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Montblanc Permanent Blue


Bigeddie

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Hi all,

 

Montblanc seem to be shaking up their line a bit, Midnight Blue is no longer listed as being a permanent ink and two new permanent inks are being introduced.

 

The packaging is the same format as the existing inks with new graphics, All white with blue and black text. The bottle is the same shoe as we are used to with the existing line up (with the nice two part filling arrangement).

 

IMAGE_1.jpg by Bigeddie100, on Flickr

 

Included below are samples of the new ink, and some from Royal Blue for comparison. My scanner is now older than some forum members, that is to say rather tired. I have taken photos in direct sunlight for comparison. Both inks were in Lamy Safari pens with medium nibs.

 

 

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3671/10116489245_b6dc2e255b_z.jpg

Analysis:
The flow of the new ink was surprisingly dry (much lighter flow than that of the new black ink), I was expecting more punch. The colour is a pleasant true blue (not so purple as the Royal Blue) with some nice shading. In terms of performance, there was no feathering, bleed or show through on the Rhodia. On the copy paper there was quite a lot of showthrough and bleed, much more so than Royal Blue; but the colour did not seem to soak in to the paper and spread as much, whereas Royal Blue lost a lot of it's density.
Water resistance:
These new permanent inks from MB are the first that I have seen with an ISO certification for permanence, here I am only testing water resistance when dry. The inks proved to be very water resistant, I would be hard pushed to detect the difference between inks before and after soaking. Certainly this ink along with the new Permanent Black are the most water resistant inks out there, unlike the pigment inks nothing floats off of them.

 

Conclusion:

I like it, it's quite a nice colour and performs well on Rhodia paper, on cheap pulp the performance would suit one sided use, where the appearance is good but the bleed and show through are worse than non-permanent equivalents. The biggest downside is the price, these new inks are being sold from MB at £19 a bottle compared to £11 for the standard inks. For my uses (typically on FP friendly papers) I would stick to Royal Blue.

 

 

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. -Carl Sagan

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You're quick with this one, bigeddie. And although your avatar says you shouldn't purchase more ink, I'm happy you couldn't resist this new ones.

So, thanks for this review and (even better) for the comparison with the older line up of mb-inks. Truly water resistant those two. But indeed, because of the price difference I'll stick to the midnight blue (both old and new; those suit me well).

Edited by Mainecoon

Happy Writing!, Mainecoon

Dreams are presentiments of what you are able to accomplish (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

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Great.

Do you know how they got the ink to be permanent without IG? Nano particles ? Does it clean out of pen well? I recently tried some nano inks from sailor i and found that they leave a difficult to remove residue on the engraving grooves of my nibs - would be grateful if you can check your nibs with a loop and tell me if you notice any deposits.

 

Thanks!

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Looks like a useful addition to the MB lineup. Shall be buying on as soon as they appear online.

thanks for the review :thumbup:

I am no longer very active on FPN but feel free to message me. Or send me a postal letter!

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Thanks. I'm still waiting to get on my bike and buy some but I'm not very rain-resistent.

 

Mike

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

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From ISO 14145-2:

Roller ball pens and refills - Part 2: Documentary use (DOC) (ISO 14145-2:1998)

 

4 Requirements

4.1 General requirements
See the general requirements given in ISO 14145-1:1998 (4.1 to 4.3.4, 4.3.7 and 4.3.8).
4.2 Erasure resistance
The surface of the testing paper shall show clear evidence of damage before the line is rendered invisible when
tested as specified in 6.2.1.

4.3 Ethanol resistance

The line shall remain visible when tested as specified in 6.2.2.
4.4 Hydrochloric acid resistance
The line shall remain visible when tested as specified in 6.2.3.

4.5 Ammonium hydroxide resistance
The line shall remain visible when tested as specified in 6.2.4.
4.6 Bleaching resistance
The line shall remain visible when tested as specified in 6.2.5.
4.7 Water resistance
The line shall remain visible when tested as specified in 6.2.6.
4.8 Light resistance

The line shall remain visible when tested as specified in 6.2.7.
5 Test equipment, accessories and solutions
5.1 Test equipment and accessories
See ISO 14145-1.
5.2 Test solutions
5.2.1 Ethanol solution, 50 % aqueous solution (volume fraction).
5.2.2 Hydrochloric acid solution, 10 % aqueous solution (mass fraction).
5.2.3 Ammonium hydroxide solution, 10 % aqueous solution (mass fraction).
5.2.4 Bleaching solution, 3 % freshly made aqueous solution of chloramin T1) (mass fraction).

 

At http://www.nen.nl/pdfpreview/preview_26820.pdf you can read more about ISO 14145-2.

 

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At that price I'd buy even here in Germany at €9-10 a bottle, Noodlers. Bigger bottles and get two colors for the price of one.

DA's permanent blue ink is also very expensive.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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At that price I'd buy even here in Germany at €9-10 a bottle, Noodlers. Bigger bottles and get two colors for the price of one.

DA's permanent blue ink is also very expensive.

I agree that the new permanent inks are way too expensive.

 

But out of curiosity, where do you get Noodler's ink in Europe (and even at this price)?

I only knew 2 sources in Europe.

 

Missing-pen at 18€ a bottle but Rolf Thiel stopped importing them

and

Purepens in UK at 12€ but they only have very very limited selection of colors.

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Hi,

 

Many thanks for yet another fine Review. :thumbup:

 

I waited a bit to read this one after reading what MB did to the BlBk in their array. *potty_mouth*

 

So, a low chroma Blue with a nice bit of shading, high readability & reasonable manners, but awkward when dancing with 'lowest bidder' copy/print papers. Somehow I am underwhelmed, but in fairness I do discount the value of permanence.

 

Adopting the ISO standard for rollerball ink is certainly better than not having any indication as to the veracity of claims for an ink being 'permanent', 'archival' etc. I think that alone will draw a consumer base of those required to work with ISO spec inks, who were enduring the travails of applicators such as rollerballs - they can now enjoy their FPs. So OK, that is a very good thing, for which MB deserves kudos, especially if this ink will also available in cartridges. :)

 

From what I've seen, which is quite enough, I share your overall preference for the MB Royal Blue, which offers a better writing experience, isn't so fussy about paper / pens, and has enough water resistance to recover what's written after accidental exposure to potable liquids.

 

I'll be quite content with my pots of the robust non-ISO Pilot Blue & Blue-Black for quite some time to come, so when they've run dry I might give this one a fair go. I'm in no hurry, but I'm sure glad that you were! ;)

 

Bye,

S1

Edited by Sandy1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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[...]

Adopting the ISO standard for rollerball ink is certainly better than not having any indication as to the veracity of claims for an ink being 'permanent', 'archival' etc. I think that alone will draw a consumer base of those required to work with ISO spec inks, who were enduring the travails of applicators such as rollerballs - they can now enjoy their FPs. So OK, that is a very good thing, for which MB deserves kudos, especially if this ink will also available in cartridges. :)

[...]

I'll be quite content with my pots of the robust non-ISO Pilot Blue & Blue-Black for quite some time to come, so when they've run dry I might give this one a fair go. [...]

 

Please forgive my hacking of your post!

 

Thank you for your comments, as always complements on ink reviews from you are particularly heavily weighted :)

 

This ink was also available in cartridges, and in stock when I was there. I had not considered that it might be an opportunity to convert some BP-ers but that is a welcome move.

 

As for the Pilot inks, I have the Blue-Black but I have yet to try the Blue. The Bl-BL is nice but for most uses I will be sticking with my current staple; Sailor Jentle Blue, It has a remarkable quality all of it's own (to the point that I worry about how many unicorns and pixies must be ground into a pulp for each bottle).

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. -Carl Sagan

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I agree that the new permanent inks are way too expensive.

 

But out of curiosity, where do you get Noodler's ink in Europe (and even at this price)?

I only knew 2 sources in Europe.

 

Missing-pen at 18€ a bottle but Rolf Thiel stopped importing them

and

Purepens in UK at 12€ but they only have very very limited selection of colors.

 

It's been a couple of years since I looked at what Rolf use to offer for Noodlers and at @ € 9 then.****

I guess we have to do it the old fashioned way....get some one from the US flying to Europe to fly it in and mail it. ;)

 

 

**** I'm still mostly locked into getting my 75-100 Euro inks before looking at the UK or the US. And I'm mostly into shading inks. I've only got 55 of Euro inks and 2 Noodlers.....4 of yours are on my 11 next ink list.

 

 

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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[...] So OK, that is a very good thing, for which MB deserves kudos, especially if this ink will also available in cartridges. :)

 

They are available in cartridges, albeit at twice or more the price of the normal inks (£6.00 for eight permanent ink cartridges versus £6.00/£5.00/£3.00 for 20/16/8 cartridges of the other inks, though the bigger packs are predictably only available in black and blue as far as I can tell). I guess that if you are buying ink in cartridges you are assumed to be somewhat price-insensitive. :)

I am no longer very active on FPN but feel free to message me. Or send me a postal letter!

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Please forgive my hacking of your post!

 

Thank you for your comments, as always complements on ink reviews from you are particularly heavily weighted :)

 

This ink was also available in cartridges, and in stock when I was there. I had not considered that it might be an opportunity to convert some BP-ers but that is a welcome move.

 

As for the Pilot inks, I have the Blue-Black but I have yet to try the Blue. The Bl-BL is nice but for most uses I will be sticking with my current staple; Sailor Jentle Blue, It has a remarkable quality all of it's own (to the point that I worry about how many unicorns and pixies must be ground into a pulp for each bottle).

 

Hi,

 

You're welcome!

 

I am interested to see how the ISO compliant inks will fair over time. If consumers are lured to FP use by the ISO seal of approval, that would be an entirely new level of enabling.

 

I like to think that ISO compliant inks will achieve enough popularity to create a demand for more interesting inks, (now that Blue & Black are covered), and cost reduction through increased production. Then again, MB may well issue ISO LE inks at treble the price. Perhaps Lamy & Herbin will join the fray to create a more competitive market. Or is that just wishful thinking? :happyberet:

 

I share your preference for the Sailor Blue over the work horse Pilot BlBk, which encourages me to use SBl for my next missive - unicorn horn & shed pixie wings it is!

 

Bye,

S1

Edited by Sandy1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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I will buy a bottle of this ink to see how it behaves in my older 149s.

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

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  • 1 month later...

Does anybody else have problems with this ink (1) drying out in their pens overnight making it hard to start and (2) drying (??) into a 'watery' appearance when left horizontal for a few hours? I want to love this ink, but it isn't working in my pen. Maybe it is just me....

I am no longer very active on FPN but feel free to message me. Or send me a postal letter!

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Thank you Eddie for the great review.

 

Thank you, Cybaea for the warning... that would make me crazy!

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Does anybody else have problems with this ink (1) drying out in their pens overnight making it hard to start and (2) drying (??) into a 'watery' appearance when left horizontal for a few hours? I want to love this ink, but it isn't working in my pen. Maybe it is just me....

I've had no problems with it in a Pelikan 205, even when I didn't use it for a day or so. Stored 'standing up' in one of my pen mugs, it was fine - even right near the end of the fill. I won't be using it a lot but it really is a nice colour.

The Good Captain

"Meddler's 'Salamander' - almost as good as the real thing!"

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I've had no problems with it in a Pelikan 205, even when I didn't use it for a day or so. Stored 'standing up' in one of my pen mugs, it was fine - even right near the end of the fill. I won't be using it a lot but it really is a nice colour.

 

In that case, I will try it again in a different pen and see what happens :)

Edited by cybaea

I am no longer very active on FPN but feel free to message me. Or send me a postal letter!

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