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Review: Nakaya Naka-Ai Cigar Raden Milky Way 0.7Mm Stub


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I finally have passable photos to share unlike my reviews of yesteryear, with my dad having bequeathed me his own Canon alpha so I won't have to rely on the iPhone camera in bad lighting. The setting you see is my dingy dorm room. I know as a college student, collecting fountain pens is a ridiculous and spoilt hobby. It just so happens that my parents support it fully and we share in the delight of the pens and having received this splendid specimen for my 21st birthday, I'm presently full of not caring about how this is not befitting of my station, but I digress...

 

First Impression/Presentation: 6/5

The pen came in an off-white, textured outer cardboard box which is quite pretty given it's a cardboard box after all, the part people least care about when it comes to presentation. Nice effort overall, reminds me of the box for the Iroshizuku inks, which are silvery and expensive looking. Inside the cardboard box came a nice wooden box with calligraphic Kanji written on it. Being Chinese, I can probably translate it to a decent amount of accuracy but really. Who cares? It looks cool.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/DSC07941_zps8688576f.jpg

 

It's simple and quite elegant, nothing ostentatious like the box that my OMAS 360 Demo came in. It's just right for the item it's supposed to hold and doesn't take up additional space. The red velvet inner lining is also quite standard for a pen of this price point, but what blew me away is really the pen kimono. Whereas most companies wrap your pen in a cheap clear plastic sleeve, this came with a navy and speckled gold pen kimono. It's seriously awesome. Unlike most standard included equipment this pen kimono does the pen justice. Lookie.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/DSC07952_zpsfd0a4f8c.jpg

 

I was not expecting that. Maybe I should have read the listing more carefully before I bought it, but I will never complain about being pleasantly surprised! It also came with a box full of blue-black cartridges which I will never ever use. I have a deep and irrational prejudice against cartridges but it's thoughtful of them nonetheless. I think I'll give them to a friend.

 

Appearance: 4/5

Not the most beautiful pen in my collection because it's on the plain side, at least compared to my OMAS and Visconti and Montblanc. The cigar shape is very attractive and unique, for instance. I ordered this from Classic Fountain Pens and inquired about having the pearl inlaid on the section and adding a stopper, and they told me that putting that on would amount to having it custom made, which means it can take up to a year! No thanks. It's for my 21st birthday, not my 22nd! I'll deal with its not-plainness. I will visit Japan this summer so I'll see if I can set up an appointment with them to have a stopper added for much shorter turnaround time; maybe if I go in person it will make a difference. I don't know if they do that kind of thing but to me it's worth a shot. It will infinitely elevate the impact of the pen. The body is inlaid with abalone shells, hence "raden", shaped to look like the Milky Way galaxy. Being an astronomy nut, that sold me on the pen. They glitter like gemstones.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/DSC07945_zpsdf51dc5a.jpg

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/DSC07947_zps13f47f02.jpg

 

Nib: 4/5

I got the pen in Ruthenium plating and I wouldn't have gone for it if I didn't think it would look great, so needless to say I find it beautiful. The extra-broad Kanji also makes it look epic, because the broad, big, or the "tai" kanji has various... epic connotations aside from big or broad. Being Asian, and this being my first nice Asian pen, this pleases me quite a lot. Finally, a nib that doesn't say F or EF or BB or whatever.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/IMG_2408_zps1b24c311.jpg

 

The nib is smooth enough for a stub. Certainly smoother than the last Lamy Joy I owned, which was so scratchy I couldn't write with it. That pen was also a bit broad for writing, so I consulted the nice people at nibs.com what kind of stub I should go for to be able to write comfortably and, well, do "normal" sized writing. They recommended 0.7mm, or a medium stub. I said okay, and here it is, inked with Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/IMG_2414_zpse9e30638.jpg

 

The ink flow is medium with light pressure, but I'm not sure if this is a feature of Nakaya or adjustments made by John Mottishaw, because that's how I like to write. In either case, this is a decent nib that works well. Admittedly I'm not used to the stubbish quality of it yet, but maybe a few more days will make a difference. The line variation is sharp for a stub, and clearly visible. The fine line is pretty damn fine. Reaction: Lukewarm.

 

Construction/Size/Weight etc. 4.5/5

 

Weight: Pretty light. I haven't weighed it, but if you want accurate information, you can find it online. It's a standard Naka-ai cigar model so I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult. Lighter than I'm used to. The balance is good for long stretches of writing.

 

Size: It's a hefty 6 inches capped. The length doesn't change much posted or uncapped. I'm a woman with large hands and I definitely prefer larger pens.

 

Construction quality: Good. The pen body is smooth and even from first glance I can tell it's veyr well made and will not be prone to scratches. The threads in the section and the cap feel substantial and not cheap and plasticky. This is making my Montblanc limited edition feel cheap, at a similar price point! That's a bit disappointing, on Montblanc's part, and speaks volumes for the craftsmanship of this pen. One small gripe I had is that because the galaxy goes onto the cap too, it's a bit hard to put the cap on as to make the two sections match. My Kafka's cap, for instance, twists perfection so the clip lines up where it's supposed to. It takes a bit of practice to figure out where best to start twisting so it looks good. But a very small issue; Most people won't even notice. All the hype about Nakaya's quality is certainly not exaggerated, and painfully exacerbates the difference between machine-made and handmade pens, like my Montblanc. That's a bit unfortunate, because I will very soon be a broke college grad. I won't get another pen like this soon, so you can bet I'm taking good care of this baby.

 

Filling Mechanism 3/5

 

This is sort of and sort of NOT a gripe about the pen, because like cartridges, I also hate converters. They don't hold enough ink! For such a large pen it's a bit disappointing to say the least. I wish they had at least a built in piston. The saving grace of this is, unlike most C/C pens, the piston actually looks good. It's got gold trims and all that. I went ahead and ordered a Nakaya Maki-e piston from Classic Pens, and it looks like this (gorgeous little thing).

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/DSC07950_zps645961c1.jpg

 

Three guesses which one is in the pen right now (come on, only two options! :P). So now I have a spare converter lying around that I will most likely never use... If anyone feels like having it, shoot me a message. If you want the box of cartridges as well, please take it off my hands.

 

Conclusion: 4.5/5

 

It's a great pen I will enjoy for years to come. This being my most expensive pen, unfortunately it might not be my favorite but I do have a lot of strong contenders. Would I recommend it? No. Why would I recommend to anyone a pen that costs 1.2k with a C/C filling mechanism? Anyway you justify it, it's probably not worth your investment if it doesn't stroke an idiosyncrasy of yours, like my obsession with Raden and astronomy. The first time I saw it on Nakaya's website, I knew it was a pen I would come to own someday. I've seen a lot of beautiful pens: The new Visconti Homo Sapiens demo, and their new Royal Blue Divina, for instance, are STUNNERS. But this possessive, greedy voice didn't pop into my head and whisper "YOU MUST HAVE THIS". In that sense, the pen is sort of made for me. For me. Haha. That sounds pretty damn awesome. It's literally adjusted and modded to my requirements by the good people at CFP, so I have a hard time recommending it to anyone else. But I love it. That's all. Seriously. I need to leave. I spent my whole Saturday afternoon nerding out over the pen.

 

I can recommend Nakaya and CFP (phenomenal customer service, as usual. This is the third or fourth time I've dealt with them) to just about anyone with the cash and the obsession and the patience (the latter is very important!). It's truly quality work. My Montblanc Kafka has always been my favorite pen, and its position has seriously taken a hit with this one in the picture. (Like, how does MB feel like cheap plastic now? How?)

 

I leave you with this final shot of Milky Way and origami friends.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m495/Caesaris/Fountain%20Pens/DSC079531_zps8013fa75.jpg

Edited by Rubicon
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What a perfectly matched pen to your interests, and to your birthday: Happy Birthday!

 

I think that in a very few writing sessions you will find the sweet spot of the stub and it will become second nature.

 

Thank you for sharing,

 

gary

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How's the weight? I like heavy pens, and have worried that the ebonite bodies on the Nakayas are a bit light for my taste.

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Somewhere in one of the Nakaya threads I remember seeing a post about how to get the pattern to line up every time. You might have a search and see if you can find the instructions. I think it was regarding a housage that Trax bought.

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Somewhere in one of the Nakaya threads I remember seeing a post about how to get the pattern to line up every time. You might have a search and see if you can find the instructions. I think it was regarding a housage that Trax bought.

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How's the weight? I like heavy pens, and have worried that the ebonite bodies on the Nakayas are a bit light for my taste.

Based just holding them, I would say it's about has heavy as Lamy 2000, heavier than Lamy Al-Star. Of my ~6 inch pens, it is the lightest (compared against Montblanc Franz Kafka and OMAS 360). It's definitely on the light side for its size.

Edited by Rubicon
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This pen is amazingly beautiful! I wouldn't have a problem with the c/c filling system as I would probably never take it out of the house. Thanks for putting Nakaya on the radar for me, maybe in a few years when I finally stop being a student and start earning my own money.

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Beautiful. I have this one on my list of pens to buy "when" I win the lottery. :D

Change is not mandatory, Survival is not required.

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That is a gorgeous pen!

 

Maybe think of the converter as a removable piston-filler. (Hehehe.)

_________________

etherX in To Miasto

Fleekair <--French accent.

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Very nice pen!, thanks for the review and for the pictures, Congrats!

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5642/postcardde9.png

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congrats on your nakaya naka-ai. it's stunning. i have yet to own a naka-ai. so far i have a piccolo and a decapod.

-rudy-

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Thank you for a wonderful review. I think the only way to deserve such a pen is to have the capacity to appreciate it. So clearly this pen is exactly right for your station.

ron

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Happy birthday and congrats on the nice pen. I am due to be getting one as a wedding gift from my brother soon and am looking forward to it when the day comes!

Fountain pens are like weapons. They just make your pocket bleed so much.

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First, happy birthday!

 

Second, I kinda hate you for putting this on my radar. I too am obsessed with Raden stuff and this one looks amazing. If it were priced a bit lower I would definitely be crunching numbers right now. But who knows, I'm known to make expensive impulse buys :D

 

Thank you for a lovely review.

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  • 1 month later...

Congratulation!

I liked the Milky Way model since I first saw it some years ago and it became a favorite. Still I prefer it on a piccolo, because I think the taper of the Naka-ai ist distracting from the Raden. Unfortunately many of the Nakaya pens look better without a clip (like this one), but I have no use for pens without clip... sigh...

Greetings,

Michael

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks for the review, i'm also involved with astronomy, so i have seen this beautiful pen on CFP website. It looks very great, only i want a clip on the pen, possible is this more disturbing as well, so i don't decided yet. Also the choice of Nib is still in 'progress'. I like the 'Raden'... So you now have this pen for a year i think, so do you have any suggestions or more experiences with this pen that you want to share ? thanks !

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If I'm not mistaken, there is an adapter available that allows Platinum pens (Nayaka uses Platinum C/C) to take standard international converters. Being that this is such a long pen, you could probably put a Schmidt K5 in there, which has a decent capacity of around .65ml as compared to .50ml for the for the Platinum converter. It's not a huge difference, but taking into consideration the additional capacity of the adapter and the nib and feed, assuming you fill from a bottle, it would probably get your total ink to well over 1ml.

I realize this thread it old, but I'm still curious if my suggestion would work.

Fountain pens forever and forever a hundred years fountain pens, all day long forever, forever a hundred times, over and over Fountain Pen Network Adventures dot com!

 

- Joe

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