J. Herbin Perle Noire

[arikol]

I received this ink just about a week ago, bought based on the reviews here as well as the colour samples I've seen.

 

I'm a bit of a beginner at all this and have two cheap fountain pens, one Parker Jotter (steel body) medium nib and one Lamy Safari with a fine nib. My experience with ink is also limited to Parker Black, Blue-Black and Blue cartridges, and Lamy blue cartridges.

The Parker was somewhat scratchy (until I did something you're probably not supposed to do involving a teensy bit of sandpaper) but the lamy was very, very nice (not as smooth as a Parker 51, but surprisingly less difference than I would have expected)

 

Now, putting this in was just sweet. The Lamy became lovely, with a smoothness and flow which I've never felt in a writing utensil before. It feels like it floats on the page. The Parker Jotter became VERY smooth and the increased flow gave wide and nice lines. I'm basically using it up quite fast because I just love writing with this.

 

Just a lovely ink, and the better waterfastness is a joy after seeing Quink (washable) go everywhere if there was so much as a humid thought in my mind. I was severely disappointed with Quink in all respects, colour, flow, smoothness, water resistance etc (I naively thought that it should stay ON the page). Lamy was much nicer in most respects, smoother and better flow. But the J.Herbin is really in another league in my opinion.

 

Next up, try to acquire some noodler's Blue-black or Aircorp-blue-black, and even some more fun colours too.

[Pippin60]

Its one of my favorite blacks. I have 3 I use Aurora, Perle Noire, and HOD.

[FrankB]

My memory of ink choices in the 1950's and '60's is highly restricted - black, blue, and blue-black. I do not use black ink too much these days. But, when I do, the Perle Noir is at the top of my list. I find J. Herbin inks to be very well behaved in general, and the PN is no exception. It is very FP friendly. It is a true black on paper, without being glossy. I really do not remember how long I have been using PN, but it has been the better part of 30 years. I still use it, so I guess that says something.

[adam11]

Herbin Perle noir is indeed very nice ink. Together with Dupont Noir and Caran d'ache Carbon Black is my favorite black. Still, Dupont remains #1.

[kreinhard]

All of my black pens are inked with Herbin Perle Noire. I store them nib up (gasp!) when not in the rotation. I have a couple Esterbrook J and SJ pens which, after a couple of weeks of standing upright, unused, wrote right off the bat. Could be the ink, could be the pen; I don't know either way. But, I love the ink. It feels good; smooth, velvety. My only complaint is the itty-bitty bottle and how much of a pain it is to ink a pen once it's near empty.

[_ jm _]

I received Perle Noir just yesterday and I think its instantly my favourite black..

 

Luckily they make it in the 100mL bottle! However I think Brian Goulet is the only person (that I know of) that carries these 100mL Herbin Bottles,

 

If only it wasnt $43 shipping to australia.. I'll have to live with the 30mL for now.

The 100ml bottles are available in the UK from The Writing Desk for £7.23 (when the UK tax is deducted) and the shipping cost is £4.80 for one bottle, £6.40 for two, or £10.00 for three to destinations outside Europe. Worth a look, perhaps?

[GouletPens]

I received Perle Noir just yesterday and I think its instantly my favourite black..

 

Luckily they make it in the 100mL bottle! However I think Brian Goulet is the only person (that I know of) that carries these 100mL Herbin Bottles,

 

If only it wasnt $43 shipping to australia.. I'll have to live with the 30mL for now.

 

I have that price on my website for international shipping, but that's assuming a USPS Priority Medium box. Best thing to do is email me and let me know what you're interested in and I can get you a more accurate shipping quote. If you're just looking for a few bottles of ink it can ship much cheaper (just over $11) to Australia. It's a roundabout way of going about it all, I know, but the technical limitations of my site are something I have to work around....

[watch_art]

Wow Brian! That's a really good price for this ink! I think I'm gonna have to pick up some of this black after seeing a sample in person tonight!

[Moynihan]

Just got a bottle from Brian today. It may be my new, favorite black.

[SnowLeopard]

My two blacks r sufficient. Aurora for blackness, ...Sailor's nano carbon for situations where water damage might occur. I rejected Herbin's PN due to the difficulty in filling certain larger nibsters... when the fluid runs down below, say, half-bottle. Great ink, the bottle is a challenge. What's up with the D bottle ..." la demi-courtine" nonsense...anywho? It's much easier to fill from a gallon jug ...aye....FPN'ers...BG? R u aware of how long it takes to use up a 100 bottle with a fine nib? If you continually decant into smaller vessels...you run the risk of introducing unwanted baddies into your fluid, too. BTW, can somebody explain why you'd want black ink that shades...effectively making it sort of gray scale document? Just buy gray ink...right...problem solved?

Edited September 14, 2010 by SnowLeopard

[tanalasta]

I actually prefer he blackness of Perle Noir. I find Aurora too 'carbon black' for my liking... and the small bottles are less of an issue if one uses an eyedropper and a Visconti Travel Inkpot

 

My favourite black ink, remains Perle Noir.

 

It's very well behaved, a lovely black, relatively low maintainance despite it's high saturation and also quite waterfast.

[jbn10161]

Can anyone who uses both this ink and Pelikan Brilliant Black comment on the difference?

It might be too late for the poster to see this response, but....

 

The Herbin black is a much wetter, flowier ink. It is more wet/flowy than most, very similar in that respect to the Aurora black. Pelikan's brilliant black is on the other end of the spectrum; it is more dry than most. That is the biggest difference. (Although wet, the Herbin is not prone to feathering in my experience.)

 

The reflectivity is also a little different. The Herbin black has more of a sheen than the Pelikan.

 

I seem to recall that the Pelikan black was moderately water resistant, but the Herbin black is very water resistant.

 

The Pelikan bottle is easier to use when the ink level gets low. The Herbin bottle is frustratingly difficult for larger nibs when the ink level drops.

[thaugen]

This is my favorite black ink. It seems to make all my pens write better and feel smoother.

[Russ]

I got a bottle a few weeks ago and won't be going back to any other black. Just outstanding flow, wetness, smoothness, and performance on paper.

[Thornton]

I like to think of it as "Hassle Free Black." It's gentle on pens, truly black, easy to clean, no nib creep, and flows well in everything I put it in. Noodler's Old Manhattan will always be my favorite black, but Perle Noire is a very close second.

[1000km]

The king of inks...

www.thewritingdesk.co.uk has better prices for 100ml bottles shipped to the US than any of the US-based suppliers.

[Cedric T]

Can anyone who uses both this ink and Pelikan Brilliant Black comment on the difference?

It might be too late for the poster to see this response, but....

 

The Herbin black is a much wetter, flowier ink. It is more wet/flowy than most, very similar in that respect to the Aurora black. Pelikan's brilliant black is on the other end of the spectrum; it is more dry than most. That is the biggest difference. (Although wet, the Herbin is not prone to feathering in my experience.)

 

The reflectivity is also a little different. The Herbin black has more of a sheen than the Pelikan.

 

I seem to recall that the Pelikan black was moderately water resistant, but the Herbin black is very water resistant.

 

The Pelikan bottle is easier to use when the ink level gets low. The Herbin bottle is frustratingly difficult for larger nibs when the ink level drops.

 

This certainly helps me, I am trying to compare the Herbin with the Pelikan Brilliant Black too; now I know what to expect, especially when you'd mentioned that the flow is similar to Aurora Black (probably too wet for me).

 

Thanks!

[beluga]

Can anyone who uses both this ink and Pelikan Brilliant Black comment on the difference?

It might be too late for the poster to see this response, but....

 

The Herbin black is a much wetter, flowier ink. It is more wet/flowy than most, very similar in that respect to the Aurora black. Pelikan's brilliant black is on the other end of the spectrum; it is more dry than most. That is the biggest difference. (Although wet, the Herbin is not prone to feathering in my experience.)

 

The reflectivity is also a little different. The Herbin black has more of a sheen than the Pelikan.

 

I seem to recall that the Pelikan black was moderately water resistant, but the Herbin black is very water resistant.

 

The Pelikan bottle is easier to use when the ink level gets low. The Herbin bottle is frustratingly difficult for larger nibs when the ink level drops.

 

This certainly helps me, I am trying to compare the Herbin with the Pelikan Brilliant Black too; now I know what to expect, especially when you'd mentioned that the flow is similar to Aurora Black (probably too wet for me).

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Pelikan Brilliant Black may be inexpensive and widely available, but it is also know to be a bit on the dry side.

Whereas Aurora is known as an almost perfect ink and comparing Herbin Perle Noire with the Aurora does not in the least imply anything negative about Perle Noire.

 

In fact, as I had repeated issues with leaking Aurora bottles, Herbin Perle Noire is now my favourite black ink.

I can only recommend it - unless someone is attracted to heavily saturated inks like Noodler's and PR.

[hudsong]

This stuff is great. After it dries, it's not quite a black as Noodler's but it's good enough. It dries much faster.

[Tolomeo]

This stuff is great. After it dries, it's not quite a black as Noodler's but it's good enough. It dries much faster.

 

I have found this works really well in my Visconti (F) and is a really nice slightly warm black . .. in the bottle you can see a reddish tinge.