Papermate Flair Pen

[Poetman]

Outside of the fountain pen, the only other pen I use (and equally feshitize) is the flair pen. It too seems to have a cult following and emerges in so many places: Woody Allen is said to use them; Quentin Tarantino writes his scripts with them; the feature prominently in the film "All the President's Men" (which has some nice stationery shots); Jonathan Kozol only uses them; Lewis Lampham has been recorded using one. Unfortunately, a few years ago, Papermate switched from the rich, ribbed black barrels to a smooth matte barely with their ugly name and logo on it! But, it still writes wonderful. Anyone else love this pen and have other videos/images of people using it? Long live the Flair!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jjezD3myPk

 

 

(see 11:05-17:33)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X6H6xplUcQ

 

 

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/american-film-director-writer-and-actor-woody-allen-working-at-his-picture-id3202180

Edited March 16, 2016 by Poetman

[Sasha Royale]

Never liked them.

[Poetman]

One reply--and it expresses disdain?! I'm surprised. They have sustained a near cult following over the years.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Poetman

[RMN]

Flair pen??

 

Never heard of it before. Googled it, seems a sort of bicstick by another company. Not fond of them.

My wife is sort of collecting give-away ballpoint pens. They are all over the house. When new, they actually write..Seems this pen falls in that category.

Basically, especially these days of email, whatsapp etc I suppose a form of bicstick to jot something down is all most people will ever need.

That does not mean that I like that way.

 

 

D.ick

[Thornton]

I always liked the way these pens wrote, but I never cared for the style. They were my first exposure to porous point pens though, and for that I'm thankful.

[LazarusShort]

I one used them almost exclusively in the 1970's, and had every, every color. I think I still have a few around, but the Flair has (for me) been replaced by the Staedtler truplus fineliner.

[Mike 59]

I can remember using one like this at school in the 70s, it was known as the 'Tempo' then.

One good point about them seemed to be that they wouldn't leak, a very useful feature at school, where I can also remember ballpoints leaking on hot summer days.

I have a couple of 'Flairs' today, they write in a dry way on paper, there are advantages in using them I can see.

The 'problem' is that there are now so many different types of ink and pen points/tips, and the choices are so much greater than ever.

[Poetman]

I love their sleek, classic style and was disappointed when Papermate place their name on the barrel. They provide a similarly dark and bold line like a M FP, which is why I love them so much. Not even a .8 uniball comes close.

[pajaro]

Never liked them.

 

If you can make this comment, then I will consider making similar comments when items I don't like come up. I think you should have refrained.

[pajaro]

I used the Flair quite a bit when I was in college. I liked the feel and I liked the colors. I used them sometimes in it work for diagrams and outlines. I haven't seen them for some years, but I have my old dried up ones somewhere.

[RMN]

Flair pen??

 

Never heard of it before. Googled it, seems a sort of bicstick by another company. Not fond of them.

My wife is sort of collecting give-away ballpoint pens. They are all over the house. When new, they actually write..Seems this pen falls in that category.

Basically, especially these days of email, whatsapp etc I suppose a form of bicstick to jot something down is all most people will ever need.

That does not mean that I like that way.

 

 

D.ick

 

I stand corrected, not a bicstick but a fineliner. Never used a flair, but we did have some fineliners (don't remember the brand) They wrote nice with an intense colour when new. After a week or so the lines got wider and fuzzier. Perhaps I gave a too much pressure. That was when I did not use FPs.

 

D.ick

[Sasha Royale]

 

If you can make this comment, then I will consider making similar comments when items I don't like come up. I think you should have refrained.

I have always enjoyed your comments, Pajaro. I hope you will continue to voice honestly and frankly, especially when you DON'T like something. Please never refrain.

[stevew443]

I used Flair pens to take notes when I was in college in the early 70s and I liked them back then, but I have not used one in decades. I may have to try to find one just to try out. I remember liking the various colors available back then, and I pretty much settled on purple.

[Poetman]

I love them most for their bold, dark lines and for the fact that the tip width and material makes it easy to write on anything. I use my fp mostly for long writing sessions at home, but when I work away from home and can't control the paper or writing angle, my fp is too high-maintence. In this regard, I suppose the fp becomes more like a desk pen. I grabbed my flair recently to take notes on a cheap legal pad at home and haven't wanted to put it down since! In the majority of photos of writers at work from the 70's-90's, this pen appears.

[sd10521]

I liked them in the 70's. Used them a lot in high school where a few of us delinquents would have Flair fights in the hall. When you get the hang of it you can fling the ink through the tip very nicely.

I still have some of the old ones that still write. Saved them in an old glass jar that is tightly sealed.

The only time I use them now is to see if they still write, it's a shame they had the need to put the logo on the pen now.

[dogpoet]

 

I stand corrected, not a bicstick but a fineliner. Never used a flair, but we did have some fineliners (don't remember the brand) They wrote nice with an intense colour when new. After a week or so the lines got wider and fuzzier. Perhaps I gave a too much pressure. That was when I did not use FPs.

 

D.ick

 

Actually not a fineliner ether, it's a nice fat fibertip, like a colouring felt tip, and some people don't like them because the tip is easily smushed out of its point.

I really like them myself, and I'm definitely with Poetman that changing the design seems pointless. Even worse, they seem to have done away with the disposable fineliners (which used to look a lot like the flair, but with a white cap and body) at the same time.

(Flair, btw, was an American term for the things: they weren't called that over here.)

[john74]

I just discovered these pens yesterday, when my niece showed me the pens that she uses in school. I had never hear of them, but apparently her teacher swears by them. She likes them a lot too and she let me try one with a medium tip. I thought that it wrote very nicely.

[jacksterp]

I found these fun to 'play' with, but not particularly practical when large amounts of writing were required - such as taking notes. Always preferred ball points in that situation.

[pajaro]

I found these fun to 'play' with, but not particularly practical when large amounts of writing were required - such as taking notes. Always preferred ball points in that situation.

+1. Precisely.

[RMN]

 

Actually not a fineliner ether, it's a nice fat fibertip, like a colouring felt tip, and some people don't like them because the tip is easily smushed out of its point.

I really like them myself, and I'm definitely with Poetman that changing the design seems pointless. Even worse, they seem to have done away with the disposable fineliners (which used to look a lot like the flair, but with a white cap and body) at the same time.

(Flair, btw, was an American term for the things: they weren't called that over here.)

 

Actually, I used the word Fineliner for a felt tip pen. I realise there are also hollow steel nibbed drawing pens that are called fineliners. These will hold their width better than the felt tip ones.

 

And I think one could call Parker's 5th mode fineliners as well.

 

 

D.ick