Hot Bubble Gum - Private Reserve

[visvamitra]

Private Reserve Ink was founded by Terry W. Johnson and Susan Schube in the workroom of Avalon Jewelers/Gallery in Zionsville, IN, as an addition to the fountain pen department. Terry's vision was simple... "Why not have fountain pen ink in a rainbow of colors to expand the bounds of writing beyond standard black, blue, red and green."

That's what's written on their internet site. Hot Bubble Gum was sent to me by Cyber6, who - I believe - find it enjoyable to torment me with scary colors. This ink is simply scary. I hate everything about it: the color and the fact it's almost impossible to wash out from pen.

Ink splash

http://imageshack.com/a/img673/3055/A6VZk2.jpg

Drops of ink on kitchen towel

http://imageshack.com/a/img661/4278/uZcgaQ.jpg

Software Id

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/5792/rY8oXJ.jpg

Oxford Recycled 90 g, Kaweco Sport Classic, B

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/7379/j6JxIA.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img661/6282/eazcwA.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img673/1736/5C5VXE.jpg

Comparison

http://imageshack.com/a/img905/4192/hyhdYM.jpg

 

[HollyGolightly]

Eye searing pink? Be still my heart! The bit about it being a pain to clean out kind of has me wary. But it looks great in the writing sample. Very cheery. Though, looking at the Ooji Cherry, I think this review may have inadvertently added another ink on my must-have list.

[Barkingpig]

Eye searing pink? Be still my heart! The bit about it being a pain to clean out kind of has me wary. But it looks great in the writing sample. Very cheery. Though, looking at the Ooji Cherry, I think this review may have inadvertently added another ink on my must-have list.

Do NOT place that order until you have seen the Montblanc Pink. I'm tellin' ya' you won't settle for substitutes when you have seen it! (And may even be cheaper than the Iroshizuka.) I'm just say a sayin'.

[ScienceChick]

Holy carp - that is PINK!! I love it Thanks for the review and for adding to my wish list. I'm about ready to give up on finding the MB pink.

Edited February 24, 2015 by ScienceChick

[musicman123]

Oh I really like this color! I've been looking for a color like this and I think I have finally found it!

[Davros]

Visvamitra, your pain is for a good cause. (And is entertaining.) That said, this ink is too far on the maintenance scale for my taste.

[visvamitra]

Dear God, I thought I would scary all of you with this ink but it seems I'm amongst geeky people here (who would say that fountain pen board is such a place) I start feeling uneasy And rather boring with my penchant for muted oranges, browns and greens

[musicman123]

I always love myself a good eye-burning color that makes my teachers furious after looking at a whole page of it!

[jasonchickerson]

I'll go ahead and say, "yuck."

[swanjun]

I like the color, and I have a solution for the maintenance issue (emptied-out Pilot Varsity) so I'm not scared off.

[Davros]

I like the color, and I have a solution for the maintenance issue (emptied-out Pilot Varsity) so I'm not scared off.

Doesn't it harden into a brick occasionally? The old version used to.

[Barkingpig]

Dear God, I thought I would scary all of you with this ink but it seems I'm amongst geeky people here (who would say that fountain pen board is such a place) I start feeling uneasy And rather boring with my penchant for muted oranges, browns and greens

Maybe we also like good "murkers" but like to see the effects of a "scorcher" to contrast with the murks? I was very happy to look at lines of Montblanc's new Pink yesterday in between lines written with Montblanc's JFK. For me it follows the sweet/salty food preference. Doesn't mean I like the" Miss Amber retina scorcher's" MORE than my my "murkers" just enjoy them both. (But I am SCARED of anything called "HOT Bubble Gum" especially if it has a reputation for (even ONCE!) wanting to return to it's natural state of a "hardened BLOCK?" I don't own a pen I would wish THAT result on.) And I don't think the oranges SHOULD murk (Orange Crush) but assume their best attribute's of vibrancy ( Oranje Boven Akkerman 16) So I guess I'll just be "geeky."

[swanjun]

Doesn't it harden into a brick occasionally? The old version used to.

 

I actually haven't received the ink yet. We shall see!

[bob_hayden]

I bought some of this back when it was new. I just returned to it and found the bottle was half empty. That seemed extreme -- I have USA Sheaffer inks from the 1990s that have not done that. I actually used very little of this ink -- maybe one or two fillings. Though one might expect the result to be more intense color, the ink in the bottle looked quite watery, and writing with it I got a very pale pink (too light to be useful) with no trace of "hot" left. My tests from when the ink was new show a much more intense pink similar to the samples above.

 

My current favorite pink is from Thornton and is a close match for Hot Bubble Gum to my eye. What I have is in short international cartridges purchased in a package of assorted colors. That does not sound very economical but these assortments go for $9US on eBay right now for a dozen packages containing 12 pink and 144 cartridges in all. Even if you throw all the other colors away, that comes out to $4.50 a six-pack postpaid which is rather below the going rate for cartridges from pen manufacturers on which postage is usually additional. Thornton also offers the ink in bottles but I have not tested that though someone else has.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/302389-thornton-ink/page-4

 

Second closest match to my eye is the Hero "red" ink in bottles.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/148701-hero-red-ink/

 

Hero seems to have red inks selling under several different numbers. The link above does not say which. I tested #231.

[ErrantSmudge]

I also bought this ink when it was new. Long before there was Noodler's Bay State Blue, there was PR Hot Bubble Gum Pink. In its day, HBGP was a retina-searing pink like no other.

 

The two inks (BSB and HBGP) have so much in common - eye searing colors, staining everything it touches. And like Baystate Blue, Hot Bubble Gum Pink could only mix with other inks in its chemical family, which were Candy Apple Red and Tangerine Dream.

 

I have some pens in my collection that are permanently stained by Hot Bubble Gum Pink. I ended up pouring out this ink and the bottle of Tangerine Dream I had. It's why I'm reticent to buy Bay State Blue today. Been there, done that.

Edited April 2, 2017 by ErrantSmudge