I remember that my parker blue ink at school had a nice spell.

My current Dunhill black ink has no smell.

Does it come from the ink or from the color ?

What inks have the strontest smell ?

Quink used to have a smell that I do miss with most modern inks. Old Waterman had an odd smell too - very strong - but again the modern Waterman inks do not have it.

However, I have just bought some "Registrar's Ink" from ESS and it has a real, old-fashioned inky smell to it that I remember from my younger days.

Chris

Is it Herbin who sells scented inks? Someone does... I can't remember.

I sorta got the idea. Thanks for the question here.
I too remember tht the inks I used 100 years ago at school had a neat smell. But they don't today.I forget what I had at school, I think it was either Parker or Waterman. But tosday the Parkers and watermans, Pelikans and CdAs too, they all smell just like water. Hmm.

Mike

I could swear my PR Ebony Purple smells kind of like grape, but that's probably just the power of suggestion.

The few Noodler's ink I tried have a strong odor.

Montblanc sold me some cartridges around the holidays that claimed to be scented. I could never smell anything special.

Taste it!

My ink smells boring...

The old Quink used to have Phenol in it, which gave it the particular smell. The same chemical was in 'Wrights Coal Tar Soap'.

Unfortunately the EC has banned its use - carcenogenic for rabbits if drunk by regularly. Stupid rules.

Regards

Richard.

Actually our stupid governments should ban the use of cars and trucks too, since it is not advisable to drink gasoline or diesel either. Hmmm....

I think the smell was from Phenol, as someone stated. In school those many years ago, our teacher had huge bottles of blue-black ink. She somehow took ink from those bottles (I never saw the magic happen) and transferred it to a plastic bottle with a little spout on the side. From that plastic bottle, she filled our little glass ink wells. That Phenol smell permiated the room. I always felt a little sickened by it, but others loved it.

Later in life, Waterman ink continued to have that smell until the 1990's and it seems the smell became even more emphatic. I had to discontinue using Waterman ink because that smell made me feel ill and actually got me high. Once Waterman's ink formula changed to exclude the smell, I went back to using it.

I'd like to add that the smell I recall was not at all phenol. Maybe there was some phenol in the ink I used but that ink had a very different smell. More "pleasing" than phenol (which I don't consider "pleasing"). But not at all "fragrant" or "perfumed" either. Hmm... will have to get into this stuff more...

Mike

PS: The trouble is that not only the ink is all gone now, but so are the teachers.

Maybe it's just my perception, but I think that NEW bottles of ink seem to have the most "inky smell"; especially when you first open them up for the first fill. The same ink doesn't seem to have as much scent after the bottle has been used a few times...anyone else think this is true?

Sorry I overlooked your question.

Yes, Herbin is the guy. They sell as perfumed inks the following five.

«Encre Bleue» blue with a fine lavender smell
«Encre Verte» green as in apple
«Encre Ambre» orange as in orange (what else???)
«Encre Rouge» red with an intensive rose smell
«Encre Violette» violet with a fresh flower smell (they don't expand on this here)

Mike

IIRC, phenol and other chemical additives, mostly as anti-fungicides, gave the old inks their smell. Today different chemicals are used.

I've got to agree with this.... I particularly notice it in La Couleur Royale and Navajoe Turquoise - they stink, but I love the colours!

Mont Blanc has also produced a couple -at least- of scented inks, "I love you" and " Seasons Greetings". Not totally sure, but "Ink for Men" is also scented, I believe.
And I do not remember the name, but there is a Dutch and or German specialty shop that sells fruity and eau de cologne scented inks. De Atramentis, yes.
Pendemonium, according to #15 post of this thread, offers a service for adding aromas to the inks....
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=30161

I don't know if it's grape - but it does have a distinct smell. You're not imagining a scent, but perhaps making it more enjoyable than I would describe.

Montblanc's scented inks lose their scent entirely once the ink dries.

I thought the scent might linger a bit and accumulate in a sealed envelope during mailing, and then release the scent when the envelope was opened. But I did a little test at home with MB's Seasons Greetings ink (the cinnamon version). Two days in a sealed envelope - when opened I could not detect any remnant of the original scent.

So, at least for Montblanc's scented inks, the scent is for the writer, not for the recipient.

My Pilot/Namiki black catridges have a strong smell, but it isn't at all pleasant. It's a bit like strong glue.

My Pilot/Namiki black catridges have a strong smell, but it isn't at all pleasant. It's a bit like strong glue.

EDIT sorry for the duplcae post. I had browser trouble

Noodler's Polar Blue has a nice smell. It is not a phenolic odour, but it has an odour. I would recognize the smell of phenol right away, since I used to work with crystalline phenol and liquefied phenol in the QC lab of a chemical company.

Funny, I recall the smell of my late father's Quink like it was yesterday, yet modern ink doesn't seem to have that whiff. Mind you my sense of smell isn't that great so an ink really would have to pong before I would detect it.

Edit: I don't know the smell of phenol but if it has been banned it probably is very volatile (ie reactive) and hence smelly. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Solv-X was in fact phenol.

Chloraseptic throat spray contains phenol. The phenol is what numbs the throat. Phenol is also found in some lip balms. Campho-Phenique cold sore ointment contains phenol as well. The smell of camphor and phenol are similar. If you smell the Campho-Phenique, that is the best product on the market now to give you an idea of what phenol smells like.

Interesting thread....

I just went through and smelled all the inks I have on hand.

Normal Noodler's ink usually has a heaving "inky" smell (one similar to freshly printed comics and the like). Noodler's Eternal colours (Empire Red) have a harsh smell, almost like disinfectant or isopropyl alcohol. Pelikan has a subdued smell that is present, but not very noticeable. Skrip has almost none. Waterman's has a very pleasant ink smell.

Must get more Waterman's.