From Karen Doherty - Vice President, Marketing Exaclair, Inc

We imported a few from France to bring to the Chicago Pen Show last May. A number of people had also emailed us looking for them.

We decided not to import them, because they were not made with Clairefontaine paper, but paper from Japan or Singapore. It is very good paper, but not Clairefontaine paper. We did not want to confuse the brand in people's minds with several different kinds of paper for Rhodia products.

So instead we asked our parent company to make Rhodia Webnotebooks with Clairefontaine paper (like the rest of the Rhodia pads). The Clairefontaine management agreed.

The Rhodia Webnotebooks sold in the US will be made with Clairefontaine paper. I don't have an exact date, but I expect the first shipment to arrive in late fall.

The ePure notebooks will NOT be made with Clairefontaine paper, so we will not be importing them. We will, however, special order them for stores or individuals. However, there is a sizable minimum (at least one case pack of 5 or 10--I can't remember) and they'll take about three months to arrive from France by ship.

You can see the webnotebooks on http://bloc-rhodia.fr. "

Maybe THESE will be the Moleskine Killer.....

I look forward to trying one out. Thanks for the info. What's the difference between the webnotebook and the epure? Other than the paper and the back pocket?

Oh, this looks marvelous! Now to figure out if it's Rhodia-Clairefontaine or Clairefontaine-Clairefontaine paper, though I'd bet the former rather than the latter. Still, it's darn close and considering the recent quality of Moleskines I've been hearing about, definitely close enough!

(I'm lucky that I have a couple of old Moleskines with good paper left, but I go through them pretty fast so this is great news.)

Any idea on who's going to retail these?

Thanks for passing that letter along.

This is excellent news - they may yet be the norebook we all covet.

Why should you want to kill Moleskine? It works quite well for many people.

Because it's an overpriced product made in China?
Because pretty much every ink I've use it in besides Noodler's Bulletproof black bleeds & feathers?

I was excited about the Rhodia Webnotebook, but I so strongly prefer 1) blank or 2) graph paper that I may not decide to purchase the Webnotebook until these other styles come out. :-( By the way, they are now available at the Daily Planner. (I have no connection to that company.)

I only wish they would have a book mark like the Moleskine note books.

Aaargh!!! How will we know the difference between which books contain which paper, especially buying them online?

Thanks for this information. I wonder what we'll end up getting in Europe. It would be bizarre if we had to import 'European' notebooks from the US, just to get the good paper

Neil

Per Karen at Exaclair, Rhodia Webnotebooks available at the Daily Planner are NOT the US made models.

I like Rhodia pads, which are similar in quality to Clairefontaine Triomphe pads, but not identical. The Rhodia pads are somewhat lighter in weight (80 gsm as compared to 90 gsm for Triomphe). Nonetheless, the Rhodia pads are high quality, smooth, and far superior to Moleskine in terms of their ability to accept a variety of inks without bleeding or feathering. I've always found it perplexing that I can't find any information regarding the weight of Moleskine paper.

I liked using the ePure notebooks. It's a pity that they won't be made with Clairefontaine paper any more

Not for me. They won't be Moleskine killer UNLESS the paper is cream/off-white in colour. I don't like the white glaring paper of Clairefontaine paper for journal writing and personal/intimate kinds of writing. For everyday use, that's perfectly fine but not for diaries etc. If the Clairefontaine paper could be made in the same kind of colour as Moleskine paper, then you might have a killer on hand ;-)

For me, Moleskine works quite well with Noodler's Bulletproof black, Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, Visconti Sepia, Quink Black, Skrip Black. It could be your pen, biffybeans. I use F or finer nibs.

Indeed, the paper is not as good as Clairefontaine, but I wouldn't want to use that glaring white paper for journal writing.

And I also don't like the puffiness of the Web Notebook's cover. It's a bit on the puffy side. I like the flatness of the Moleskine cover. Rhodia will definitely have a Moleskine killer for me if:
a. paper colour changes
b. the hard cover is not puffy but FLAT
c. and a ribbon bookmark (I can't remember if it has one but I think not?)

I bought one from The Daily Planner about a month ago, and it definitely not Clairefontaine paper. The paper is quite thin and there is a a fair amount of bleedthrough....

Waiting for the real thing...
Alan

I've tried about 20 different inks, and about 15 different pens in EF, F, M, and Cursive italics in .05, .07 & 1.1. The only consistent ink to not bleed in the Moleskine is the Noodler's black. The choice of nob can make some inks bleed more than others. BUT - almost every ink, including the Noodler's Black, feathers a little bit, or a tremendous amount. And the amount of feathering can vary page by page which is ludicrous. Any journal that costs $16.99 should NOT have all these limitations and inconsistencies. I prefer the ivory paper as well, but if a blindingly white paper is going to allow me to have a better overall fountain pen writing experience, than I'm all for it.

I don't really care about the webnotebooks I have been waiting for a year or two for the ePure notebooks to come to the US. I will still try them out because I know I can figure out a few inks that could work with it, but would of loved them to have the same type of paper in their traditional lines. I love the look of the ePure notebooks and their width, they are just huge, but also look like they are easy to carry.


Oh just for fun:
Inks that work in cahiers and regular moleskines, with a Lamy Safari fine nib pen:
Diamine Monaco Red (Cahiers)
Noodler's Polar Black
Lamy Black
PR Naples blue
None of these show bleed through, or feathering, and when they come across a imperfect spot on the paper PR Naples Blue was the only one to react to it a little by fading to a lighter blue, but not feathering. The cahiers and soft cover regular pocket moleskines are less likely to have imperfect spots than the hardcover ones. But I agree there are many cheaper notebooks that are better performers with all inks. My favorite being Ampad's retro notebooks in 5x7 ($2.49), and 8x10 ($6.99) that have ivory paper and have all my inks and nibs show up accurately on it, no bleed through, no feather, no nothing.

I actually LIKE blinding white.

You can get the ePure's from the Daily Planner - but hurry, their stocks are running low and it will take 3 months for new supplies to arrive from France.

I'm beyond excited for this notebook to come out! Any idea on a specific month to expect these? Before Christmas hopefully?

Tisfortorrey:
Available now on web try Rhodia Drive and or the Daily Planner. What Biffy said. Jim

But with good or bad paper?

-Nkk

Nkk:
I've not tried mine yet. They arrived too late as I'd just started a new Elan, Engineers Level Book. Which is fountain pen friendly with most all black and blue black ink. I don't use any of the more exotic colours. I believe Biffybeans on her web site, or Black Cover Blog has covered this issue. Then again maybe it was in the Economists Blog (FPN Member). I'm sure I've read a report several places on the FP efficacy of the Webnotebooks. Run a search in this section of FPN. I apologize for my lack of specific info on your querry, Jim

Yeah, that is the central issue- I want the ones with Clairefontaine paper

I would switch to Clairefontiane in moment if they produced a journal with the following:

1. stitched binding so it lays flat
2. A ribbon book mark
3. and an elastic closure.

They're close with the Havana but no marker If someone knows a notebook with clairefontaine paper that meets this I would love to know.

Thanks for the update I was going to give a Rhodia Webnotebook a try, now I'll just keep waiting.

New Webnotebooks with Clairefontaine paper are not yet available. Soon.........