountain pens in those hues, unless you consider a Platinum 3776 in burgundy to be one. Especially with the subtle play of maroon, pink, and white streaks in a cracked ice pattern, the pen becomes quite attractive. The pen feels substantial in the hand, thanks to its hourglass design and gentle tapering at the finial ends. It is slightly larger compared to an Omas Vision/Paragon, which initially felt a bit odd. 

     

          The legendary dodecagonal structure is aesthetically pleasing and prevents the pen from rolling off surfaces. Compared to Omas, I feel the Scribo Feel leans more towards functionalism rather than aesthetics. Unlike the Omas, there is no Greek-key design on the cap band, and I feel the design has been somewhat rushed for the sake of modernism, with quick parallel lines.

The uncapping is quick and takes about 1.25 turns for the cap to come off - perfect for those impatient moments. A nice touch is the continuation of the dodecagonal structure into the section. 

The section itself is long and comfortable to hold, ending with a rhodium-plated ring for that extra bit of bling. More on that later. Somehow, I probably expected a classic Omas-like Greek key design here too, but I guess they decided to leave ancient history in the past.

Now, coming back to the cap, it feels substantial with its spring-loaded convex clip that curves into a concave arc towards the end. The clip is one of the best functional parts I've used, much like the GvFC clips—seriously, it's like the Swiss Army knife of pen clips. The cap band is adorned with parallel lines and proudly displays SCRIBO, which stands for Scrittura Bolognese or "Bolognese writing," alongside their slogan, "Feel the Writing”. And yes, it does feel very comfortable while writing, like a handshake from an old friend.

                     The finial, or cap medallion, is inscribed with a feather quill and features some parallel lines running along it. The cap gently tapers towards this end. Nothing too remarkable here.

 

FILLING & CLEANING SYSTEMS (6/6)

A convenient piston filler

 

The piston mechanism is very well made and seems functionally superior to the Omas Vision I have, in terms of suction and smoothness of operation. However, Pelikans are probably the best of the lot.

The piston fills up smoothly with 1.3-1.4ml of ink. The mechanism includes a brass/metal sleeve, adding some extra heft to the Feel. No complaints here—it works like a charm. My only gripe, shared by a few others, is the lack of an ink window. With the flexible nib and wet ebonite feed, this pen runs out of ink faster than others with similar ink capacity.

 

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6)

The Extra-Flessiblity 

 

The Scribo Feel series boasts an array of around 10-12 different nib variations, now including both 18k stock and 14k flexible nibs. While I haven’t had the pleasure of using an 18k nib yet, I imagine it’s as soft and luxurious as an Omas. The 14k ones are meant to cater to our extra-flessible desires.

      Love it! Except for the inscription. The 14k feel the FLEX, Fine nib. It’s  simultaneously one of the most beautiful nib in terms of writing and unappealing in terms of design. While it may have the writing charm of Omas nibs of yore, the embossing of slogan, company and gold content of the nib residing within an elongated hexagon doesn’t market the nib well. But I do not think the Omas extra-flessible nibs had much to offer either.

Speaking of shape, the nib bears a striking resemblance to the Omas Art Vision.

Once you turn the nib, the first thing you'll notice is the feed, and then the tip. The tip appears to have a sort of an elongated bulb. The feed has the exact same structure as an Omas. It’s a heat set black ebonite feed and supports the wet ink flow very well. In theory, ebonite attracts water as it is hydrophilic as opposed to hydrophobic plastics which repel water, thereby wetting more efficiently under the nib. 

 

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

The Newtonian Laws

 

The overall capped length measures approximately 15 cm. The section offers one of the most comfortable grips in my collection, with a diameter ranging from approximately 1.1 to 1.2 cm.

 

Below are pictures along with a Sailor Pro Gear Fujiyama Realo for a comparative reference. It was in rotation and sitting pretty, so I thought of taking a few pictures with that. Normally, I would post a standard Sailor Pro Gear, while writing. 

Here go the dimensions.

• Uncapped Length ~ 13.5 cm
• Total Length ~ 15 cm

• Exposed Nib Leverage ~ 2.5 cm

The weight of the pen is comforting even without the cap.

• Overall Weight ~ 37.6 g (inked, without cap ~20.5g)

 

ECONOMIC VALUE (4/6)

Functionality vs Price

 

I paid the full MRP for this pen. While it's finely engineered, I find it lacking in overall aesthetics compared to the venerable Omas pens of yore. Given the premium price, I would expect a more pleasing design on the cap band, thicker plating to prevent oxidation within 2-3 years, a more attractive cap medallion, and some attention to the inscription on the nib. Additionally, there are some micro spots of oxidation appearing on the trims, which are visible in the photos.

 

WRITING & FINAL COMMENTS (4.7/6)

Pleasure to write with, aesthetics need to scale up

 

The writing experience with this nib is among the softest I've encountered, responsive to pressure and writing style. Even without intentionally flexing the nib, its natural tendency to vary strokes is impressive.

   This nib writes wet without any issues of drying out or railroading. The slight feedback it provides is more about control than a flaw. With moderate pressure, the nib flexes, opening its tines and increasing ink flow. I handle it with care.

On Endless Regalia 80 GSM paper, using Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink, lines take approximately 45-55 seconds to dry. While I'm not particularly inclined towards flex writing, the nib does offer pleasing line variation.

I've been using this pen on and off since 2020, and it has become an essential part of my rotation. One crucial aspect is the approximately 3cm long, polygonally contoured section, which provides an incredibly comfortable writing experience. I find the section threads non-intrusive while writing. I appreciate Scribo's differentiation from Omas, as highlighted in Dries' excellent review. However, I can't help but feel that the aesthetics have declined from Omas' standards. I would prefer the pen to have metal sections that are better finished and don't oxidize every couple of years. Now, over to @luca-baglione and team to make those improvements.

 

Thank you for going through the review. 

You can find other pen and paraphernalia reviews here. 

  

REFERENCES

 

The Pencilcase Blog

Scribo - About Us

[lionelc]

thank you for your review - scribo makes a great pen and nib however design can be controversial.  i enjoy the shape of it and find the 14c nib a 6/6, being pretty close to the omas alma mater nib in terms of expressiveness.  i still dont think the original facetted design can be beat though - which is probably the reason multiple modern italian makers have been introducing facetted lines.

[dms525]

Thanks for the very detailed review. Your photos of this pen show it off better than any I have seen before.

 

I have one Scribo Feel. It is very comfortable to write with, and the nib, which in my case is a custom-ground cursive italic, writes beautifully. 

 

I agree that the visual aesthetics of the OMAS facetted pens is superior to the Feel, but I have to admit, while I love my OMAS pens, the older Paragon is not as comfortable for me to write with than the Scribo Feel. I tend to hold thin pen too tightly.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

 

 

[jchch1950]

How flexible are the Omas or the Scribo nibs in comparison to the Magna Carta 600?

[Geert Jan]

If you're talking about the old OMAS (so pre-ASC) their extra flessibile nbs and Scribo's flexible nibs: they are bot pretty flexible and soft (and since Scrico uses the same tooling for nibs as OMAS did, not much difference between those two). I find the Magna Carta Mag600 nib both flexier and softer.

Check out this Doodlebud video to get a view what the Magna Carta nibs can do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e1u2nEOq5Y

 

I'm hoping for the Mag650 in stacked acrylic to arrive in Europe as well (my wallet will stop me from importing it from the States, but I think my heart can overrule my wallet if I can get hold of it closer to home)

 

[jchch1950]

Thanks, Geert Jan. Yes I was asking about an Omas nib pre ASC. My doubt is if the Magna nib will be more flexible than the Omas. But I will wait until the Magna 650 is available in more countries.

[sannidh]

On 6/21/2024 at 3:00 AM, lionelc said:

thank you for your review - scribo makes a great pen and nib however design can be controversial.  i enjoy the shape of it and find the 14c nib a 6/6, being pretty close to the omas alma mater nib in terms of expressiveness.  i still dont think the original facetted design can be beat though - which is probably the reason multiple modern italian makers have been introducing facetted lines.

Thank you for sharing your experience @lionelc. I would tend to agree with you albeit with limited experience. Btw, I was checking with Luca regarding the interoperability between the Piuma & Omas 360 nib systems, and he confirmed that they had changed the Omas 360 media nib size from 5.5 to 6.5 during the last period before closure. And Scribo uses the same nib system. Also I think, Scribo's customer service beats Omas' any day! That's a big plus.

On 6/21/2024 at 4:56 AM, dms525 said:

Thanks for the very detailed review. Your photos of this pen show it off better than any I have seen before.

 

I have one Scribo Feel. It is very comfortable to write with, and the nib, which in my case is a custom-ground cursive italic, writes beautifully. 

 

I agree that the visual aesthetics of the OMAS facetted pens is superior to the Feel, but I have to admit, while I love my OMAS pens, the older Paragon is not as comfortable for me to write with than the Scribo Feel. I tend to hold thin pen too tightly.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

 

 

Thank you David for your gracious feedback. I love your reviews! Totally, the Feel actually feels quite comfortable to write compared to many other pens I have. 

On 6/21/2024 at 3:33 PM, jchch1950 said:

How flexible are the Omas or the Scribo nibs in comparison to the Magna Carta 600?

Here is a link to @Geert Jan's excellent review of the Mag600. Given the price, I’m a bit nervous about taking the plunge, especially with the mixed reviews on their quality control. Those nibs seem delectable indeed - when they work. As one of my fountain pen-obsessed friends put it, “The problem probably lies in sending perfectly tuned pens to influencers for glowing reviews and then playing a game of quality control roulette with the rest of us.”

21 hours ago, Geert Jan said:

If you're talking about the old OMAS (so pre-ASC) their extra flessibile nbs and Scribo's flexible nibs: they are bot pretty flexible and soft (and since Scrico uses the same tooling for nibs as OMAS did, not much difference between those two). I find the Magna Carta Mag600 nib both flexier and softer.

Check out this Doodlebud video to get a view what the Magna Carta nibs can do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e1u2nEOq5Y

 

I'm hoping for the Mag650 in stacked acrylic to arrive in Europe as well (my wallet will stop me from importing it from the States, but I think my heart can overrule my wallet if I can get hold of it closer to home)

 

PS. I am not sure if this is happening for everybody, but I am unable to access FPN quite frequently now.

[RJS]

Thank you for the detailed and interesting review!

[MidSouthern-Dad]

I always thought that the Scribo Feel pen shape was odd.  However, in hand, it sits and holds well.   I went for the standard rigid nibs, as I have a lot of rapid note taking at work.  It feels just like the old Omas nibs.  They are excellent writing pens.

 

I do have a Mag 600.  That 14K flex nib is most reminiscent of some of my Waterman 52 vintage flex nibs.  It is soft and springy, with rapid snapback.  Doodlebug's review says that the Mag 650 nib is even softer and flexier than that of the Mag 600.   But, that $450 price!

BTW, I have been using the Mag 600 at work, notetaking.  So, it is possible to use a flex nib on a daily basis.

 

You have to give some allowances for these limited production, largely handmade Scribo Italian pens.  The faceted trim ring on my Feel (at the end of the section) fell off.  I discovered that it is screwed on, and using a touch of epoxy, it is on there forever.  Also, the piston out of the box tends to be a bit stiff.  I took the nib and feed out, and using a long Q-tip with some silicone grease, lubed up the inside of the barrel of the pen.  It's much smoother now.

[mulrich]

I share your opinion about the inscription; this has kept me from seriously considering the pen. If they ever change to a less obnoxious nib design I’m all in. 

[rudyhou]

👍 great review.  nice clear pics and explanations.  thanks for sharing.  

[sannidh]

On 6/22/2024 at 8:18 PM, RJS said:

Thank you for the detailed and interesting review!

Thank you @RJS for spending time on this review and sharing your kind feedback. 

On 6/22/2024 at 10:28 PM, MidSouthern-Dad said:

I always thought that the Scribo Feel pen shape was odd.  However, in hand, it sits and holds well.   I went for the standard rigid nibs, as I have a lot of rapid note taking at work.  It feels just like the old Omas nibs.  They are excellent writing pens.

 

I do have a Mag 600.  That 14K flex nib is most reminiscent of some of my Waterman 52 vintage flex nibs.  It is soft and springy, with rapid snapback.  Doodlebug's review says that the Mag 650 nib is even softer and flexier than that of the Mag 600.   But, that $450 price!

BTW, I have been using the Mag 600 at work, notetaking.  So, it is possible to use a flex nib on a daily basis.

 

You have to give some allowances for these limited production, largely handmade Scribo Italian pens.  The faceted trim ring on my Feel (at the end of the section) fell off.  I discovered that it is screwed on, and using a touch of epoxy, it is on there forever.  Also, the piston out of the box tends to be a bit stiff.  I took the nib and feed out, and using a long Q-tip with some silicone grease, lubed up the inside of the barrel of the pen.  It's much smoother now.

Thank you for sharing your Mag 600 experience. How is their customer service? I have heard that MG largely caters to Western markets, so they should probably establish good customer service practices. You are spot on regarding the comfort the Scribo Feel provides. I am sorry to hear that the section ring fell off. And thank you for the heads-up about the piston lubrication! It's the same with Omas.

On 6/23/2024 at 4:50 AM, mulrich said:

I share your opinion about the inscription; this has kept me from seriously considering the pen. If they ever change to a less obnoxious nib design I’m all in. 

🫠 The pen however feels awesome to write with if I turn a blind eye towards the manuscript 🤣

On 7/5/2024 at 9:17 AM, rudyhou said:

👍 great review.  nice clear pics and explanations.  thanks for sharing.  

Thank you @rudyhou for your kind feedback. I love the pen. And the same is not true about the Leonardo MZ Grande I got. 

[MidSouthern-Dad]

I did not use the Magna Carta's service at all.  The weakness of the Magna Carta is that it tries to do everything at once:  be a pen that uses cartridges, converters, or can be eyedroppered.  A flexible nib such as this has huge ink demands, that the tiny little converter/cartridge nipple cannot provide rapid enough ink / air exchange.  Thus, the nib will railroad after a period of flexing.  I got tired of this.  After removing the nib and feed, I drilled out the converter nipple entirely using a 4 mm drill bit.  There is no longer any restriction on air/ink exchange.  Now, my pen is entirely an eyedropper pen.  Yes, my warranty is violated, I realize that.

 

I then found that the pen was gushing vast amounts of ink.   I found that the left side of the feed has a very large air channel carved out on the side, near the section, in order to allow more air to go up the converter nipple.  Without the nipple, too much air flow, and thus massive ink flow was occurring.   I filled the main ink channel on the midline of the nib with teflon plumber's tape.  This is to prevent epoxy from getting into the main ink channel.  Then, I used epoxy to fill up the accessory air channel, to block it off.  (Wipe off the excess epoxy while it is still soft, to make a flush surface with the rest of the feed).  After the epoxy hardens, the telfon tape can then be removed from the main ink channel, having served its purpose.

 

 Now my pen never railroads or runs out of ink if I flex heavily.  It still has a high ink flow, as the primary ink channels are already very deep in the feed of the Mag 600. 

[sannidh]

On 7/10/2024 at 6:46 AM, MidSouthern-Dad said:

I did not use the Magna Carta's service at all.  The weakness of the Magna Carta is that it tries to do everything at once:  be a pen that uses cartridges, converters, or can be eyedroppered.  A flexible nib such as this has huge ink demands, that the tiny little converter/cartridge nipple cannot provide rapid enough ink / air exchange.  Thus, the nib will railroad after a period of flexing.  I got tired of this.  After removing the nib and feed, I drilled out the converter nipple entirely using a 4 mm drill bit.  There is no longer any restriction on air/ink exchange.  Now, my pen is entirely an eyedropper pen.  Yes, my warranty is violated, I realize that.

 

I then found that the pen was gushing vast amounts of ink.   I found that the left side of the feed has a very large air channel carved out on the side, near the section, in order to allow more air to go up the converter nipple.  Without the nipple, too much air flow, and thus massive ink flow was occurring.   I filled the main ink channel on the midline of the nib with teflon plumber's tape.  This is to prevent epoxy from getting into the main ink channel.  Then, I used epoxy to fill up the accessory air channel, to block it off.  (Wipe off the excess epoxy while it is still soft, to make a flush surface with the rest of the feed).  After the epoxy hardens, the telfon tape can then be removed from the main ink channel, having served its purpose.

 

 Now my pen never railroads or runs out of ink if I flex heavily.  It still has a high ink flow, as the primary ink channels are already very deep in the feed of the Mag 600. 

 

Thank you for sharing your experience and workaround regarding the MC feed. I shared your unique solution with Tom Westerich (Goldfink, Penboard.de) and Hiren (founder of Magna Carta) when we met last week. Both are collaborating to improve it further. We also met Phillip Landsiedel (former Montblanc employee, now independent), an excellent nibmeister. He tuned several nibs, including a berserkly ground Sheaffer Legacy nib I own, which now has a finer point ground to perfection (if you happen to like MB grinds for rigid nibs like I do).

https://imgur.com/gallery/philip-landsiedel-ex-mb-working-on-unwieldy-sheaffer-legacy-nib-ELA7qRq

P.S. I also tried a vintage Omas Extra Lucens nib (fitted onto a NOS 360), but I have to say that the Scribo Flex nib feels superior to me compared to the EL nib. Maybe it's because of the longer 6.5 nib (Omas 360 is 5.5) system, which Luca mentioned in a separate conversation. You can also find Tom trying out my Scribo in the Reddit post below.