Monteverde Inks With Rotten Egg Smell

[jbphotographs]

This was posted recently on the Goulet Nation Facebook group by Rachel Goulet:

 

Regarding the Monteverde "bad ink" issue (bottles sold primarily in late 2018 that have a rotten egg smell)....

Here's a message from Yair Greenberg, the founder/CEO of Yafa who bottles the Monteverde ink.

"I am personally on it for the past few weeks.

We are taking steps to avoid these kind of contamination problems and some of the steps are:

1. We are cleaning our semi auto ink filling machines with new chemicals.

2. Buying new filling machines.

3. Changing filling hoses more often.

4. Buying new inks to replace old ones that showed contamination.

5. Using gloves and masks when needed.

6. Working closely with our ink factory and learning more how to improve storage of inks.

7. Less exposure of open ink bottle to open air."

If anyone believes they have a bad bottle (even if it was given free with purchase), we ask you to please email scottfox@yafa.com and they will replace it at no cost with any color Monteverde ink of your choice.

 

 

 

 

[uceroy]

I haven't checked my bottles yet, I guess I better do that as soon as I get home! 😕

[PAKMAN]

Just bought my first bottle of Monteverde ink last weekend. Had to open it up and smell after seeing this. All is well. Copper Noir.

[dennis_f]

All's well with my recent purchase as well (until I saw this post I didn't even realize it was an issue).
Thanks for posting this.

[BaronWulfraed]

Eeek... Do I want to open all ten bottles in the Gemstone set just to sniff them. So far they are still sealed.

[KLscribbler]

Thanks for the info- will check my recently purchased bottle of Fire Opal tomorrow. Hope it's not rotten-opal.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I got a bad one.

 

Hope MV responds as promised, because this has become my New Favorite Brand.

[uceroy]

urgh, 1 out of 4 😣. My Yosemite green is smelly. 😥

[amberleadavis]

I'm pretty sure MV will make these right. They are a reputable company and I've enjoyed meeting with them in the past.

[Carrau]

I contacted Mr. Fox at the email address supplied in the OP about one of my bottles that had an odor. He responded in less than an hour, asking only for the ink color, bottle size and address. I’d say that was good service.

[inkstainedruth]

Good to know.

I only have one bottle of Monteverde ink (at the moment) -- a blue-grey color that was swag one year at DCSS. But I remember when I first joined FPN, there were a bunch of posts about J Herbin having the same problem, with some of their inks having SITB, and it took them awhile to track down the source of the contamination and get their equipment sterilized.

Weirdly, this reminds me of when my husband was doing a lot of home-brewing of beer. He got very good at helping people trouble-shoot what went wrong with their batches. And invariably, it was the people going "But I cleaned my kitchen!" and him going, "Yes, but did you STERILIZE your kitchen?" And they would have forgotten to sterilize a siphon hose or something (the one time that wasn't the case was because the guy just had really bad tasting tap water; my husband mentioned that to a friend of ours who worked for the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority as an engineer -- who discovered that the storage tank in the brewer's neighborhood wasn't being flushed out as often as it was supposed to be...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[uceroy]

I contacted Mr. Fox at the email address supplied in the OP about one of my bottles that had an odor. He responded in less than an hour, asking only for the ink color, bottle size and address. Id say that was good service.

I've experienced the same, their customer service is a big plus.

I hope they have solved their problems soon, because I really like the few inks I've tried. There are plenty of MV inks on my wishlist too 🤐😆

[BaronWulfraed]

Well, I just broke the seals on all 10 Gemstone bottles. A few had an odor, but nothing sulfurous (for comparison I sniffed a bottle of Parker Quink -- similar odor though a few MonteVerde were a bit stronger). Heh -- the Fireopal and Onyx actually smelled sweet!

 

Guess I dodged the bullet (the set was bought in Sept 2018)

[ErrantSmudge]

I may be the resident Monteverde ink fanboy here on FPN because I just checked my collection and I have 23 colors in 27 bottles (a few favorites like Ocean Noir and Sapphire I have doubles of). Yes, I went out of control at the Yafa booth at some recent pen shows.

 

I just did the sniff test on almost all, except for a three or four still in packaging. If the ink has a somewhat sweet smell it's definitely OK, but a few (Smoke Noir was one, Rose Pink was another) have no smell at all and seem just fine.

 

Here's my results:

 

Definitely spoiled

• Motivation Orange - definitely bad, floating gunk in the ink that is easily visible and doesn't shake out. Obtained from Yafa/Monteverde as a promo ink in early 2018.
• Fire Opal - rotten egg smell, some type of filmy appearance on the surface of the ink. Purchased Goulet late 2018, never been put in a pen.

Suspect

• Copper Noir - Has a rotten egg smell and an oil slick-like residue/film on surface of ink. I had a Lamy Studio filled with this ink which I have just emptied after this discovery - any suggestions on cleaning the pen? Obtained from Monteverde booth LA Pen Show Feb 2018.
• Mercury Noir - Has something of a rotten egg smell, no slick residue but I'm quarantining it anyway. Obtained from Monteverde booth LA Pen Show Feb 2018.

 

Based on my data it seems like reds and oranges are unusually suspect, though my bottle of Ruby Red and Canyon Rust (a long-time PIF) are just fine.

Edited March 21, 2019 by ErrantSmudge

[jbphotographs]

I've checked all of mine (Brown Sugar, Black Ash, Horizon Blue, Topaz, and Purple Mist) and they are all fine. I've been really happy with their inks thus far and super happy to hear that the company is responding so promptly to the issue.

[VivaTerlingua]

I love the Monteverde inks, so I had to check my collection of them. I had three contaminated inks: Olivine, Horizon Blue, and Ocean Noir. Luckily, none had made it into a pen that I can remember.

 

Mr. Fox was quick to respond and very helpful. Definitely a happy customer.

[Restored]

I have a Horizon Blue that has a slight sulfurous odor.

[ErrantSmudge]

I have a Horizon Blue that has a slight sulfurous odor.

 

That sounds like my bottles of Mercury Noir and Copper Noir that have a sulfurous odor. Copper Noir in particular had a little "grease slick" floating on the surface of the ink. I put all four suspect bottles inside a zip-lock bag to keep them quarantined until I get replacements lined up from Mr. Fox at Monteverde.

[ScarletWoodland]

Thankfully mine are all fine (capri blue, horizon blue, california teal, copper noir, valentine red) but it's great to hear they're responding to the issues so well.

[Noihvo]