Montblanc Permanent Blue Ink. Thoughts?

[max dog]

I'm really liking my first bottle of Montblanc Permanent Blue. I must admit after hearing a few complaints that the ink caused flow issues in their pens for some people people in early reviews when this ink first came out, I was hesitant to try it. But since I started using it, haven't looked back. Suspect Montblanc has since addressed those issues.

Flows really good and shades nicely in my Montblanc EF and M nibs which are wet nibs.

It's just a plain blue, but very well behaved. Dries fast, does not bleed nor feather on cheap paper.

I find there are not too many shading blue inks out there, so I'm glad this one does.

A great everyday workhorse ink. Very compatible with Moleskine notebook paper.

And of course it is waterproof!

What do others here think of this ink?

Edited December 27, 2014 by max dog

[maksim]

This is the old permanent formulation or the new one?

 

It is a great ink.... don't use it tooo often, but for a permanent blue black, it is good.

 

Personally mostly use Aurora Black or Waterman Florida/Serenity Blue.

[meiers]

Permanent blue is wonderful. I have two bottles of the stuff. It reminds me of bic-pen blue.

Edited December 27, 2014 by meiers

[max dog]

This is the old permanent formulation or the new one?

 

It is a great ink.... don't use it tooo often, but for a permanent blue black, it is good.

 

Personally mostly use Aurora Black or Waterman Florida/Serenity Blue.

This is Montblanc's new permanent line in blue or black that came out early this year I believe. Not to be confused with their Midnight Blue which is no longer permanent.

[max dog]

Permanent blue is wonderful. I have two bottles of the stuff. It reminds me of bic-pen blue.

Right! The color looked vaguely familiar.

[Michael R.]

Performance is OK but dries out in nibs more quickly compared to other nibs. I use it at work when permanence is required.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

[sd10521]

Permanent blue is wonderful. I have two bottles of the stuff. It reminds me of bic-pen blue.

Thank you for pointing that out, I was wondering why it sort of looked familiar to me.

 

I have no issues with this drying out. I use it for writing checks and addressing envelopes so sometimes the 146, (fine point), might just sit there for almost a week without being touched and will be good to go.

[ethernautrix]

Yep. This ink caused ink flow problems in a few of my pens, but it works beautifully in the Mb 100-Year-Historical (cartridge) and Aurora Optima (bottle).

 

This ink and Waterman Mysterious Blue are two inks that I make extra sure the receiving pen is cleaned of as much ink residue as possible before using it (in case of contraindications when either of these inks meets the residue of any other ink). Then there was the extra, extra, extra cleaning of the pens in which these inks caused flow problems.

 

ETA: I really like this blue.

Edited December 27, 2014 by ethernautrix

[s5blitzer]

Permanent blue is wonderful. I have two bottles of the stuff. It reminds me of bic-pen blue.

 

Ditto!

[max dog]

A little off topic, but does anyone know what the little sponge is for that accompany all MB standard boot shaped bottles? Is it just part of the packaging to absorb any leaked ink or Is there a function for it, ie to be used as a blotter?

[wahasa]

Anybody has some samples?

[troglokev]

I have a pen dedicated to this ink, and it goes in no other pen.

 

My experience is similar to Lisa's. It is a great ink, but it doesn't play nice with others.

[sd10521]

A little off topic, but does anyone know what the little sponge is for that accompany all MB standard boot shaped bottles? Is it just part of the packaging to absorb any leaked ink or Is there a function for it, ie to be used as a blotter?

 

I'm pretty sure it's just for packaging only.

 

 

 

As for this ink not playing nicely with some pens I guess I lucked out on picking the one pen to use it with.

[zaddick]

Packaging for secure shipment. +1

[max dog]

Yep. This ink caused ink flow problems in a few of my pens, but it works beautifully in the Mb 100-Year-Historical (cartridge) and Aurora Optima (bottle).

 

This ink and Waterman Mysterious Blue are two inks that I make extra sure the receiving pen is cleaned of as much ink residue as possible before using it (in case of contraindications when either of these inks meets the residue of any other ink). Then there was the extra, extra, extra cleaning of the pens in which these inks caused flow problems.

 

ETA: I really like this blue.

 

 

I have a pen dedicated to this ink, and it goes in no other pen.

 

My experience is similar to Lisa's. It is a great ink, but it doesn't play nice with others.

Thanks for the info. This is good to know.

[RudyR]

I haven't had any problems with flow in the pens I've used it in. It's an excellent ink that performs really well on any paper I have used. Being one of only two ink companies that are producing ISO certified document inks puts it in a category that fits a number of my needs.

 

It did stain my Platinum Cool feed though and being that it is a permanent ink, it will not clear easily with water alone. It did rinse out of my converter very easily and no stain was observed. So there are some plastic it will react to.

[max dog]

Has anyone tried mixing MB permanent blue with permanent black to get a permanent blue black?

 

There was a precaution mentioned here against mixing this ink with other inks, but I wonder given the MB permanent blue and black inks probably have the same formulation to get the permanence, if mixing them would be OK.

[meiers]

Mixing MB inks should be fine.

[aawhite]

A little off topic, but does anyone know what the little sponge is for that accompany all MB standard boot shaped bottles? Is it just part of the packaging to absorb any leaked ink or Is there a function for it, ie to be used as a blotter?

Sometimes with a low ink level, and filling a pen with a large nib, I still need to tilt the MB ink bottle. The foam packaging is a good place to do it.

 

It also works for tilting other ink bottles like Waterman.

Edited January 2, 2015 by aawhite

[max dog]

Mixing MB inks should be fine.

Makes sense. Will try mixing up a sample batch of blue-black to see what happens.