The Smell Of Ink.

[Ernest]

I think the smell of Sailor brown in has infected my Bexley Magnum Dragon. Is that a possibility? How can I get the smell out? I can hardly use the pen any more.

 

Yup! I have the same issue.

But, I love the Sailor's ink. The reddish black is one of my favorite.

[drmom777]

Old Parker 51s still smell of what must be Superchrome ink. It is a very distinctive aroma.

[karinh]

All of the special types of Noodlers and some of the normal ones stink so bad to me that I get a migraine. It doesn't smell like pizza crust to me, that's for sure. Thank goodness, or I'd never eat pizza again.

 

Sailor smells like chemicals but not as bad and not to the point of giving me a headache unless I write multiple pages with it.

Old Waterman with phenol is so bad I don't even open the bottle and it took me several warm soapy washes to remove the smell from the pen (a Safari with converter).

Some of the Herbin inks have a slight but pleasant aroma. I have 2 scented MB and 1 De Atramentis that I don't mind in small doses.

Diamine barely smell if at all and most of my other inks of various brands hardly have a smell.

 

If I had any way of doing so, I would be trying to sniff all the inks I buy pre-purchase because there's no point in buying stuff I can't use and it's really disappointing too. Somewhere down the track I think I'll have to have an ink sale and get rid of the stinkers instead of them sitting here gathering dust.

[MrBlue]

All of the special types of Noodlers and some of the normal ones stink so bad to me that I get a migraine.

 

I recently purchased Noodlers Bad Blue Heron for my new TWSBI. It has a noticeable odor. My wife, a former elementary school teacher, smelled it and exclaimed, "ooh, it smells like Sharpies!" Sure enough, that's the scent. That happens to be one of my wife's favorite smells (she also LOVES the smell of Crayons).

[Pengrump]

I still have one bottle of old Waterman ink with phenol. One whiff of that and my brain goes into spasms. Of course, once I sniff at it, I can't stop. The only ink brand with a really distinctive smell that puts me off is Private Reserve. Nearly all their inks smell slightly sweetish to me with a chemical background smell, sort of like rotting fruit in preservative. I once had a bottle of DeAtramentis burgundy ink. It smelled like wine that had gone bad. The only other scented ink I had was a Herbin Bleu Pervenche that I didn't know was scented when I got it on sale. It was headache-inducing, so I gave it to someone who liked and wasn't bothered by it.

 

Besides the phenol smell of old Waterman inks, the smell I consider most typical of ink is the smell of Quink from the 1950s through the 1970s. I like that smell. Always did and always will. Though I don't care for the ink that much.

[Viseguy]

The worst smelling was my Noddler's Tienanmen Red Ink....Strong ammonia smell.

...

Care to share your experience?

In my experience, an ammonia smell means that an ink has gone bad. It's usually a precursor to yucky floaties that you don't want inside of your fountain pen. I'd chuck it.

 

Some people insist, "But you can still use it with a dip pen." I say, "Come on. Yuck. Chuck it!" Is what I say.

 

By the way, Noodler's manufactured after mid-2005, when they upgraded the biocide, are much less susceptible to yucky floaties. In fact, I don't think I've had a single yucky floaty since then. FYI.

 

 

[Soot]

 

The handful of Noodler's inks I have all seem to smell faintly like citrus (or pizza crust, but that's another thread).

 

 

I'd like some ink with a hint of pizza crust smell, I wouldn't mind that. LOL~

[sombrueil]

I just checked:

 

Diamine -- faint chemical with sick vegetal undertone. not pleasant

Waterman -- even fainter chemical, no rotting veg aura. not pleasant but nearly unnoticeable

Pelikan -- also faint, but has a sort of business-like aroma, vaguely reminiscent of typewriter ribbons. For those who remember that smell.

Aurora -- smells like old water. rather nice.

J.Herbin (not specifically 'scented') -- Lie de The, pleasantly herbal; Rouge Opera, perfumey/fruity; Violet Pensee, violet pastilles.

[untrueparadox]

Inks from developing countries such as China and Vietnam all have a certain smell that I cant really identify. I dont really like that smell.

+1 on this one. however, the newer batches of chinese ink like Hero and Oriental are much much better. My blue black Hero from the late 90's smells extremely strong whereas the black I got last year was hardly detectable.

[JohnM]

I didn't know until now that it's phenol that accounts for the unique smell of my old bottle of Waterman South Sea Blue.

 

I actually like the smell. But I just read about it in Wikipedia and it looks like a pretty nasty substance. Hate to throw out the ink -- suggestions?

 

John

[79spitfire]

I love the smell of ink in the morning....

 

I hate the smell of ink in the morning....

 

It's a love hate thing...

 

Smells like FREEDOM in a jar!

 

I actually like the smell. But I just read about it in Wikipedia and it looks like a pretty nasty substance. Hate to throw out the ink -- suggestions?

 

Write with it? I don't believe there is enough "bad stuff" to harm you!

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Someone just remark that Sailor's ink has a unpleasant and odd smell.

That got me thinking. Well , I opened a few of my ink and took a few whiff .

Has anyone tried this?

I've sniffed the ink here and there. Back in the USENET group the odors of inks came up and I sniffed a few.

 

Be careful . I felt a little dizzy after the test. Not sure who's the culprit.

The worst smelling was my Noddler's Tienanmen Red Ink....Strong ammonia smell.

I opened the ink drawer and didn't feel like groping thrugh it for the Tianamen ink, but a bottle of Antietam was there. It's another red Noodler's ink. I opened it up and took a sniff. Wow, ammonia, all right!

 

The ink appears clear though. Something must have happened to it though, and I doubt that it still has a neutral pH. Ammonia, if I recall my chem classes correctly, is a definite basic compound. Oh my. I have hundreds of dollars of Noodler's inks from before they changed biocides, I hope it's not all turning into something I can't use anymore! :mad: :bonk:

 

Worst smelling ink I ever had: Hero 234 Carbon Black ink. It had the odor of burning rubber tires, and it was a strong odor. Even if I'd gotten adventurous and used that stuff in a fountain pen I don't think that I could have stood using it for long. That ink yelled "Fire!" in a crowded tire dump.

 

The handful of Noodler's inks I have all seem to smell faintly like citrus (or pizza crust, but that's another thread).

I don't know about pizza crust, but that citrus odor is the newer biocide that Noodler's researched and put into their (his) inks.

 

I recently purchased Noodlers Bad Blue Heron for my new TWSBI. It has a noticeable odor. My wife, a former elementary school teacher, smelled it and exclaimed, "ooh, it smells like Sharpies!" Sure enough, that's the scent. That happens to be one of my wife's favorite smells (she also LOVES the smell of Crayons).

I like the odor of the old Crayolas too! Probably reminds me of when school wasn't as terrible as it got for me later on.

 

On the basis of this thread I just now opened up my brand new bottle of Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher ink and it sort of almost smells like Sharpies, but not quite to my olfactory sense. The Sharpies, one of which I've just popped open for this test, have a much sharper alcohol-y odor to them. The Sharpies are definitely putting out a strong solvent odor. The Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher is sort of similar but not really the same. Try smelling them one right after the other and you should smell what I mean.

 

I didn't know until now that it's phenol that accounts for the unique smell of my old bottle of Waterman South Sea Blue.

 

I actually like the smell. But I just read about it in Wikipedia and it looks like a pretty nasty substance. Hate to throw out the ink -- suggestions?

Keep it, use it, don't drink it. I think that you're unlikely to be harmed by using one bottle of old ink. Or else sell it to one of us!

[Ipno Tizer]

I'm told that is you make iron gall inks with cypress galls instead of oak, the resulting ink smells of cypress resin.

[lapis]

My Tiananmens -- both new and old -- have virtually no smell at all. Well, if worst comes to best, a very slight hunch of raspberries.

My Sailor Jentle Ink blue-black -- my very most favourite blue-black -- reminds me immediately of creosote, but who cares?

 

Mr. Creosote

[sallywally]

I think the smell of Sailor brown in has infected my Bexley Magnum Dragon. Is that a possibility? How can I get the smell out? I can hardly use the pen any more.

 

Yup! I have the same issue.

But, I love the Sailor's ink. The reddish black is one of my favorite.

I like the ink, but can't stand the smell on that particular pen. I just wish I could get the smell out!! My other pens don't seem to have picked it up so strongly. I flushed with a mild ammonia and water solution, I'll try other things like dish soap, and just not using that ink in that pen.

 

Sigh.

[Tiuri van Rossum]

I like the smell of quinck, the nieces smelling ink I have. The thing I like about good smelling ink is that when you open your pen you can actually smell it!

[OMASmaniac]

Someone just remark that Sailor's ink has a unpleasant and odd smell.

That got me thinking. Well , I opened a few of my ink and took a few whiff .

Has anyone tried this?

Be careful . I felt a little dizzy after the test. Not sure who's the culprit.

The worst smelling was my Noddler's Tienanmen Red Ink....Strong ammonia smell.

The Sailors , Platinum are equally horrible.

Lamy , Caran d'Ache , Montblanc , Omas...no discernible smell.

 

Care to share your experience?

 

I actually love, Love, LOVE the scent of th Sailor "jentle ink"!!! I think it's highly addictive!

 

Sheaffer's inks have a similar scent,

Waterman as well, but much, much much weaker

MB midnight blue has a feeble smell, not particularly nice,

all the others, I don't know!

[Strand]

I still have one bottle of old Waterman ink with phenol. One whiff of that and my brain goes into spasms. Of course, once I sniff at it, I can't stop. The only ink brand with a really distinctive smell that puts me off is Private Reserve. Nearly all their inks smell slightly sweetish to me with a chemical background smell, sort of like rotting fruit in preservative. I once had a bottle of DeAtramentis burgundy ink. It smelled like wine that had gone bad. The only other scented ink I had was a Herbin Bleu Pervenche that I didn't know was scented when I got it on sale. It was headache-inducing, so I gave it to someone who liked and wasn't bothered by it.

 

Besides the phenol smell of old Waterman inks, the smell I consider most typical of ink is the smell of Quink from the 1950s through the 1970s. I like that smell. Always did and always will. Though I don't care for the ink that much.

 

The smell of Phenols is what keeps me buying old inks. Not sure when phenolics stopped being used though? SOme health hazards was identified but I am not sure any restrictions of use, other than voluntary, have been pu tin place.

[FrankB]

JohnM wrote:

 

"I didn't know until now that it's phenol that accounts for the unique smell of my old bottle of Waterman South Sea Blue.

 

I actually like the smell. But I just read about it in Wikipedia and it looks like a pretty nasty substance. Hate to throw out the ink -- suggestions?"

 

I agree with the others who commented to you. Go ahead and use the ink. Remember that thousands of folks have used those phenol infused inks for decades without harm. Just because I do not like their smell does not mean they are harmful.

Edited July 18, 2010 by FrankB

[superfreeka]

Private Reserve Ebony Purple smells wonderful. Fruity.