Montblanc Midnight Blue Expiration Date--What Does It Mean?

[hpk90]

I was looking at my bottle of Montblanc Midnight Blue and it has a date on it of November 2016. I presume this is an expiration date, but what does it really mean? Should I get rid of it? Is it a suggested use by date? Is it meaningless?

 

It won't kill me to throw it away, but I would like to know before I just do it.

[zaddick]

It is meaningless really. If the ink is not full of mold or fungus it is safe to use. I think it is more like a best by date they use for stock control.

 

I have ink that is 50+ years old and is fine. I also have MB ink from the 1970s to current and they are all fine. I just filled a pen the other day with MB ink from the 1980s.

Edited April 4, 2017 by zaddick

[Erik Dalton]

I think it's more a cya date for Montblanc and their own inventory control. I too have inks many years past their dates. As long as you don't have mold or gunk on the bottom, inks pretty much just go on and on.

If you like the ink, hang on to it. Recently I've replaced midnight blue in my pens with JFK Navy Blue. It flows better and is more of a deep blue.

[Abner C. Kemp]

Based on all accounts I've seen, it's an incredibly arbitrary number. Generally speaking, if the ink doesn't have any sediment in it and it writes well, you are probably just fine using the ink. It's kind of like picking fruit in the grocery store: does it look weird, does it smell weird, is there (bleep) on it? If not, take a bite!

[lapis]

"Theoretically" what it means is that that is the date MB has set (and gets printed on the label) exactly 5 years after production, when the ink is no longer "best". But as said above, that is hogwash, or, bullsink.

[Chrissy]

"Theoretically" what it means is that that is the date MB has set (and gets printed on the label) exactly 5 years after production, when the ink is no longer "best". But as said above, that is hogwash, or, bullsink.

 

+1 for this.