J. Herbin Café Des Iles

[Colors]

Can anyone recommend a better flowing ink with a color similar to Cafe des Iles? I do like the shade of brown it provides, but wish it flowed better. I looked at the ink swabs on Goulet's and it seems Diamine Saddle and De Atramentis Tobacco are close to the same tone, but of course the color varies on a monitor. I would rather hear from experience users.

[Miles R.]

Please let me know what you find on cleaning the pen you currently have filled?

After using up the ink in the convertor, I took the pen apart for cleaning. It was just as much of a mess as it was with the undiluted Café des îles: solid particles emerged from the feed, which continued to darken the cleaning solution on a second soaking. As I said before, this is an ink that should not be used in pens whose nib sections cannot be dismantled for cleaning.

[el.Fakir]

I'm having exactly the same issues with this ink!!!

Absolutely love using it - as I hate a really wet line - BUT if I put the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, it clogs up and stops working?

I'd already tried the water before I read your post, but, I only added a plunger full - it still clogs up but takes longer - perhaps I should add more water?

When you speak of putting the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, you don't mean leaving the cap off, do you? :blink: I wouldn't expect any ink to flow after that.

 

As for temporary pen stoppages, of the sort that can be remedied by turning the screw of the convertor to force more ink into the nib, I have that problem with a lot of pens, regardless of the ink. With undiluted Cafe des iles it just happens more frequently.

 

As I reported in my previous post, diluting the ink slightly seemed to solve the problem of flow. But after I had set the pen aside for a few days, I found when I took it up again that it had gone back to frequent stoppages. I added a bit more water to the ink in the convertor, bringing the proportion of water to ink up to about 1:4 or maybe even 1:3, I would estimate. This seemed again to solve the problem, and, surprisingly, the ink still looks all right on the page.

 

I suspect, though, that what happens with this ink even when it is diluted is that after a certain period of use it leaves solid deposits in the nib feed that need to be cleaned out. I shall know when I take apart and clean the pen in which I am now using it.

 

 

No, I didn't mean with the cap off.

Just normal use - write something and then cap it and when I uncap it and try to write some more after 5-10-15 minutes - it's a really, really hard starter.

I will try adding more water to come up to the proportions you mentioned and see how I go.

Please let me know what you find on cleaning the pen you currently have filled?

I've been having the same problem with this ink. That’s why I started browsing previous threads about Café des Îles to see if this is a common issue. Oddly enough, it’s not. Everyone seems to be happy with this ink as I’ve come to expect from J.Herbin inks.

This is the first one, among over 90 inks I tried before, that caused such a problem. I'm trying to use it now in the fifth different pen and again it just doesn't want to flow out of the pen. It’s really unusable even in the pens that I could safely leave unattended for weeks filled with any other ink. When I can make it flow it’s THE driest ink I’ve ever used and the moment I cap the pen, no matter how long (or short, indeed) it sits capped, I know it is not going to write again. So frustrating!

[desertsquid]

Since originally writing this review three years ago I've had Herbin Café des Iles in at least one pen most of the time. It's still one of my favourite inks but I have to agree with what Miles R. and trurl said above: it is not very well-behaved. I have to flush my pen every few weeks and I, too, prefer to use it in a pen that is easily dismantled for a thorough flush. It mostly stays in one of my Pelikan M205s. When I flush it I, too, see solid matter emerging from the pen. It is not as bad in this respect as Diamine Chocolate Brown (another of my favourite browns that I continue to use... carefully).

 

I would say say that Herbin Café des Iles is still my favourite brown. But my favourite well-behaved brown is Iroshizuku Tsukushi.

[PatientType]

I use brown inks a lot. Like yourself and several other members, I have found J Herbin inks to be too subdued for my taste. True, some of the colors shade nicely, but that appears to be because the base ink is so washed out that concentrations stand out. I use Pilot inks and other brands but most of my bottles have Noodlers and Private Reserve labels. Those brands offer many, many color choices, the ink seems to do what ink should do, I can find them in many stores and on line, and the prices aren't out of range. Best of all, those two brands tend to make a clear, distinct statement when one writes with them.

[mm1624124]

A substitute might be Sheaffer Brown with a touch of Private Reserve Chocolat. I happened upon the mix by accident. I had a pen dedicated to using up some left over ink samples. I had finished PR Chocolat and slurped up Sheaffer Brown after it without flushing the pen. WOW! The shading was outstanding and still held some of the reddish tint Sheaffer Brown has. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the writing sample here.

 

Unfortunately I have neither a recipe or a pic to show, but I suggest starting with about 10:1 Sheaffer to Private Reserve (or a tad less PR Chocolat) . Having never used Cafe Des Iles I cannot say it wouldn't be exact, but the characteristics everyone seems to desire is there: Deep color, shading with a tad of red in the lighter portions, rich brown/red in the heavier portions, well behaved, no gunk.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I never had a problem with this ink...but have used it sparingly, in I liked Le de The more.

 

There was a time when Herbin had some troubles with some of their inks due to various problems. It is a pinned thread. Perhaps those are old bottles?

[georges zaslavsky]

My question is, are the issues with this ink solved or not?

Edited July 7, 2013 by georges zaslavsky

[InkyTime]

I too have had flow issues with J. Herbin's Cafe de Iles (brown). At first I just thought it was my new Lamy (F) point nib. Then when I cleaned it I also experienced the solids. Augh! I have since tried another pen and still experience flow issues. It's really to bad because I love the color but not the ink performance. I am now on a hunt for an alternate pleasing color or a close match. Not really particular about what brand of ink so long as it performs well.

 

I will attempt to obtain a replacement bottle from the retailer I purchased it from. If they refuse J. Herbin inks with unfortunately be off my list.

[Miles R.]

I too have had flow issues with J. Herbin's Cafe de Iles (brown). At first I just thought it was my new Lamy (F) point nib. Then when I cleaned it I also experienced the solids. Augh! I have since tried another pen and still experience flow issues. It's really to bad because I love the color but not the ink performance. I am now on a hunt for an alternate pleasing color or a close match. Not really particular about what brand of ink so long as it performs well.

 

I will attempt to obtain a replacement bottle from the retailer I purchased it from. If they refuse J. Herbin inks with unfortunately be off my list.

 

(1) I have been able to mitigate the tendency of this ink to stop flowing by mixing it together with another J. Herbin ink, Terre de Feu. Terre de feu would be put next to it in a sequence of Herbin inks going from brown to red, but its consistency is opposite to that of Café des îles, in that it is flowing to the point that it tends to spill out of one's pen and soak the page. I have found that a mixture of 2 parts Café des îles to one part Terre de feu, or as high as five parts to two, works pretty well, while retaining the color and shading of the former. If I use a ratio of 3 to 1, the mixture is not much of an improvement over unmixed Café des îles. Of course, no mixture will eliminate clogging problems altogether, as the ink will still cause particles of pigment to accumulate in one's feed over time: you still have to remove the feed and brush it clean, if not after every filling, then at least after every other one.

 

(2) The ink that seems to me the closest thing to Café des îles in appearance is Visconti Sepia. This is a fairly expensive ink, so try a sample (e.g., from Goulet) before you buy a bottle. It has none of the problems of flow that Café des îles has and its color is similar. [Edited to correct something I wrote here in which I confused it with my recollection of Stipula Sepia, which is similar in color but has excessive flow.] Curiously, it looks less red and more brownish than Café des îles when it is wet, but redder and less brownish when it is dry. For some reason, though, it just doesn't give me the same satisfaction as Café des îles when I am making a line of it on the page.

 

(3) Café des îles is utterly untypical of J. Herbin inks in its flow properties. To draw inferences about other J. Herbin inks from the characteristics of this one is a mistake. All that it has in common with the others (or rather, with many of them) is that it has a very distinctive color and strong shading.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Miles R.

[InkyTime]

Thanks, Miles R. Great information. J. Herbin needs this feedback. Obviously they are doing something (wrong) different with Cafe des Iles ink. No fountain pen ink should leave solids in the feed and definitely it should flow well.

 

Really like your suggestion of a 2:1 ratio. As you mentioned though, this will not stop the solids from accumulating in the feed. As you also mentioned, if you use this ink it should be used in a pen that can be completely dismantled for cleaning.

 

Great information. Great feedback. Thanks again.

[VivienR]

my wife thinks that Lie de Thé looks like baby poop....and we have a 4-month old so we see plenty of it, haha!

 

Well, I'm kind of on the same with the association...

[InkyTime]

I decided to call J. Herbin at: Exaclair, Inc., 143 West 29th Street, Suite 1000, New York, New York 10001, Tel: 1-800-933-8595, Ext. 114, email: sales@exaclair.com (http://www.jherbin.com/contact.php4). They told me that they are J. Herbin's North American representative and to please send an email explaining exactly what is happening.

 

I received a reply wherein they indicated that a couple of years back they had a water contamination problem that has since been resolved. Adding that it is possible that even now I have a bottle that was manufactured from that contaminated batch. J. Herbin requested sending the bottle to them or taking a picture of the back of the label which has the production number. They also requested a picture of the solids accumulation in the feed section. I explained that I have cleaned my pens in question. (Besides if everyone else's experience is similar to mine you will agree that the solids appear long before there is extreme or even noticeable damage.)

 

At this point I am waiting to see what J. Herbin's response will be to the production number on the label of my bottle of Cafe des Ilses. FYI - my google search came up empty in this regard.

 

I will keep you posted.

[Jamerelbe]

...

 

At this point I am waiting to see what J. Herbin's response will be to the production number on the label of my bottle of Cafe des Ilses. FYI - my google search came up empty in this regard.

 

I will keep you posted.

 

I was thinking of buying this ink a few months back, and discovered this thread (among others) that seemed to single out this particular J. Herbin ink as having a clogging problem. Sorry I can't be more specific than this, but I also found a few comments floating around that J. Herbin were blaming it on a water contamination problem, which had since been addressed - but remained cautious because there were still so many ongoing complaints about the ink having problems. Is this the real cause of the problem? I hope so - because I really like the sound of the ink, and would like to try it (eventually) - just thought I should say, although your Google search came up empty, this is the explanation J. Herbin has given in the past.

 

Please do keep us all updated - would love to know it's safe to try this ink out!

[Miles R.]

I received a reply wherein they indicated that a couple of years back they had a water contamination problem that has since been resolved. Adding that it is possible that even now I have a bottle that was manufactured from that contaminated batch. J. Herbin requested sending the bottle to them or taking a picture of the back of the label which has the production number. They also requested a picture of the solids accumulation in the feed section. I explained that I have cleaned my pens in question. (Besides if everyone else's experience is similar to mine you will agree that the solids appear long before there is extreme or even noticeable damage.)

 

Well, that is rum. I am now on my second or third bottle of Café des îles, and every single one that I have had has exhibited the same problem. I can't make any sense of this business about a production number on the back of the label. I have one empty bottle and I cannot find a single number on it anywhere apart from the "30" in the figure of "30 ml," the measure of its contents. There is certainly no number on the back of the label, which I can see through the glass. Maybe I'll have to phone them up myself. Thanks for your initiative.

[InkyTime]

I presume J. Herbin's reference to a production number is the series number or 'No de serie'. This blog service would not allow me to attach my pic of the back of the label. See if your bottle's label has possibly a 6-digit 'No de serie' number. The number on my particular bottle is 122576.

 

I will keep you posted.

[InkyTime]

Thanks! Jamerelbe -- big thanks. Good to know that this is possibly an attempt for J. Herbin to blame poor quality or quality control on a fictitious event. I thought of that when I received such a quick response. Is this just something they are telling everyone? Water contamination a couple of years back, really!? At the same time I suppose it is possible. Albeit less likely, however still possible.

 

We'll see what J. Herbin comes up with from my bottle's No de serie or production number.

 

If they send me a replacement bottle I will give it a try. If the same thing happens then we will know that the contaminated water theory is not entirely accurate.

[InkyTime]

Apologies. User problems. I have now successfully attached a pic of the back of my J. Herbin Cafe des Iles label showing the No de serie or production number.

 

[Miles R.]

Neither of my bottles of Café des îiles has a label on the back, though most (not all) of my bottles of other Herbin inks have such a label.

[InkyTime]

Thanks Miles R. That is most curious. I wonder why some bottles have a label on the back and others do not. Are bottles with or without reverse labels newer or older production bottles. Does anyone know.

 

I think I will also contact the retailer where I purchased my Cafe des Iles from to hear what they have to say.

 

It will be interesting to see if J. Herbin sends me a replacement bottle whether a reverse label is affixed or not.