Here’s a brief review of the “New” Stipula 22.

Almost everything has changed between the “old” and “new” Stipula 22: metal nib section, 14k gold nib, silver trim all around, and, on this pen, even the “22” above the clip has been replaced with the Stipula leaf (or whatever it is). This is a nice touch.

You can see from the picture that this is one pretty pen. The color is called “Blue Forget-Me-Not.” The picture reveals the mixing of blue chunks of resin with more translucent gray chunks. Although the picture does not show it so much, in person the blue appears almost painted on the translucent resin, which (because it is interrupted by the blue) offers brief glimpses of the internal workings of the pen underneath. It reminds me of the OMAS Lucens pens (although I've only seen pictures).

Most of the internal elements of the pen are metal of some sort, so it has good heft to it. It is a piston-filler, and, for its size, it has great capacity. It is a small to medium pen, so the cap absolutely demands to be posted. Once posted, however, it has great balance. It is neither top nor bottom heavy. I have written more than a couple of pages in one sitting with no hand fatigue.

The nib is a 14k gold, and it lays down a delicious wet line. In my opinion, the nib is a bit on the stiff side: it reminds me of the nib on my Visconti (You & Me LE series – this has the same nib as the Van Gogh series pen, I think). Although I prefer a nib with a bit of give to it, this one has been great performer right out of the box. It is very pleasant to write with.

The good news is that this pretty little fine writer came mailed to me for less than $200 in a beautiful red box. This is my second Stipula (the other one is a Duetto), and I am quite impressed with both pens. Both are very well made. The 22 I find more impressive, though as everything about it feels solid and well made. There are more Stipulas in my future.

Great review and a very nice pen--I like your photo a lot, it shows the color very nicely.

I am really puzzled by what Stipula is up to with the "22" replacements, though. They introduced the "Virtude" last year, which comes is several colors and looks like your pen, with a metal section and the but has the "22" rather than the oak leaf. And it is still on their website. But also on their website is the "Vedo" which has a steel nib, plastic section, and the oak leaf on the cap top. I can only guess that they realized it was dumb to have the Veritude, lacking a titanium nib but with a 22, and you have that new version. I do like the oak leaf better--it's a nice touch on the cap top!

Please don't think I'm being critical, I like and respect Stipula's pens and I love this model--I have four of the five colors of the original 22 (anyone got the blue one for sale?) and once they are cured of their fatal flaw, they are excellent pens.

Anyway, great pen, great price and I'm sure you will love it for a long time!

Dan

My Stipula 22s are very nice pens. They are the "old" version. Granted I did not have much of a chance to use them before the storm broke all of them. Now they have been repaired and I have no problems with them.

dcarmell
What was the fatal flaw I keep hearing about?

I am also looking for the blue one.

The fatal flaw is the too small hole between the section and the ink chamber. I think the fact that the tail end of the nib's feed also goes into this hole contributes to the way the nib/feed can be starved of ink.

My guess is that about 33-40% of the old 22s were effected by problem. Of my four, two were okay, two need the fix.

Clever Vivek Narayanan over at Pentrace (einv is his posting name) fixes mine and he has a great explanation of the problem and the fix at this webpage:

http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/narayana/Ho...ain_Pens/fixes/

Hope this answers the question. Let's have a contest to get the rhyming blue 22!

Dan

The link is broken. Is there any updated page explaining the problem and giving the solution?
Thanks.
Luciano.

I must admit I don't care all that much for metal sections and particularly that shape - reminds me of the hordes of cheap and cheerful (maybe) Chinese offerings - looks good otherwise though.....

The other part of my Ventidue pen experience was the service I received from Stipula when a cracked cap needed to be replaced and the nib was exchanged to fine point. The service was awesome. I need to send it back though for a cap replacement.

Beautiful! Whereabouts did you purchase the pen?