Montblanc Ink Old Vs New

[Genius]

Greetings,

 

I've got an aged but newly opened royal blue coloured Montblanc ink right here with me and they are horrible! On the top of the bottle says "Tinte Ink Encre Tinta Inchiostro, some Japanese letters, 50ml, made in Germany" and its bottle design is identical to the current one.

 

The blue looks almost like watercolour - transparent, wet as if it contains too much water in them.

 

Is the modern MB ink similar to this?

[Newjelan]

I only have 2 - Lavender Purple and Irish Green - they're rich saturated colours. I also have a couple more on the way and from the pictures on this site they look very nice too - Jonathan Swift and Midnight Blue. There are plenty of reviews with pics on this site.

[Genius]

Thanks for the reply! I've checked out the reviews and they do look similar to mine.

[Gcouch]

Royal Blue is a bit watery; midnight blue seems to be what you're looking for. The 50ml bottles aren't the standard, the 60ml ones are. It's easy to tell what bottles are the old ones because the cap is all plastic... the new ones have chrome rings.

 

Here's the new bottle:

And the old one:

 

Montblanc isn't usually a watery ink... hope this helps!

[lapis]

MB's old and new inks are not the same.

 

A. Some names/colours are quite different, e.g. Racing Green and Irish Green are totally different inks.

B. The earlier Turquoise now has no "equivalent".

C. Even when some inks look stunningly identical -- e.g. their blues and blue blacks (in the bottle) -- they still differ inasmuch as the newer formulations are now better lubricated and/or maintenance-free.

 

Mike

[lapis]

Oops, sorry... I forgot to add... whether or not you like the looks and use of the newer bottles themselves, the newer ones are IMO absolutely better bottles since the caps are much better. The older caps were harder to open and close, in regard to pressure and angles, but also due to the fact that I usually had to fool around with the sealing disc inside. The newer bottle caps have solved these problems.

 

Mike

[Genius]

Thanks guys. Really appreciate the responses. I'm still new at trying different inks - just Quink, Waterman and the recent MB. A term that confuses me when reading ink reviews is the "dryness" of the ink and almost everyone here calls MB inks dry. Are they referring to the translucence of the ink?

[aawhite]

If I am not mistaken, the new ones are made in Austria. I do not know if this makes any difference.

[lsmith42]

If I am not mistaken, the new ones are made in Austria. I do not know if this makes any difference.

It makes all the difference in the world... If you're Austrian...

 

A bottle of watery ink (esp MB) would say to me that either the dyes have gone out of solution (suggesting some agitation), or the ink has actually been watered (a discovery I made recently with a purportedly full bottle of vintage ink).

 

MB RB is one of my favorite blues, particularly for its saturation.

[Genius]

Not Austrian here.

 

And the ink couldn't have been watered because it has a seal when I first opened it. I found a review site called Marcuslink and my royal blue is similar to his sample. Seems like it is indeed light toned so I probably just don't like it.

[tenney]

I wonder if over time any of the dyes have removed from suspension and sunk to the bottom. i.e. Perhaps a light shaking could help (or, I guess it could hurt too). (he says just guessing and wondering)

[Genius]

:roflmho:

 

Tenney, you made my day. I gave it a good shake after a quick flush and the ink is perfect now. Thanks everyone!

[tenney]

Whew. I'm glad that my thought worked well and didn't screw things up. (I did warn you that it was just an idea without knowing whether it was good or bad).

[La Stilografica Milano]

Royal Blue is a bit watery; midnight blue seems to be what you're looking for. The 50ml bottles aren't the standard, the 60ml ones are. It's easy to tell what bottles are the old ones because the cap is all plastic... the new ones have chrome rings.

 

Here's the new bottle:

And the old one:

 

Montblanc isn't usually a watery ink... hope this helps!

 

I didint know that, and this is a good info.. Thank you!

[Bo Bo Olson]

What nib widths and flex are you using?

Have you tried it with different ones?

Someone with just one or two nibs can not 'test' an ink.

 

Could be a paper problem. What paper are you using?

 

With 90g paper it might shade for you if the paper is not ink jet, which absorbs the ink too fast.

Laser paper is better.

 

I can't see how combo laser-ink jet paper can be as good as laser. In order to do ink jet also, it must absorb ink quickly.

 

Many ink 'noobies' want only vivid monotone inks.

 

Two toned shading inks with good paper can be a lot of fun.

 

Some vivid ink lovers call Herbin wishy-washy, those who like shading ink and has a good paper call them .

[Genius]

The inks I have used are limited to Waterman, Quink, Aurora, Pelikan, Diamine and MB (now both the rather old one and a new one because I was advised against using inks of other brands in an MB). Colours are mainly black, blue and haven't ventured into popular inks here like noodlers so I could be considered one of the ink noobies who opt for a solid colour.

 

Paper is normal paper ~70-80gsm. The ink works great with Japanese fines and decent with Western mediums but with shading.

[iliadodyssey]

Thanks guys. Really appreciate the responses. I'm still new at trying different inks - just Quink, Waterman and the recent MB. A term that confuses me when reading ink reviews is the "dryness" of the ink and almost everyone here calls MB inks dry. Are they referring to the translucence of the ink?

The "dryness" or "wetness" usually referrs to how much ink flows from the nib and to a lesser extent how lubricated the nib feels when using the ink (wetter usually means it is alsosmoother)

[Tonux]

Hi

The royal blue ink seems to me somewhat dilute and having very pale color, compared to Pelikan Royal Blue.

On the other hand, Montblanc's Midnight Blue color is a strong color but with a somewhat weaker flow. It is similar in color to the old Blue-Black color, but without corrosive chemicals, so it seems to me.