Got Couple Of New Pens Asa Maya And Kanwrite Heritage

[Dimy]

So its Sunday morning here and I planned to post it a week ago but got delayed in hopes of adding wality ( which in exchange is running late in transit) so will only focus on these 2 new guys. One is ASA Maya which I went for Jowo fine nib other is kanwrite Heritage. The service was good by both manufactures, never had a issue on contacts with watsapp, email from ASA was well lets just say it was not too good but being contact on watsapp and phone made email redundant so still very nice service. Time take for arrival was 1month 6 days for ASA and 4 days for Kanwrite which is quite on time.

 

I went for matt Maya and solid greenish colored heritage which has a ripple texture (its number 6 in catalog). I quite enjoy the heritage's color which will look different in different lighting from dark blueish in dim light to greenish in bright light never quite reaching either....its interesting to say the least.

 

Heritage came packed in a case while maya in a pouch.

 

 

 

Maya along with the respected filled ink.

 

 

Maya nib shot

 

 

 

Heritage along with the respected filled ink.

 

 

Heritage nib shot.

 

Airmail is in air from what I see in tracking number so will post it when it reaches.

 

EDIT: Obvious one but do share yours too would love to hear about them from others.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Dimy

[hari317]

Since both have F nibs, how do they compare?

[Dimy]

Since both have F nibs, how do they compare?

Its too early to actually say everything but the observation so far is very interesting to me, or more like unexpected for me.

 

Lets start with nibs: The nib on Kanwrite was smooth out of box and had very little feedback, the typical gentle pencil feedback of kanwrite is there but apart from that its smooth out of box. The nib on Maya has relatively more feedback, its very smooth out box no question on that but feedback given is higher than Kanwrite and both have been used for about 20 pages so I think the Jowo will keep its feedback. Personally I am actually enjoying it more and more with every page. This observation could also be due to different inks used as Shin-Kai in Maya is drier ink than waterman but I still think the Jowo will retain its character (I hope it does).

 

One thing to note is that lines of Maya are thinner then that on Kanwrite, kanwrite is typical Indian width while Jowo is well European one. While neither are flex nibs Kanwrite can be flexed a bit while jowo is relatively harder to do so and will produce poorer results when tried.

 

Now lets go to feed: the feed on Maya has better flow hands down, in fact the both pens flow wet but Maya has both better consistency and moderation in flow and considering its actually having drier ink makes it better one hands down.

 

Combination : this is what actually is making things interesting for me, I usually don't enjoy feedback but the combination of the feed and jowo nib on Maya is what I am enjoying more, this by no means means that Kanwrite is bad or flow is not good, its just that when it comes to having actual character its Maya that takes the cake here (could be due to using kanwrite for over a year daily...), there could also be balance of pen at play here.

I think I need about 50 or so more pages to actually get both nibs used to my writing style and actually get grinned enough to show their true nature but first impressions are quite interesting for me. I will be honest I thought Jowo will have lesser feedback and when I first put my pen on page I thought Kanwrite will take the cake for more enjoyable one.....both expectations were reversed splendidly.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Dimy

[cvk]

Very nice. What did you think about the pens? Looking forward to a writing sample and more detailed review.

Which Airmail pen are you waiting for?

[Dimy]

Very nice. What did you think about the pens? Looking forward to a writing sample and more detailed review.

Which Airmail pen are you waiting for?

I am loving both of them a lot, writing samples I will post here later detailed review might take some time though.

I ordered a 69EB.

[Dimy]

A small writing sample of one of my favorite quotes by Niccolo Machiavelli. The lower lines are line width and variation at medium pressure, might be hard to spot the difference but Kanwrite is tiny bit wider. Upper one is Heritage with waterman serenity blue while lower one is Maya with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai (color fail to reproduce faithfully sadly )

 

 

 

What did you think about the pens? Looking forward to a writing sample and more detailed review.

 

 

About the feel of pen, let me just dive a bit deeper cos "I am loving both" kinda fails at answering the question.

 

So Heritage is acrylic pen with piston filling mechanism plus its large sized pen...now this means that the balance of pen is slight upward biased. I feel this can be issue for very small hands and if capped might actually tip the balance is negative way. I have small hands and I find no issues on writing but its worth to note that its not equally distributed balance. Rest feel is typical acrylic pen so not much surprise here. I do like the fact that it has ink window, quite handy.

 

Maya is ebonite and I went for matte one here, this means that its soft feeling pen and very pleasant to hold plus I like the brush finish on the body. I do think that it will attract dust and dirt fast but honestly I prefer this over polished ebonite which takes some of the raw feel away...personal preference plus I am all down for matte color anytime. The pen has very balanced weight distribution and is light being ebonite. It is a large pen though but I find it quite nice to write.

 

Have not gone for long writing sessions yet so cant say completely about comfort in either pens so will reserve that for later.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Dimy

[cvk]

Thanks for the review!! Is heritage acrylic in the same way as say wality 69A? Or is it more like plastic (like camlin elegante etc)

[Dimy]

I never had my hands on 69A only on 69EB (and I ordered the same thing again) but it definitely is not like the Camlin Elegante or other plastic pens, I can easily tell its not plastic.

[smitbret]

Your impression of the Maya is pretty much the same as mine. I picked up the unpolished in Teal about a year ago. It was my first ebonite pen and I wanted my first ebonite to be Indian made. It seemed the most "office worthy". The only difference is that my JoWo was a instead of .

 

Initially out of the package I was kind of "meh". It wrote well and the nib was good but the pen had the misfortune of showing up just before I acquired my Regalia Crossflex nibs and it kind of got lost when I decided the Maya just didn't fit the Maya very well. It sat unused for about 8 monhts till I picked it up again a couple of months ago and decided to run some Monteverde California Teal through it. Now I am rather ashamed that I let it sit for 8 months. It just feels very good in my hand. Something about the size and weight is just right and the more I use it, the more I like it. It just grows on me.

 

It is, by far, the best made Indian pen that I own. My other Indian pens are well made for the most part but seem to lack just a little bit of attention to fit and finish. On the Maya, everything lines up perfectly. There are edges where there are supposed to be edges and there are no edges where there shouldn't. My only complaint is that one of the two rings on the cap will actually spin if I push it with a finger. Kind of weird and not really a problem but I feel like if one should spin, so should the other.

[Dimy]

Your impression of the Maya is pretty much the same as mine. I picked up the unpolished in Teal about a year ago. It was my first ebonite pen and I wanted my first ebonite to be Indian made. It seemed the most "office worthy". The only difference is that my JoWo was a instead of .

 

Initially out of the package I was kind of "meh". It wrote well and the nib was good but the pen had the misfortune of showing up just before I acquired my Regalia Crossflex nibs and it kind of got lost when I decided the Maya just didn't fit the Maya very well. It sat unused for about 8 monhts till I picked it up again a couple of months ago and decided to run some Monteverde California Teal through it. Now I am rather ashamed that I let it sit for 8 months. It just feels very good in my hand. Something about the size and weight is just right and the more I use it, the more I like it. It just grows on me.

 

It is, by far, the best made Indian pen that I own. My other Indian pens are well made for the most part but seem to lack just a little bit of attention to fit and finish. On the Maya, everything lines up perfectly. There are edges where there are supposed to be edges and there are no edges where there shouldn't. My only complaint is that one of the two rings on the cap will actually spin if I push it with a finger. Kind of weird and not really a problem but I feel like if one should spin, so should the other.

Yes thats true it just grows on. Maya is my first official ASA pen (in respect it was not gifted) and its really nice pen in every way, I tend to give every nib and pen 60 to 80 pages before deciding if they will be on always inked or sometimes inked category or special meh class....feels fair for pen plus I write a lot so I can do this much for very easily....this one's going in always inked one thats for sure.

 

I never had my hands of regalia crossflex but from what I know of them it must be very severe blow for little jowo...they are very expensive and nice nibs (too much for me right now honestly, might try them in future though).

 

The rings in my model seemed to be glued shut so no movement, ASA probably addressed it as many actually raised the issue.....some people say that glue residue can be seen on some pen...mine has none though.