J. Herbin Café Des Iles

[The Bantam Scribbler]

Cafe des Iles is the only brown ink I've ever tried, and frankly, it's so perfect that I don't think I'll ever need another one. Butter-smoothness, shading to die for, and on top of this, it's water resistant?

 

Now, if only someone with a worldlier tongue will tell me how to pronounce the name, I'll be fully equipped to sing its praises!

[tnmike1]

Cafe des Iles is the only brown ink I've ever tried, and frankly, it's so perfect that I don't think I'll ever need another one. Butter-smoothness, shading to die for, and on top of this, it's water resistant?

 

Now, if only someone with a worldlier tongue will tell me how to pronounce the name, I'll be fully equipped to sing its praises!

 

Cafay days Eels. Or close to that.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I picked this review to comment on because it was closest to my first try with Cafe` de Iles.

I've just got the ink and have not tried it out on papers.

Using only Clairefontaine Veloute` and an Osmia flexi 14 c Supra F, Oamia steel semi-flex (+) BBL and a Degussa easy full flex M.

I got three nice tones, the more flexible the nib the darker the ink.

 

It is a beautiful shading ink.

 

I put all browns but my MB sepia, on that sheet to see what it looked like. Other nice browns were Lie de The`, DA Copper brown (nice red-brown good shading), MB Toffee, and Pelikan Brown which is much a different area of brown.

 

I've 11 pens with brown ink in them.

[Miles R.]

Cafe des Iles is the only brown ink I've ever tried, and frankly, it's so perfect that I don't think I'll ever need another one. Butter-smoothness, shading to die for, and on top of this, it's water resistant?

 

Now, if only someone with a worldlier tongue will tell me how to pronounce the name, I'll be fully equipped to sing its praises!

 

Cafay days Eels. Or close to that.

Not quite. The "s" at the end of "îles" is not pronounced. So it's "Calf, eh? Day zeal!" but with all syllables run together without a break (and, of course, with an American, not a British, pronunciation of "calf"). Or "Calf aid A's eel!" Or, since "café" is already a word in English, "Café daze eel!" or "Café day's eel!"--and so on. In IPA phonetic notation it is kafedezil, or, in classical diction, kafedɛzil.

 

It's really a problem asking for Lie de thé. If you use the correct French pronunciation--in IPA notation, lidte, or approximated in English phonics, "leed tay"--most people will not understand you.

Edited April 28, 2012 by Miles R.

[whitelily]

AMAZING SHADING! (sorry, just had to shout that out in shock). Thank you for this nice review!

[Davidus]

Café des Îles + ivory paper (the Moleskine one) is also my favorite ink/paper combination. It's a great ink.

 

If you really need the correct pronunciation, you should try reverso.net If you don't have the accents ("é") on your UK/US keyboard, just copy/paste "café des îles" from this topic !

 

Thank you for this review !

[Miles R.]

I am a great partisan of Herbin inks and I love the color of Café des îles, but I find it to be the worst pen clogger of all the inks that I have ever used. I have tried it in a few different pens, and with all of them I have found that in order to write more than a few lines at a time I need to crank up the convertor repeatedly. Worse, when I clean out the pen after exhausting the convertor, bits of solid matter emerge from the nib feed. I would recommend that users NEVER use this ink in a pen that cannot be dismantled: merely flushing with water will not remove the residues that it leaves.

[Bhavna]

Beautiful review, I especially appreciate the use of white and ivory papers as I use both! There is something gorgeous about browns and oranges on ivory/ cream - stunning combination. I have only every used Pelikan 4001 Brown, and I did once try PP Mocha.... but walked out of the shop without buying it :bonk:

[Colors]

I'm not a fan of brown, but after seeing this review, I may have to try it. Besides, who can resist an ink with a name like Island Coffee...

[trurl]

I am a great partisan of Herbin inks and I love the color of Café des îles, but I find it to be the worst pen clogger of all the inks that I have ever used. I have tried it in a few different pens, and with all of them I have found that in order to write more than a few lines at a time I need to crank up the convertor repeatedly. Worse, when I clean out the pen after exhausting the convertor, bits of solid matter emerge from the nib feed. I would recommend that users NEVER use this ink in a pen that cannot be dismantled: merely flushing with water will not remove the residues that it leaves.

 

+1

 

The very same experience for me.

 

It doesn't even work properly with my dip pens...

[Miles R.]

I am a great partisan of Herbin inks and I love the color of Café des îles, but I find it to be the worst pen clogger of all the inks that I have ever used. I have tried it in a few different pens, and with all of them I have found that in order to write more than a few lines at a time I need to crank up the convertor repeatedly. Worse, when I clean out the pen after exhausting the convertor, bits of solid matter emerge from the nib feed. I would recommend that users NEVER use this ink in a pen that cannot be dismantled: merely flushing with water will not remove the residues that it leaves.

Update: I tried adding a bit of water to the ink in the convertor and found that the problems that I had been having were greatly alleviated. I still have reason to expect that cleaning out the pen will require special attention, as before, but I am no longer having interruptions of ink flow. As the ink is so thick to begin with, the water has not greatly weakened the color. If anything, it has slightly widened the range of shading, by lightening the lighter bits of line. I did not measure the amount of water that I mixed in, but I would guess that it was between 1/8 and 1/5 of the amount of ink.

[Colors]

Tried a sample of this ink after checking out this review. As I mentioned before, i don't particularly like brown inks, but the shading, tone and name of this ink looked great.

 

I inked up my new TWSBI 540 with medium nib. One of the few inks that does great in the moleskine - no feathering or bleedthrough. But, on college lined paper, it would skip - a lot.

 

I still like the color and may purchase a bottle to have on hand for a brand; I'd like to see what happens in a wetter nib.

[Colors]

Supposed to say ".... To have on hand for a brown."

[tenney]

Is it an iron gall ink?

[leod]

I actually prefer this over Lie De The, its darker then CDA Grand Canyon and a bit lighter then PR Chocolat

[trurl]

Is it an iron gall ink?

 

None of the J. Herbin fountain pen ink is an iron gall ink.

[een brouwer]

Thanks for reviewing this. My favorite brown ink so far has been Pelikan's Brilliant Brown but I'll have to give this a go now.

[Septimus61]

I am a great partisan of Herbin inks and I love the color of Café des îles, but I find it to be the worst pen clogger of all the inks that I have ever used. I have tried it in a few different pens, and with all of them I have found that in order to write more than a few lines at a time I need to crank up the convertor repeatedly. Worse, when I clean out the pen after exhausting the convertor, bits of solid matter emerge from the nib feed. I would recommend that users NEVER use this ink in a pen that cannot be dismantled: merely flushing with water will not remove the residues that it leaves.

Update: I tried adding a bit of water to the ink in the convertor and found that the problems that I had been having were greatly alleviated. I still have reason to expect that cleaning out the pen will require special attention, as before, but I am no longer having interruptions of ink flow. As the ink is so thick to begin with, the water has not greatly weakened the color. If anything, it has slightly widened the range of shading, by lightening the lighter bits of line. I did not measurer the amount of water that I mixed in, but I would guess that it was between 1/8 and 1/5 of the amount of ink.

 

Hello Miles R,

 

I'm having exactly the same issues with this ink!!!

Absolutely love using it - as I hate a really wet line - BUT if I put the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, it clogs up and stops working?

I'd already tried the water before I read your post, but, I only added a plunger full - it still clogs up but takes longer - perhaps I should add more water?

[Miles R.]

I'm having exactly the same issues with this ink!!!

Absolutely love using it - as I hate a really wet line - BUT if I put the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, it clogs up and stops working?

I'd already tried the water before I read your post, but, I only added a plunger full - it still clogs up but takes longer - perhaps I should add more water?

When you speak of putting the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, you don't mean leaving the cap off, do you? :blink: I wouldn't expect any ink to flow after that.

 

As for temporary pen stoppages, of the sort that can be remedied by turning the screw of the convertor to force more ink into the nib, I have that problem with a lot of pens, regardless of the ink. With undiluted Cafe des iles it just happens more frequently.

 

As I reported in my previous post, diluting the ink slightly seemed to solve the problem of flow. But after I had set the pen aside for a few days, I found when I took it up again that it had gone back to frequent stoppages. I added a bit more water to the ink in the convertor, bringing the proportion of water to ink up to about 1:4 or maybe even 1:3, I would estimate. This seemed again to solve the problem, and, surprisingly, the ink still looks all right on the page.

 

I suspect, though, that what happens with this ink even when it is diluted is that after a certain period of use it leaves solid deposits in the nib feed that need to be cleaned out. I shall know when I take apart and clean the pen in which I am now using it.

[Septimus61]

I'm having exactly the same issues with this ink!!!

Absolutely love using it - as I hate a really wet line - BUT if I put the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, it clogs up and stops working?

I'd already tried the water before I read your post, but, I only added a plunger full - it still clogs up but takes longer - perhaps I should add more water?

When you speak of putting the pen down for 5 to 10 minutes, you don't mean leaving the cap off, do you? :blink: I wouldn't expect any ink to flow after that.

 

As for temporary pen stoppages, of the sort that can be remedied by turning the screw of the convertor to force more ink into the nib, I have that problem with a lot of pens, regardless of the ink. With undiluted Cafe des iles it just happens more frequently.

 

As I reported in my previous post, diluting the ink slightly seemed to solve the problem of flow. But after I had set the pen aside for a few days, I found when I took it up again that it had gone back to frequent stoppages. I added a bit more water to the ink in the convertor, bringing the proportion of water to ink up to about 1:4 or maybe even 1:3, I would estimate. This seemed again to solve the problem, and, surprisingly, the ink still looks all right on the page.

 

I suspect, though, that what happens with this ink even when it is diluted is that after a certain period of use it leaves solid deposits in the nib feed that need to be cleaned out. I shall know when I take apart and clean the pen in which I am now using it.

 

 

No, I didn't mean with the cap off.

Just normal use - write something and then cap it and when I uncap it and try to write some more after 5-10-15 minutes - it's a really, really hard starter.

I will try adding more water to come up to the proportions you mentioned and see how I go.

Please let me know what you find on cleaning the pen you currently have filled?