Iroshizuku Take-Sumi

[pelahale]

Pilot’s Iroshizuku Take-sumi - “Color Droplet” line of inks, “Bamboo Charcoal”

 

This ink represents the color of bamboo burned into charcoal when taken from 5yr-old plants and burned inside an oven. In the FarEast, Bamboo charcoal is used like coal briquettes as the fuel for fire used to dry tea and make tea, and is thus often the fuel source for the fire built for the tea ceremony. It is also used as an environmentally-friendly fuel source for its lower pollutant residue. It’s with this type of sensibility that Ms.Hasegawa apparently produced this new ink.

 

I’ve been searching for a faster drying black for a long time. Because Black is such a saturated color, it’s often the ink that takes the longest in drying. Nathan Tardiff did an admirable job formulating Bernanke Black to meet this challenge and this ink certainly dries almost instantly, about 3 seconds on Rhodia 80gsm paper. But its feathering and out-of-control behaviors in general renders the ink non-use-able for business purposes. So Pelikan Edelstein took a stab at it and produced a nice brilliant black in their Onyx - better in terms of dry time than their 4001 black, but only marginally so. This was a black that I used for a while and is acceptable to me also. But when I heard that Pilot’s Iroshizuku line-up had added a “charcoal black” I had to try it. Here’s my review of it:

 

http://pleeho.smugmug.com/Hobbies/fountainPens/i-xK5sfg4/0/L/IroshizukuTakeSumiScanRhodiaPremR90-L.jpg

 

As you can see, nice saturated black with a touch of shading on wide strokes - could be seen better with broad nibs more than this fine Sheaffer nib. Even under 10x loupe, I see no feathering anywhere on the Rhodia Premium 90gsm paper, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less from this premium ink and paper combination, especially with this fine Sheaffer vintage nib.

 

here’s the reverse of the printed page - no bleed-through, just impressions of the hard, flexed nib lines, minimal ghosting/show-through. In the corner are my smear tests and a 5minute water soak example - is rather water resistant also:

 

http://pleeho.smugmug.com/Hobbies/fountainPens/i-spkfmfT/0/L/IroshizukuTakeSumiScanRhodiaPremR90reverse-L.jpg

 

Other points about this ink: it’s fairly odorless as far as I can detect. It does wash off of fingers with soap/water under the sink. I haven’t tested beyond the 30minutes of cap-off time to see how long it takes to truly evaporate/dry-out this ink, but at 20 minutes it starts off almost instantly after about a 1mm dry mark. There’s no nib-creep characteristic that I see on the 4 pens I’ve tried this ink on thus far: Pilot 823, Sailor Realo, Sheaffer PFMV, Sailor King of Pen.

 

Is this bottle worth $28 (free shipping w/jetpens, usually so also w/Gouletpens above a certain price)? For me definitely. Especially nowadays in this age of the digitally transmitted words, the value of the old-fashioned inscribed writing has become a premium. As I write less at work with the computerization of records and whatnot, I’m happy to spend the extra money on high-quality archival inks and papers. This black ink will not disappoint anyone looking for a go-to ink, only the price will offend. In the history of black inks for fountain pens, this one would join Aurora Black, and maybe the Edelstein Onyx as one of the best, this one for me is probably number one. I can’t find anything to criticize though I looked - if the dry time could be shorter it would be nice, but nobody has done better except for the problem inks like iron-gall inks, nano-inks of Sailor, and the clown ink Bernanke Black.

[jacksterp]

Nice review pelahale. Looks like you've found one of the better blacks.

 

I'm still trying to convince myself to try a bottle of Iroshizuku - any bottle

[Sblakers]

Nice review. Normally I don't use black inks but I also found the characteristics of this ink to be so good that I am going to put it in my rotation

[plc123]

Since a lot of the other Iroshizuku inks have some sheen, is there a sheen to this black ink?

 

Thanks for any info!

[pelahale]

Nice review pelahale. Looks like you've found one of the better blacks.

 

I'm still trying to convince myself to try a bottle of Iroshizuku - any bottle

 

I'm bought into the marketing hype, but I think Aurora & Pelikan, and many others are just as good in terms of real-world use. I can understand the people scratching their heads over the prices - I would be happy with the Pilot Black for instead at half the price, in fact I own 2 bottles of the Pilot Black.

[pelahale]

Since a lot of the other Iroshizuku inks have some sheen, is there a sheen to this black ink?

 

Thanks for any info!

 

I didn't even know this was a thing, but after looking up what you're talking about & looking at the imprints under 15x loupe, I can't detect anything like that, but maybe I don't know how to look for it. ?What's the point of liking "sheen" anyway? If it's like liking glitter-paint rather than regular paint, I think I'd pay extra to have the ink without the glitter or sheen, but that's just my personal taste. I've never noticed the "sheen" on yama-guri, epinard, and others, but I definitely see it now that I look at it, especially on the Sailor Epinard.

 

Thanks for letting me know about this weird thing.

[pelahale]

Nice review. Normally I don't use black inks but I also found the characteristics of this ink to be so good that I am going to put it in my rotation

 

black is in fact my favorite color. I guess that makes me a boring type of person, and in fact I am.

[Osquest]

Thanks for the nice review. I've wanted a quicker drying black ink and will give it a try. Sounds like it's worth the cost to me. Guess I'm also part of the boring crowd that counts black ink as a favorite.

[raging.dragon]

Nice review. Normally I don't use black inks but I also found the characteristics of this ink to be so good that I am going to put it in my rotation

 

black is in fact my favorite color. I guess that makes me a boring type of person, and in fact I am.

 

Or perhaps a goth?

[breaker]

thanks for reviewing this great ink!

[Writers Tool]

Good review. Very accurate. I have had the take-sumi for a while now and can't fault it at all. It doesn't have a sheen but its not dull by any means. I find it a well behaved ink that looks good with a medium to broad nib. Thanks for the review.

[specialk0449]

Based on your excellent review I am going to buy this ink. Aurora Black has been my favorite for a long time.

[ObserveClosely]

Thank you for your review! I had been hoping someone would do this new ink.

 

One Q, with regard to your water-soak test: do you detect any hitherto hidden color components that were teased out of the ink by the water? Or is the "wash" a simple neutral grey?

[pelahale]

Thank you for your review! I had been hoping someone would do this new ink.

 

One Q, with regard to your water-soak test: do you detect any hitherto hidden color components that were teased out of the ink by the water? Or is the "wash" a simple neutral grey?

 

yes, there is a bluish purple if you blot on a paper-towel.

[dspeers58]

Thanks for the review, I like this ink.

[Nibwitz]

I've been trying a lot of different inks, and lately also some Iroshizuku inks; These inks are the best inks I've come across. Yes, the price is high. Very high. But looking at the actual ink, it's worth it when you're looking for the best inks around.

Why?

Velvety smooth writing, like you're nib is being oiled. Very little or no feathering despite being a wet ink. I also like the colors, but that's personal preference. The development department clearly know what they are doing.

And, yes, very beautiful package, but even with an ugly package, it would be worth it.

 

(as a reference, other inks I like are Waterman's and Pelikan's 4001).

 

Up to now I did not buy this new black ink, but I certainly will after seeing this nice review.

[jandrese]

Good review, thanks for sharing. I love this stuff. I actually think about it when I'm not using it. Werid, I know.

[Newjelan]

1358477580[/url]' post='2568604']

Nice review pelahale. Looks like you've found one of the better blacks.

 

I'm still trying to convince myself to try a bottle of Iroshizuku - any bottle

 

You won't regret it, and you won't stop at one either.

[georges zaslavsky]

thanks for the review

[SignalboxCat]

 

1358477580[/url]' post='2568604']

Nice review pelahale. Looks like you've found one of the better blacks.

 

I'm still trying to convince myself to try a bottle of Iroshizuku - any bottle

You won't regret it, and you won't stop at one either.

 

 

Oh, how true!

 

I am not sure I am able to confess how many different colours of Iroshizuku ink I have now , since I got the first bottle & found how much I love these inks!

 

'Cat