Shaeffer Intrigue

[ugaalf]

Thinking about picking one up, but would like an opinion(S) from someone that has one.

[FredTSkunke]

I have two of them, both medium nibs. I love them both. In my opinion you cannot go wrong. I love the weight of the pens, and both of them are smooth, consistent writers.

[Richard]

I'm betting that PenHero will get his reply up before I do.

 

I don't much care for the Intrigue. The filling system is pure Rube Goldberg -- kitsch for the sake of kitsch -- and is also flimsy and unreliable. The nib is a modified Inlaid Nib™, but the modification, which straightens it out and makes it more rigid, isn't a good idea IMHO. The asymmetrical cap lip means you can cap the pen in only one orientation, but that orientation is not positively indexed the way it is on a Waterman Sérénité. Early Intrigues had serious problems with barrel scratches inflicted by the cap. This may (or may not) have been corrected.

 

All the above having been said, there is no question that the Intrigue is a funky looking pen.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_info/bday_pen/intrigue.jpg

 

Edited to fix a parenthesis. (No Nit Too Small to Pick!)

Edited November 16, 2005 by Richard

[tryphon]

I hate to disagree with my dear friend Richard, but I really like the Intrigue. Richard's points are absolutely true, of course, but my Intrigues feel great in the hand (they balance very well) and write very smoothly. I even like the filling system and it can be bypassed, if so desired, and the pen can use cartridges.

Distinctive design, great writing qualities and the pen can be found at very attractive discounted prices.

[PenHero]

Boy - you guys beat me to it!

 

*** Disclaimer - We sell Intrigues, so take my comments with the appropriate grain of salt.

 

Richard has valid points, but on some I disagree.

 

I bought my first Intrigue, a Whale Shark medium, when they came out in 2000. I bought it purely on looks, and still have it and use it a lot.

 

The filling system is indeed "pure Rube Goldberg" - this design was brought to Sheaffer by a former Parker exec who wanted to make the pen at Parker (more on that in my article on the Intrigue due in December). It's not intuitive, and I had trouble with it when I first got mine, but learned how to use it correctly. It's now second nature to me, but I admit, I mostly use cartridges in mine. I think it should have been a cartridge only pen.

 

I agree that the filling tray could be a better design and Sheaffer and I have both had returns on broken trays. With care, it will last a long time with no problems. Mine is five years old and had a lot of use. We have a lot of customers that love theirs.

 

The nib is indeed a "modified Inlaid Nib™" and it is stiffer and straighter. Believe it or not, it was intended that way. My medium writes like butter and very evenly.

 

http://www.penhero.com/Wallpaper/Pics/SheafferIntrigue600.jpg

The Bright Metal finish is one of my favorites - and a fingerprint magnet

 

I disagree on the cap - it is very easy to seat because of the design. The design was debated internally at Sheaffer and doing it asymetric rather than a straight cut was done for the visual appeal. I think a straight cut would have made the pen more pedestrian, and the asymetrical cut really works with the whole visual appeal of the pen.

 

All Intrigues are potential barrel scratchers and we warn our customers who worry about it that posting the pen will at minimum cause wear, and careless posting may gouge the barrel. This is caused most by the large cap lip dragging on the barrel. It's why I don't post mine. The Bright Metal finish gets punished the worst because of this.

 

I think the Intrigue shows Sheaffer's willingness to make a really unconventional pen and they realize that they made a great product and then failed to support it with a real marketing push. They also know that such a complex pen, like the Touchdown Legacy, requires demonstration to sell and most retail outlets won't provide that. This is why they made the move to cartridge / converter pens across all lines.

[Richard]

The filling system is indeed "pure Rube Goldberg"...  It's not intuitive, and I had trouble with it when I first got mine, but learned how to use it correctly.

 

"Not intuitive" is in my book a bad thing. I still don't know the proper way to operate the two concentric knobs -- one of them you have to pull out to use, but when and why? Pens are supposed to be convenient. I'm not surprised the "former Parker exec" had to take the design to Sheaffer; IMHO, Parker knew it was a dog.

 

The nib is indeed a "modified Inlaid Nib™" and it is stiffer and straighter.  Believe it or not, it was intended that way.

 

Far be it from me to imply that it was an accident. But it's a nail. If I want a modern nail, I'll reach for an Edson, which may cost a lot more but is IMHO a far better pen.

 

I disagree on the cap - it is very easy to seat because of the design.

 

Again, I didn't - and don't -- say it's difficult to seat. It's not. But it doesn't index automatically; you have to turn it, or let it turn itself as you push it down, in order to seat it. This I find annoying despite its ease.

 

A difference of opinion is what makes a horse race. (Well, no, actually, what makes a horse race is its jockey...) If we all liked the same thing there would be only one model of pen, only one nib style, only one color. To quote Jo Anne Worley (remember her?), "BO-O-O-O-ring!"

[Michael Wright]

I've bought a couple of Intrigues from Jim. At his close-out prices I am extremely well satisfied. At the original price, I'm not so sure how I'd have felt. I thought I had lost one, and missed it so much I bought another, which says something. I then found the first one hiding in the middle of a pen frog, which says something else, probably embarrassing.

 

I like the nib. It's firm, but both mine are very precise fines. Gives me the feeling that I know exactly where the line is going -- not super glidy, but just *so* (if that all makes any sense).

 

The filling system is bizarro -- I took one look and knew it would be cartridges only for me, and it's a grossly inefficient way to get a cartridge into a Sheaffer.

 

I have seen an Intrigue with the finish badly worn, which is a pity, because the finishes look very nice, and are a major part of the appeal.

 

I really like the cap. Putting it on is OK -- push on and then twist slightly to a positive location. But taking the cap off is a real plus; first the little twist, to start the cap moving, and then a straight pull. This is better than the ordinary removal of any clip-on cap that is positive enough to be reliable, as it avoids the tendency to over do it, which can cause a bit of blobbing.

 

It's not at all a classic pen, especially compared with the design perfection of a Parker "51", a Sheaffer lever filler, or an Esterbrook. But it is a pen I like a lot.

 

Best

 

Michael

[Karin]

I finally have come to terms with my Intrigue. Using the "Rube Goldberg" system

Disclaimer: Rube and I have the same last name but we are not related

I had problems with the pen skipping every now and then. I finally gave up and was ready to sell the pen when I decided to try a cartridge. Welllllllll, as the voice on Chicken man used to say (Richard do you remember that radio show?)

I now love my Intrigue. After I read the instructions about removing the converter. Sheesh, what a crazy system. I popped in a Blue Black cartridge and voila!

Fantastic, smooth, well balanced pen.

 

 

Karin :bunny1:

[MaryDoe]

I have three Intrigues:

 

1. Bright Metal (medium) - Writes flawlessly, every time. I've never been able to post the cap at all, however, and the shiny finish always looks smudgy.

2. Silken Bark (broad) - A glassy, wet, exceptional nib with a beautiful and much more forgiving finish. Cap posts perfectly, too.

3. Blue on Blue (broad) - Dittos the Silken Bark, but with a yellow gold nib which looks great with the uberblue finish.

 

I concur with previous statements regarding the flimsyawkwardunintuitive filling system.

 

For several months after obtaining my first Intrigue I couldn't for the life of me figure out why removing the converter was such a "sometimes-you-can-sometimes-you-can't" affair. Pert near broke the pen in two trying to pry the wretched thing outta there with a nail file once. Then one day I unscrewed the barrel to check the ink level and - boing! - out it popped. I arrived at the same obvious, undeniable conclusion that any other rational, level-headed, modern-thinking individual would have: Clearly, witchcraft was involved.

 

As long as I had the converter out of the pen, I decided to fill it with a syringe (to skip the nibwipe, dontcha know). As I turned the tiny "crown-of-thorns" cap thingy to withdraw the piston, I noticed a toothy white plastic voodooy-looking gizmo emerging from amid the "thorns" and literally within days deduced that this was, in fact, the... um, other end of the piston. I may not be the prettiest pickle in the jar, but I'm in the running for sharpest grape on the vine.

 

Anyway, when the piston is fully withdrawn, it gets shy and hides way up in the blind cap, undetectable to the untrained eye, and prevents removal of the converter when it's full of ink. When deployed, piston-shame vanishes along with any ink and extraction of the converter is as easy as unscrewing the barrel.

 

NOTE: None of my Intrigues enjoy having their sections removed from the barrel despite the presence of simple threads that would seem to encourage one to do so. Probably residual effects of witchcraft-anxiety at work there...

[PenHero]

For several months after obtaining my first Intrigue I couldn't for the life of me figure out why removing the converter was such a "sometimes-you-can-sometimes-you-can't" affair. Pert near broke the pen in two trying to pry the wretched thing outta there with a nail file once. Then one day I unscrewed the barrel to check the ink level and - boing! - out it popped. I arrived at the same obvious, undeniable conclusion that any other rational, level-headed, modern-thinking individual would have: Clearly, witchcraft was involved.

Actually, it's not witchcraft, though, again, it's another counter-intuitive thing. If you take the converter out and operate it manually (outside the pen), you'll notice that the plunger stem will extend well outside the top of the converter as it is filled. If you open the pen full of ink and try to remove the converter, you can't because the stem is stuck inside the filling button. This is actually a safety feature of sorts (unintended?) as the converter won't pop out if it's full. If you close the pen and dump the converter by screwing the plunger all the way to the top and then open the pen drawer, the converter should pop out, as you say.