A few weeks ago I bought my first "high-end" pen: a Lamy 2000. I got some Noodler's Heart of Darkness at the same time, so it was natural to use my fancy new ink with my fancy new pen. I fell in love instantly. The pen wrote fantastic and the ink looked spectacular.

About a week later, bitten by the Lamy+Noodler's bug, I bought a 14k nibbed Lamy Studio and a bottle of Noodler's Kiowa Pecan. Unfortunately, it was a big let down. The nib felt rough and was not pleasurable to write with. The color of the ink was fantastic, but I just wasn't having fun with my shiny new pen.

I was bummed out for a while until I finally decided on a whim to empty out the Studio and fill it with Heart of Darkness. What a revelation! This thing writes like butter now! Heart of Darkness is the miraculous pen-curing ink! To think, I had been toying with the idea of paying for a nib-smoothing when all I needed was an ink swap. I can't recommend Heart of Darkness highly enough.

Can anybody recommend any other inks that brought their pens to a new level of performance?

Yeah, some inks are definitely wetter and silkier than others. Personally, I can say that Kiowa Pecan is a bit dry, as you of course have noticed.

As far as I've been able to tell, Waterman Florida Blue is about the best feeling ink on the market. It changes so-so pens for sure.

Best,
Summer Greer

I've found Sailor Blue particularly silky, more than any other Sailor ink, - and the range as a whole is no slouch for flow. It just seems to impart a velvety quality to quite average pens, even some scrathchy ones.

I spent quite a while putting it in everything to see how it could transform a nib, and I don't especially like blue that much as an ink colour (reminds me of school)!

John