I've seen that a lot of you find the bottle inconvenient for bladder-filled pens, but I love both the shape of the bottle (and the convenient pen rest), its stability, and the small cap (no more big caps for me and my sore hands---the only big-cap inks I've kept are a couple of Sheaffers).

I also love the colors. Granted that they're not very saturated, but I like it like that. According to their literature the ink is supposed to be 'so pure you can drink it,' or words to that effect.

This is not an experiment I would try.

Plus, Herbin is the only ink I like so much that I must have every color. I think I'm about four or five shy so far.

Violette Pensee is THE ink for my first Pelikano Jr---a yellow-and-violet model, the older kind without the rubbery grip. Matches the cap, don't you know.

I just love how it flows smoothly in all my pens and doesn't have to be maintained like some other inks. Fill and go. Sit for a few days and go. All good.

If you want a good black ink try, Perle Noire is good. I have a bottle up for trade in the Marketplace.

I've only tried a small sample of the Lie de The, and I liked it a lot. Absolutely trouble free in the pen and on every paper I tried it on, from cheap copier bond up to fine writing paper.

Great trouble free colors with an ample variety and a few centuries of expertise. A must.

I am a fan of J. Herbin inks, so I guess I should weigh in.

I have used Herbin inks in my vintage and piston fill pens for years. I trust the purity of the product, and I happen to like several of the colors very much. I have many nibs that are wet M's or B's and they produce lovely water color-like writing on paper with Herbin inks. No matter how long I have used the ink, I still do not care for the bottles. Thay are far too shallow to be generally useful.

I have also never accepted the challenge to drink the ink straight from the bottle. I wonder if we will hear from someone who has?

I have used the Perle Noire with dip pens for years in my journals. It is water resistant and nearly fade proof. I began using it before I realized that some inks can completely disappear in daylight and damp. This is the only color I have tried, but it has made me a fan.

Paddler

Oooo.

*runs to look*

I am also a fan of the Perle Noir!

I only have two bottles of Herbin inks, but like the others said, they are good inks that have not caused me any trouble. The Vert Olive is one of my favorite. I would not hesitate to buy another ink if I saw a color I wanted. The bottles could be a lot better though.

The olive is one of my favs!

Yeah the bottle could be better, and could hold a wee bit more ink for the price- but it doesn't have that "ram it in you face" quality of super saturated inks.

I really enjoy Herbin inks as well. Lie de The is my favorite right now, but I've also got Rouge Opera, Bleu Nuit, Vert Olive, and Perle Noir (which I haven't tried yet).

The only ink I don't like is Vert Olive -- it looks beautiful but I find it insanely difficult to read. I'll put it in the marketplace if anyone is interested.. send me a PM.

And the only problem I've had is that my Lamy 2000 tends to feather with Lie de The. I haven't tried the others but I expect they'd do the same. I think the Lamy just puts out a lot of ink, and Herbin inks are very free-flowing.

Neill

I've read some very positive reviews here on FPN of J.Herbin inks and have asked my friend travelling frequently to Paris to buy me a bottle of Lie de The and Lierre Sauvage. She'll be back next week so I'll be able to try them Can't wait I feel I will become a fan of it. I really have this feeling.

Lie de The is one of my favorite browns. I know color preference is very personal but I think you'll like it!

J. Herbin inks they flow well and shade very well, only small minus is that they could be a bit more lubricating...

Poussière de Lune and Lie de Thé are both among my favorite inks. I agree with Vert Olive, nice color but very hard to read. My son wanted an orange ink and I got Orange Indien, now I'm the one using it the most with an italic nib!

Violette Pensée, Larme de Cassis... So many great inks.

The only Herbin color that was a deception for me so far was Rouge Bourgogne which is only red with dip pen with all fountain pen I tried it was pink...

I guess you can count me as a fan

Indeed I am loving the flash wow factor of my Rose Cyclamen, and am waiting to crack open my more subtle Vert Olive.

I first tried the Opera Rouge - a nice Bordeaux ink. Then I fell i love with Orange Indien which is perfect for my Dolce Vita. I like Poussiere the Lune and recently discovered Perle noire - which is so free flowing and so black!

Probably the best ink maker out there (as long as variety goes) in my opinion. And the black is in my top 3 along with Aurora Black and Pelikan Brilliant black.

The bottle could be worse Can`t actually figure what kind of pen can sit on the stand ...

I bought Bleu Pervenche a couple of weeks ago and it is now my favourite turquoise. It has a brilliance that seems to be lacking in other turquoise inks.

I also like Lie de Thé, although I don't use a whole lot of brown. I think it is a very nice medium-to-dark brown, not reddish at all.

I knew it would be dangerous for me to read this thread! I've sworn off the highly pigmented ink for a variety of reasons. I still keep Legal Lapis in my check-writing pen, but for my other pens I'm sticking with Sheaffer, Diamine, and yes - J. Herbin! I love Bleu Myosotis. I even like the bottle. I have a little tray that has a sloped lip on it. Since I've used quite a bit of this ink, I tilt the bottle by putting one edge on the lip of this tray which makes the ink level deeper. Of course, one day I'll probably make a post about how I turned over my bottle of Bleu Myosotis, but so far it's working out OK.

Anyway ---- you've all made me want MORE J. Herbin colors!

Judybug

I'm always on the trail of the perfect brown, and I think that Herbin has -- in Lie de Thé and Cacao du Brésil -- two of the nicest and most striking browns around.

Neil

Bleu pervenche is definitely my favourite turquoise, because of the vibrancy of the colour!

I had only ever used "standard" Waterman blue/black ink in my student days and only recently discovered the range of colours. And as soon as I discovered it, I got addicted and want to try most J Herbin colours before even trying another manufacturer. :-) I find all the colours so... mmmh... rich...

I use the cartridges and, in less than 2 months, I have so far bought Cacao du Brésil, Poussière de Lune, Lie de Thé, Gris Nuage and I am yet to try to the last two...

Next no my list are greens: but I find it so hard to choose between Vert Olive, Lierre Sauvage and Vert Impérial! Might have to get them all :-)

Verte Pre is a really weird electric (almost hilighter) color, but I like it in my Tombow Zoom Egg.

I seem to have quite a few different cartridge colours, including the Verte Olive--quite lovely, and too many of the violette. Are you buying the cartridges singly or in the six-tin cases?

I get the wee tin cases with 6 cartridges... They are perfect for me...

The way I see it, considering I don't write that much, is that at about £0.30 a cartridge, even if I discard a cartridge before it's empty and change colour fortnightly or monthly, it's a negligible expense (compare to, say, a Starbucks coffee) and it allows me to change colour often without the "outlay" of ink bottles...

Life is too short to settle for one colour...

What a wonderful attitude--life is too short to settle for one colour.

I got the tins, too. I just checked and it appears I've paid from USD3.50 for some, and USD6.50 for others. Oh, well, I see them again for almost what you quote, about 75¢ each.

JFT wrote:

" ... I agree with Vert Olive, nice color but very hard to read."

Well, a couple of you have said that, and I will accept the statement. To present another opinion, the "Vert Olive" is my favorite green ink of all time, and I have zero trouble reading it. Consider that I am middle aged and have trouble seeing some colors. The Vert Olive is easy on my eyes and comfortable to read. Those to whom I write also comment that they like the color, but they are old farts like me.

I gave up on the Olive, but I was moving between bright Florida sunshine and artifically lit rooms where I needed to refer between my notes and a computer screen. Not a happy combo.

I'm hooked on the Bresil tho' and need to get more as I used it all.

Eh Eh you know part of the "mystery" might be answered by the pen we were respectively using... Which pen do you use it with? How wet is its nib?

Violette Pensee is the only J. Herbin ink I've used. It's my favorite violet.

Poussiere De Lune, Terre De Feu, and Rose Tendress are my J. Herbin inks. I love the first two, but Rose Tendress is a bit too light in color and has little practical use for me. I like the way they easily flush out of the pen and the shading is also very appealing. Iplan to buy something in green and blue very soon.

Aldo

JFT wrote (regarding Vert Olive):

"Eh Eh you know part of the "mystery" might be answered by the pen we were respectively using... Which pen do you use it with? How wet is its nib?"

This is true. I like Herbin colors because I tend to use nibs that are wet M or B. In the case of the Vert Olive, I get a product on paper that is fairly dark with a lovely water color effect and wonderfully shaded. I have tried Vert Olive with F and EF nibs and it was quite pale.

J. Herbin is about the only "fancy" ink I can get my hands on within a 30km drive, they come in small bottles (30ml) and cost 6 euro. Add 6 euro for the train-ride and you'll understand that I really, really, really have to like an ink to get it that way: I currently have Lie de thé, Poussière de Lune and Café des îles in my rotation, and am itching to empty my pen dedicated to 'reds' and replace the Waterman red with Rouge Caroubier. As soon as my P51 runs out of Parker Quinck black, I'll fill it with Perle Noire.

Just a pity it's a bit of work to suck out the last drop of ink with a syringe, put it in a really small Nalgene container, fill your pen from the container, refill the ink back into the bottle... A Montblanc bottle would be great I think, although I've never really used one.

Greatings

Miguel

Terre de Feu is my favourite! In fact I use it for all personal letters and notes.

My favourite Black, for envelopes, is Noodler's BP Black, but if it's true that Perle Noire is waterproof I may change to the J. Herbin instead.

I thought 'waterproof' and fountain pens were mutually exclusive.

I am a long-time Herbin enthusiast. I started out with Bleu Myosotis and Vert Reseda back in the late 1990s. Then I fell in love with Poussiere de Lune. When Eclat de Saphir came onto the market I took to that. Then I was looking for another good green, I tried Lierre Sauvage and liked it, though it doesn't flow well in all my pens. When I wanted a good brown ink for a flexible medium nib on a Danitrio Miwaku, I found Lie de The flowed best, though it comes out very dark without shading. I also adopted Perles des Encre in cartridge form as my traveling ink. I recently remarked to the clerks in Bromfield Pen Shop that i was eager to try the new Rouge Bourgogne and Larmes de Cassis, which they didn't have in stock. When they came in the clerks pointed them out and now I have those inks in pens stubbed by Deb Kinney. Both flow a and look quite elegant coming from those nibs. I suspect that the Rouge Bourgogne would seem like an ordinary red in a pen with a different nib and the Larmes de Cassis wouldn't look as good either. The shing about the Herbin inks I've tried over the years is that they do best in pens that have broad or stub nibs and are slightly dry writing. With finer nibs, they tend to come out pale and with wet, broad nibs often too uniform, so their great shading properties get lost.

There's a challenge to drink Herbin ink straight from the bottle? I didn't know! However....I did accidently consume some of it recently, and I was fine. I was cleaning out my pen, and had Bleu nuit in it. I ended up drinking all of the ink I flushed out, because I unwisely used a regular drinking glass.

But I'm still fine!

I have Vert Olive, Violet Pensee, Rose Tendresse, and the Lavender Scented (blue).As I started buying more vintage pens with flexible nibs, I found myself buying more J. Herbin. When I'm writing, I always think I want more color from them, but when I look back in older journals, I like how the colors look just fine! And I love the lavender scent.

Well I have voiced my liking of j herbin inks on this forum many times... So I join in!

Very trouble free inks and fabulous for mixing! Also they have fabulous history behind them... see here http://www.jherbin.com/about.shtml

Regars, Zed

I've recently became a fan of Herbin inks. The first ink I've tried: Lie de The, stopped my quest for the "perfect" ink and made me settle down. It's now my regular ink. I transfer the ink to a MB "shoe" bottle though. If you did a chromatography of the ink, you will see a definite red/orange component in it.

I, too, am a fan... especially of Pearle Noir and Violette Pense.

One ink that I'm looking to try out soon is gris nuage. Anyone care to give an impression on this ink?

Thanks!

Brent

Ooooooo - gotta try Lavender scent. I have a bottle of Rose scented J. Herbin. What a heady experience - writing, surrounded by the smell of roses! And the Rose color is great, too. I think it's my favorite red now.

Judybug

I love my J. Herbin Inks. I've got Vert Olive and Perle des Encres in cartridges (though I rarely use cartridges anymore), and I've got bottles of Lierre Sauvage and Èclat de Saphir. I don't think I'll ever really use a blue that's not èclat de saphir, although I've wanted to give bleu myosotis a try as well, but it just looks too bright for me. The only problem is the bottles. There's not a whole lot of ink in the bottle for the price anyway, and then I always feel I start having problems getting it out of the bottle when it's only half empty.

I had no idea that Perle Noire was water resistant. I'll have to give it a try as my next black.

I have used the Gris Nuage in a Lamy 2000 with fine nib. Like all the other J Herbin inks, it has a fantastic water-color quality, flows easily and makes a very true line. It is a light ink but dries to a very nice silvery-hazy-gray. I enjoy it as an alternative to "grown up" colors (e.g., blues and blacks) and it is not as bold as less grown up colors like reds and oranges. It's also a nice color for mixing if you want to add a tinge of color (e.g., orange, purple, or blue) to it.

I have Gris Nuage in one of my cheap Chinese pens at the moment. It seems a true medium gray with neither too much blue or green in it and brings to mind an overcast day in late winter.

Poussière de Lune is one of my favorite inks. I have it in an old Swan safety pen with a medium point and an over-and-underfeed that drenches the nib. On glossy card stock it comes out too dense but on laid paper it is wonderful--a beautifully shaded eggplant color. Also I've found it to be highly water resistant.

One other thing--if anybody can point me to a bottle of Herbin Roi de Soleil royal-blue dip-pen ink I will be eternally grateful. They stopped making it a year or so ago and it is impossible to find. There's not a bottle of it left at the factory and eBay turns up nothing either by active search or putting it on my wants list.

I received Lie de The and Lierre Sauvage a few days ago and I am SO IN LOVE WITH THESE
Now I am sure I'll buy other colors as well. Probably Perle Noire will come first, but I'd also like one of the blues. The only thing I regret is that apparently J.Herbin has no *real* red ink. I mean red, like Quink Red or Waterman Red, not rose or pink.

I'd like to add as a remark that I've found, to my surprise, how water resistant most Herbin colors I've tried lately are. This is a fact not often mentioned here, but important to many of us. Now, has anyone made a fade (UV) test? If so, please publish results. I would do so myself, but at this moment I only have 2 colors and live in a not so sun drenched place, so if any of you is so kind....Many of us will be very interested on seeing the results.

Miguel, I'm on the same boat. But have found that www.penandco.com will ship them to you at no cost! Worldwide!. Yeap, that is sure the best customer service anywhere. (You'll have to order a minimum of 3 bottles). Epictete92, the owner of Pendanco is also a member of this forum, and a great person to deal with, so I suggest you drop him a PM.