Two types of containers I use for ink sample giveaways

Searching on here to find examples of what people use for ink sample vials and came across this - thank you for sharing it, very helpful just as I needed it!

@E.H. Tersono I think a lot of people prefer to use larger-capacity versions of the sample vials with the threaded caps; or, at least, certainly to receive ink samples in larger vials (and presumably larger volumes than 2ml).

 

Whatever you choose should be fit for your purpose and use cases. If you want to be able to stick the business end of a pen into a sample vial, and submerge the nib and feed in the ink it contains, sufficiently and for long enough to refill a pen from it, then these small sample vials won't do. On the other hand, if all you want is containers in which to hold the unconsumed ink in partially depleted cartridges or converters, or send a small amount of ink (or silicone grease, PhotoFlo or some such), or even give a spare Pelikan M20x nib all-round protection while minimising the thickness of the package or parcel you send, these are good. I sent a collection of 72 ink samples using the green-capped vials, from Australia to @LizEF in the US, in a tightly packed <500g parcel, and only two of them exhibited minor leakage (which could possibly have been avoided altogether, had I been more careful) in transit across the ocean and skies.

 

If you're indeed looking to send ink samples to others, then — if you so choose — you could possibly include a disposable 1ml syringe with a (metal or plastic) blunt-tip ‘needle’/nozzle attachment, which would make it easier to refill converters or empty ink cartridges from these vials. It also works in the case where the recipient's pen is a piston-filler with a threaded and removable nib unit (e.g. Pelikan Souverän or Aurora Optima).