Montblanc Ultra Black

[lapis]

1. Preface
First off, here is a shot which I have taken from Montblanc's own website: http://www.montblanc.com/en/collection/refills/writing-accessories/114962-ink-bottle-meisterstueck-ultra-black-30-ml.html, because their photos are always better than mine:


Along with that, you can read these lines there: "Matte black ink reflects the contemporary and sophisticated color of the Meisterstück writing instrument. Colour: Deep Black".
Secondly, but by no means of any secondary importance, it's like this: I first heard about the emergence of this ink on the 16^th of April 2016, here. Now that was almost 3 months ago. Out of interest, of course, I immediately phoned our MB boutiques here, and did in fact hear that this ink was to be released some day soon, but, as usual, they never did know when. I asked them to phone me when it was delivered and they said okay. After 2 months of not hearing from them, I phoned Hamburg, only to hear that that ink did in fact exist, but (apparently for the first time) any boutique had to order a bottle before they could be issued with it, so I told them that, they did so, and voilà, I now got my hands on it, sure hoping that with all that fuss, it would in reality turn out to be an ultra black ink. So hang on and we'll see.

I could work this out later but let's get it off our chests, here and now. What is and/or can be an Ultra Black? "Ultra" as an adjective, according to Oxford means "going beyond what is usual or ordinary; excessive, extreme", and Webster includes "going beyond others or beyond due limit: extreme; beyond what is proper or moderate: super". That is what will now be left for us to decide.

2. First impressions
Why not start with a pinch of what I already did for a reply in the above-mentioned thread of 16 April 2016?


To sum that blurb up, this new MB Ultra Black (Ident. Nr. 114962) is a dark black but by no means one of the blackest blacks I've yet seen. That writing with a glass dip pen on that Rhodia 80 g/m² paper had a touch of teal. The otherwise latest MB black (Mystery Black, 105190) has by comparison more of a purple touch. MB's Permanent Black (107755) appears to have -- among all three -- the least amount of non-black.
This ink is also coined a Montblanc Meisterstück, just like their 30-ml jobs "Diamond" and "Blue Hour" (Twilight Blue)... but not like the 35-ml bottle of their "Permanent Grey" (Meisterstück 90 Years).
The HP Officejet 6700 scans used here are at least IMO adequate representations and match nicely with my photos of same.

3. Packaging
Nice bottles and boxes as usual, just like the other 30-ml cubes containing their Hitchcock, Diamond, and Golden Yellow inks. For those of you who are new to these bottles, I find them small but aesthetic and practical. Here it is alongside my Pelikan M800:


Still, they are not as practical as a MB shoe, but a lot of other companies offer worse bottle shapes and sizes. The lid is excellent, just like all of MB's newer lids (the companies' older lid designs were less well made, and harder to open and close).

The bottom of the bottle is also worth looking at because it not only says what colour the ink is (in French) but also where it was manufactured. Finally, the top line indicated its date of issue (1605 means May 2016), and its "Best Before Date". Whew!


A few other shots of my own which may include a bit more information IMO worth gathering (box front, bottom and back):


Enclosed in the box is Montblanc's sheet written in nine languages. With these two cut-outs...


... I am not intending here to show you how to get along with the ink but rather to illustrate what a nice gesture it is of Montblanc to include that in the package for newbies.

4. General ink properties
□ Flow: Medium to good. About as wet as all of the other present-day standard MB inks ("Standard" MB inks are those available in the 50 or 60-ml shoes), wetter than Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, drier than Noodler's HOD or Herbin's Perle Noire, much drier than MB's Permanent Black or Aurora's Black.
□ Lubrication: Also fair to moderate.
□ Saturation: Quite high. Visconti and a few Noodler's (see below) appear to be less saturated, but Aurora more highly saturated.
□ Shading: I've heard that black inks don't shade. Whether this one does or not can possibly be seen below under "Different Papers". I'd say that it has some shading because if you look at it hard enough under the right lighting, you might also discern a bit of that teal touch.
□ Bleeding: Practically none on "good" papers. The most was seen on Moleskine > hp paper > Leuchtturm 1917 but that's nothing new. For a picture, see below under "Different Papers".
□ Feathering: Only some feathering was seen, especially on Moleskine and Leuchtturm (see also below).
□ Drying time with the Herbin glass dip pen on 80 g/m² Rhodia is beween 30 and 40 seconds. Sure, it's likely less with a finer nib on a more absorbent paper.

□ Maintenance: I find that this ink is easy to maintain. Washing and cleaning seems to be no problem, nothing astonishingly different than most of the other standard MB inks. I also see no nib creeping but that seems to be a phenomenon which sticks to red inks.
□ Waterproofness: Ultra Black is, as was expected, by no means waterproof (like MB's Permanent Black). After a few drops of water on a dried piece of writing, I first thought that everything would dissolve:


But not so! A new job on Rhodia 80 which first looked like this...


... after a 60-second bath under water and drying then revealed that the writing was still completely readable:


Apparently almost all of the non-black and even some of the black constituents (as indicated by the colour of the water in the dish) were washed out, but some black obviously remained. Nevertheless, if you're really into permanence, I bet you'll opt for something else!

5. Different papers
Nine papers, all using the Herbin glass dip pen:


It is interesting to note that different papers obviously make a big difference on the "blackness" of a black ink. That is more apparent for blacks than for any other colour of an ink. Especially Clairefontaine (Velouté 90 g/m²) seemed blackest but I don't think that depends only on the whiteness of the paper. Leuchtturm, Rhodia 90 and Moleskine all are more yellow but the degree of non-blackness varies here as well.

And here, the reverse sides (of the same nine in the original left-to-right order):


All in all, I would rate this ink in regard to feathering and bleeding as fair to middling especially on papers often befallen by this calamity (Moleskine, Leuchtturm, hp, as noted above).
I don't see any real sheen here at all (like I do if I examine Kiwa-Guro or especially MB's Permanent Black enough for glossiness). We might want to keep in mind that Montblanc has in fact called this a matte black. I might go all the way and claim that this is one of the mattest blacks around!

6. Ink Comparisons
Here's a small list of 12 blacks in comparison. I know, I know, there are dozens more and I even have a few. The inks' names and the scribbled squares are all written with my Herbin glass dip pen. The four lines to the right of those were done with a Lamy Joy 1.5 mm, Safaris with B nibs, Pelikanos with Ms, and dip pen with an ultra-fine steel nib (har, har) from Allegro. Paper is Rhodia 80g/m² = 21.3 lb.




Speaking of pinching, here's an old scan of chromatography strips (blotting paper in 50% isopropanol) I once made with 10 of those oldies, including Montblanc's Mystery Black. That was from an old thread comparing them all. Today, I added on the Ultra Black and their Permanent Black:


1. Aurora
2. Herbin Perle Noire
3. Montblanc Mystery Black
4. Noodler's Black
5. Noodler's Heart of Darkness
6. Noodler's Old Manhattan
7. Pelikan Black 4001
8. Private Reserve Invincible Black
9. Sailor Kiwa-Guro
10. Visconti
11. Montblanc Ultra Black
12. Montblanc Permanent Black

All in all, that apparently demonstrates that the Ultra Black does have a definite portion of teal, with or without any wine-red and/or purple. The purple and/or blue plus red in the Mystery Black which I envisioned on my first inspection thus seems to be validated.

7. Availability
This ink has a recommended (actually standardized) retail price of 16 Euros. Today, on the 10^th of July 2016, the U.S. site says $19.00 but also "Product currently unavailable". To be fair, let me add that there, it also says "Sign up to be notified when product is back in stock".
It is a Limited Edition ink, brought out together with the Meisterstück Ultra Black Classique Fountain Pen (575 Euros or 670 USD). That means that you usually get the ink only when you buy the pen first... but.... In any case, as soon as the pens and/or the inks are all sold out, they won't ever be available from MB again.
Montblanc being Montblanc means that you can get it all over the world (like Pelikan, Waterman, Parker etc.), even if you have to order it online or by phone.

8. Taken together
□ A nice black, not one of the blackest blacks, but one with a very subtle contribution of teal. I somehow like it because it gives me the feeling that that was a nicely carried out task of creating a black ink which isn't "just" black or should I say isn't just "black". MB's Mystery Black is -- in this sense -- similar in that it almost achieves the same goal but more in the direction of purple. Now this is going to be a personal note, but IMO a few other inks which are also less than a blackest black have fallen short of that aim because instead of trying to offer a hintful portion of a non-black colour, I am still convinced that they attempted to offer "the blackest black". An honest example: PR's Invincible Black and Noodler's Black both have a clear amount of green in them (even if that wasn't so easily observed in the chromatography) and I doubt that that was done on purpose.
□ That may bring us back to the interpretation or a fathoming of the word "Ultra". Let's forget about which ink is the "blackest" black; instead, I substantiate the platitude that it is more than appreciable when a "most interesting" ink is not just "another one" or even a "better one" but a "different one". Maybe they shouldn't have used the noun "Black" in the first place but a different one, like "Eclipse". But all classical MB pens are black whether we like that or not.
□ This ink does have a touch of teal to it; MB's Mystery Black is purpler. You can judge that at the latest when you're washing out the ink. Several other blacks have more green in them.
□ Over and above all of that blackness, Montblanc's new Ultra Black ink is IMO one of the mattest blacks available. Aurora comes in close behind. MB's Permanent Black and Sailor's Kiwa-Guro belong to the shiniest. So there, too, you have a nice choice.

Mike

[Cyber6]

WOW MIKE!!! AMAZING REVIEW!!!!! :D

 

 

Is really SPECTACULAR !!!

 

 

I believe is called ULTRA Black just cause it was released with the ULTRA Black MB pens.

 

 

 

Thanks again for a fantastic review...

 

 

 

C.

[carlos.q]

Thank you for this great review!!!

[jandrese]

Very nice review, thanks. At face value Ultra Black does not live up to its name, or is at least a little misleading. Ink has some character though. Character in a black ink is why I like Pilot Iroshizuku take-sumi so much.

 

I might add that all MB black pens are not, in fact, black. They are deep red. Pelikan too.

Edited July 10, 2016 by jandrese

[visvamitra]

Great review but the color, well, it looks like nothing special. The bottle and packaging are nice though.

[lapis]

Thanks for the kind words, everybody. I'm not all that hot about blacks in general, but maybe the very most interesting thing about blacks is hearing what everybody has to say about them. Some people consider a certain ink to be black (or a dark grey), others see something completely different in them. E.g. Eclipse, Dark Matter, Doyou and so on...

 

Mike

[Kenlowe]

Exceptional review thank you, a real test of the ink and performance on different papers, a refreshing change. You show others how to provide a comprehensive review.

 

I agree with Vis, nothing particularly special especially at the suggested price - and only 30ml.

[PenTieRun]

A very informative and amazingly thorough review, lapis. Thanks for always being on top of the ink situation for us.

[lapis]

Thanks to you guys, too. Now if there were only somebody out there who would be turned on completely about this ink....

 

Mike

[da vinci]

Great review, thanks

[EbonitePen]

Thanks for the review. I absolutely love it, it's all I hoped for, not "ultra" black but a black with character. Awesome.

[EbonitePen]

PS: Why is your scan of Noodler's Black and HOD so pale mid-gray?

Edited July 11, 2016 by EbonitePen

[lapis]

Now if I only knew that myself. I first started with a few swabs and they were even grayer and greener. Maybe we have different batches?

[EbonitePen]

My Noodler's Black is darker than Perle Noire or Aurora Black for example. HOD is a bit lighter but still true black. Interesting to see the variation. Did you try shaking your bottle?

[lapis]

At the time I first wrote those lines with those inks, no, I didn't shake them beforehand. That's just a habit of mine. For me, an ink is a solution and I don't want any precipitates in my pens. Here's a scan I had made originally using swabs (the ink names were written with the Joy 1.5 mm):

 

That does underline what I said later, using the dip pen instead of swabs. I replaced the swabs with dip pen scribbling, because swabs are sometimes hard to deal with and can look a bit misleading IMO, although I did use exactly 100 µl on every Q-tip. It is interesting that here with the swabs, Noodler's Black looks greener but HOD grayer (which authenticates the scans shown above in the review).

 

I just finished a new scan (same dip pen on same Rhodia) with those two inks, with and without shaking.

 

This seems to be even more interesting because here, A. as you say, Noodler's Black is blacker than Noodler's HOD, and B. the shaking appears to have had more of a beneficial effect on the HOD than it did on the Black. No end to the the topic of blackness!

 

Mike

[EbonitePen]

Very interesting, here's a scan from one of my old reviews, the first one's on copy paper, on Rhodia it's reversed as far as blackness of Noodler's HOD and Black goes, where HOD is the darker one very interestingly (the writing is all done with DA Archive Ink, only note the swabs):

Copy:

http://www.danielnovotnyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/artist-standard-80g-export-blog-899x650px-wmarked-1.jpg

Rhodia:

http://www.danielnovotnyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/rhodia-uni-80g-export-blog-899x650px-wmarked-1.jpg

[zaddick]

Very informative review on just "black" ink. Thank you for investing the time.

[TSherbs]

great review!

[Tas]

heir Permanent Black:

 

1. Aurora

2. Herbin Perle Noire

3. Montblanc Mystery Black

4. Noodler's Black

5. Noodler's Heart of Darkness

6. Noodler's Old Manhattan

7. Pelikan Black 4001

8. Private Reserve Invincible Black

9. Sailor Kiwa-Guro

10. Visconti

11. Montblanc Ultra Black

12. Montblanc Permanent Black

 

 

Loving the spritzshot and how blue the wash away looks.

 

A top notch review! Thank you so much.

[Kenlowe]

Some of the other reviews in this section are trite compared with the in depth attention to detail within your review, thanks again.