Moleskine Notebooks: Paper Behavior, Construction

[NewPenMan]

For years I've been hearing about Moleskine...some people love them, others hate them..thought I'd share my 2 cents.

 

I spotted one at a local resale shop for $5, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a 5" x 8" lined notebook, with the elastic strap to keep it closed, and two bound-in bookmark "strands." Except for a few words on the inner fly, this book was un-used.

 

The tooth and feedback of the paper are unremarkable..this could be any cheap paper, and in fact, I have lots of cheap paper which performs better than this stuff.

 

Showthrough is guaranteed except with the finest of nibs, driest of writers. Bleedthrough often accompanies showthrough.

 

After I got about 15 pages into the book, I noticed that pages began to come loose from the binding; mind, I had treated this notebook with utmost care and gentleness.

 

So, I tore out the pages I'd written on and stapled them together and will use the notebook only for to-do lists, grocery lists, scrap paper for nothing at all important.

 

I've seen moleskines for north of $25 and I am very glad I didn't pay that. I see nothing to justify using moleskine at any price - even if it's free: who wants pages to come loose from their in-progress notebook?

 

Hope this helps someone.

[Studio97]

Most of the time the pages are quite secure. Moleskine is often suited for fine nibs and and any ink you experiment with to reduce bleeding with the paper in that individual notebook. Have bought many but at vastly reduced prices like 75% off or more. Some rollerballs do not work well in them either. Most ballpoints and pencils are fine with them. I did sell off a pile of them to buy better notebooks.

 

Also I have never seen one with 2 inbound string markers. I wonder if it was a Moleskine labeled knockoff.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Studio97

[Astronymus]

Moleskine paper is not ink safe as it is meant for ballpoint and quite low quality. Some people use it with fountain pens, but it depends on the ink.

[djmaher]

Ive been using Moleskine journals, on and off, for the past 15 yrs. or so, Exclusively with fountain pens. My experience at first was great. But, through the years, I watched the quality control of the paper shift all over the place, enough so that I switched away from them for good just recently. I could be using one journal, with the typical issues (or, not) associated with FPs, and be satisfied with the results. Switching to another MS journal found scratchy writing, bleedthough, etc. Same pen. Same ink. Same model of journal. It was weird.

 

There have been many concerns about quality control indicated on FPN. Paper mfgr's being different, journals being made in China, etc. All sorts of stuff. I have had some issues with signatures not sewn properly and pages pulling away, as you mentioned. Big loops in threads. The kind of thing you would see in a cheapo journal bought at the dollar store. Not in a $20 plus journal. Or, shouldn't be, anyway. And, I had heard that the paper was acid-free, which for me was another lure, and important. But, with the QC being wonky, even that became suspect. (I have 20+ full Moleskine Hard and soft-cover journals. In the back of my mind, I do wonder....)

 

Anyway, no more. I have a Moleskine planner, which I buy every year, because I like the layout. But, nothing important goes in it. I've kinda had it with the journals, especially recently, so I've switched over to Rhodia and Clairefontaine journals. They have their own potential issues, but, the paper is high quality, very nice to write on, and at least in my experience, very consistent as to quality. And, Exaclaire, as a company is great to work with, if you have any QC concerns. Kinda scary good, actually.

 

My two cents.....

[bogiesan]

Molie is a favorite brand to complain about around here. We’ve all got our horror stories. Failing binding is a new one. But there are no Moleskine notebooks, none that I haveever seen and I’ve been using molies for decades, that have, as you say, two marker ribbons. Probably not a Moleskine.

[ElinMS]

I'm also rather picky about notebooks and paper. I've owned a few moleskines long ago, but like others have said, they ended up being used entirely for grocery lists and the like. Very poor paper for the ridiculous price. But hey, they're "Legendary"; it says so on the cover!

 

I've long since settled mainly on Rhodia notebooks: excellent quality paper and well worth the money. I'm not sure without looking it up, but they're probably cheaper than Moleskines, or at least around the same price.

 

Leuchtturm1917 is pretty good too, but I've found some of the inks I use don't like that paper quite as much as the Rhodia.

Edited November 9, 2018 by ElinMS

[bogiesan]

For years I've been hearing about Moleskine...some people love them, others hate them..thought I'd share my 2 cents.I spotted one at a local resale shop for $5, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a 5" x 8" lined notebook, with the elastic strap to keep it closed, and two bound-in bookmark "strands." Except for a few words on the inner fly, this book was un-used. The tooth and feedback of the paper are unremarkable..this could be any cheap paper, and in fact, I have lots of cheap paper which performs better than this stuff. Showthrough is guaranteed except with the finest of nibs, driest of writers. Bleedthrough often accompanies showthrough. After I got about 15 pages into the book, I noticed that pages began to come loose from the binding; mind, I had treated this notebook with utmost care and gentleness. So, I tore out the pages I'd written on and stapled them together and will use the notebook only for to-do lists, grocery lists, scrap paper for nothing at all important.I've seen moleskines for north of $25 and I am very glad I didn't pay that. I see nothing to justify using moleskine at any price - even if it's free: who wants pages to come loose from their in-progress notebook?Hope this helps someone.

Marketing is an amazing thing and Moleskine has a huge promotional department. They do not care about us, the micro niche of fountain pen users, and they do not market products directly at us. We just like to think their products should be appropriate for our writing instruments and then resent that they are not. Your comments still leave me with the impression you do not really have a molie, though. And I’ve never heard of counterfeit Moleskine productsThere never has been a notebook with two markers and the paper signatures are sewn, not glued, so it is unlikely the pages would simply come out. If someone had written a few words in the notebook, as you say, it was not new and the previous owner might have mistreated the binding in any of many different ways. Photos would help.

[NewPenMan]

it’s a moleskine. I’d mistakenly assumed it had two markers; it has one. no conspiracy, no huge moleskine counterfeiting going on.

 

my purpose in posting was to save others from wasting their precious time, money and hopes on this ridiculously bad paper.

[koukoutsi]

ok... so I was heading here to start a Moleskine tread just now... so Ill join this one!

 

First of all for the last 15++ years (20++ probably) I use moleskine notebooks.

So today I got my latest shipment, this time the dotted one for the first time(I use Rhodia when I need dotted).

So I have a moleskine from 2011, one from 2015/16 and the new one (dotted, all other are plain), all classic black hard cover large size.

 

Is it the dotted VS plain or the paper from 2011 is so different?

My fine 149, mid 146 and TWSBI 1.1 stub write on the old one like 'velvet', very smooth and like it has a velvety coating ... the new one (again its dotted so I dont know) is more 'hard/scratchy'... closer to the new 1917 dotted I got for testing too (the 1917 is more 'hard').

 

Is it because its dotted? apart from that I have moleskines for years and I had to structural problems etc.

[BaronWulfraed]

Probably change in manufacture... I have a collection spanning a decade -- still unopened (impulse buys at register of Barnes&Noble) -- with markings of:

 

The legendary notebook of Hemingway, Picasso, Chatwin

Kikkerland Design

$15 (2006)

 

Legendary notebooks

Designed by Moleskine in Italy -- manufactured in China

$18

 

Classic Collection (no more "legendary")

Designed by Moleskine in Italy -- manufactured in China

(no price sticker) (2016)

 

The soft-cover doesn't have either "legendary" or "classic" on it, and is "manufactured in Vietnam". It and the "classic" have an M[] (filled in black rounded square) logo on the wrapping.

 

I also have a pair of the large (8.25x11.75 inch/A4?) "folios" which state to have 100 g/m^2 paper weight (I believe the Rhodia's are using 90 g/m^2 Clairfontaine paper). No idea what weight paper is used for the other Moleskine. The M+ journals are 100 g/m^2, but those are designed to work with a NeoSmartPen (ballpoint with pressure switch and optical sensor to read coordinate markings on the pages) -- wouldn't expect any compatibility for fountain pens.

 

 

SO... At least two companies or distributors*, and likely three manufacturing points. Kikkerland Design now sells "WritersBlok" journals with 53 g/m^2 at a measly 2@$10 https://kikkerland.com/products/writersblok-notebook-plain-dark-gray-maroon and has no sign of Moleskine on their web site.

 

*Wikipedia states Moleskine as a company was founded in 97 in Italy, so Kikkerland would have been a distributor or licensee. It also states that it was bought by an investment firm in 2006 (same date as my "Kikkerland" journals). Another investment group then took over control in 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moleskine

As a result, I could envision changes in paper used in 2006 and 2016 -- as the owners attempt to maximize profits.

[NewPenMan]

for my money, Leuchtturm 1917 is the pad. $20 for 5x8, great colors, great craftsmanship, great paper.

[miwishi63]

I have a small moleskin notebook with a ribbon and a band that I use for recording odometer readings, but I write in it with a mechanical pencil. I gave up writing in them with fountains pens several years ago due to the issues mentioned above.

[djmaher]

I impulse bought a Moleskine Traveler a few months back, thinking of using it as a gift for a friend. She also writes with fountain pens.

 

Three ribbons.

 

Same crappy paper.

[NewPenMan]

I don’t know much about making fountain pen-friendly paper - whether it does or doesn’t take a lot more expense, time, money to produce it versus non-fountain pen-friendly.

 

Leuchtturm (my example bcs I’m familiar with it) isn’t any more expensive than moleskine, and in some cases much less expensive than moleskine, and it’s excellent.

 

my guess is that the marketing wonks figured out how to cash in by cheaping out.

[AlohaLani787]

 

Legendary notebooks

Designed by Moleskine in Italy -- manufactured in China

$18

 

Classic Collection (no more "legendary")

Designed by Moleskine in Italy -- manufactured in China

(no price sticker) (2016)

 

The soft-cover doesn't have either "legendary" or "classic" on it, and is "manufactured in Vietnam". It and the "classic" have an M[] (filled in black rounded square) logo on the wrapping.

 

 

 

 

The two photos below are of Moleskine notebooks, all 5 x 8 1/4" softcover.

 

The first photo shows a purple Designed by Moleskine in Italy, Manufactured in China, my last from the original sale batch. It was originally from a set of purple/lavender.

 

The still packaged royal blue/periwinkle set is Designed by Moleskine in Italy, Manufactured in Vietnam, my current sale batch.

 

This is the first time I've ever purchased Made in Vietnam Moleskine notebooks and I didn't even look at the back label until I read this thread.

 

Is there any noticeable difference in the paper between the two? I'll open the Vietnam set next to try one, but it'll be a month since I just started the lavender one from the Manufactured in China set last week.

 

[CraigR]

I have been a journal keeper and notebook addict for over 50 years. In all that time, I have used just about every make and model of bound paper books. For many years, I loved Moleskine products. That has changed in the past 7-10 years. The paper they use has definitely changed and is not as fountain pen friendly as it once was. I currently like the Leuchtturm and Rhodia products the best as they seem to work with the widest variety of pens and inks in my collection.

[djmaher]

I have a small moleskin notebook with a ribbon and a band that I use for recording odometer readings, but I write in it with a mechanical pencil. I gave up writing in them with fountains pens several years ago due to the issues mentioned above.

 

Funny.

 

I do the same thing with a Cahier, stored in my glovebox, as I don't care too much about the temp extremes and moisture damaging the journal.

[miwishi63]

 

Funny.

 

I do the same thing with a Cahier, stored in my glovebox, as I don't care too much about the temp extremes and moisture damaging the journal.

 

I agree with your sentiment. Although it is probably heretical to say so, a notebook is just a notebook after all - a tool to be used and often, though not always, discarded.

[BaronWulfraed]

 

The two photos below are of Moleskine notebooks, all 5 x 8 1/4" softcover.

 

The first photo shows a purple Designed by Moleskine in Italy, Manufactured in China, my last from the original sale batch. It was originally from a set of purple/lavender.

 

The still packaged royal blue/periwinkle set is Designed by Moleskine in Italy, Manufactured in Vietnam, my current sale batch.

 

This is the first time I've ever purchased Made in Vietnam Moleskine notebooks and I didn't even look at the back label until I read this thread.

 

Is there any noticeable difference in the paper between the two? I'll open the Vietnam set next to try one, but it'll be a month since I just started the lavender one from the Manufactured in China set last week.

 

 

 

Can't say -- I'm getting ready to open my oldest "Kikkerland" era book sometime this week (and will inaugurate testing with "musings on popular christmas music" [ie; the crud that my local station started running 24/7 Nov 1 whose only relationship to Christmas is a passing mention -- "Linus and Lucy" is background theme to nearly all Peanuts specials, only relationship to Christmas is that the first Peanuts special was "A Charlie Brown Christmas"]

 

I suspect the pocket sized one I do have open is similar era -- over a decade old -- and may have had better paper back then.

 

That second photo scares me... I've never seen a Moleskine cover strip focusing on tear-out sheets.

[AlohaLani787]

 

Can't say -- I'm getting ready to open my oldest "Kikkerland" era book sometime this week (and will inaugurate testing with "musings on popular christmas music" [ie; the crud that my local station started running 24/7 Nov 1 whose only relationship to Christmas is a passing mention -- "Linus and Lucy" is background theme to nearly all Peanuts specials, only relationship to Christmas is that the first Peanuts special was "A Charlie Brown Christmas"]

 

I suspect the pocket sized one I do have open is similar era -- over a decade old -- and may have had better paper back then.

 

That second photo scares me... I've never seen a Moleskine cover strip focusing on tear-out sheets.

 

I found the Manufactured in Vietnam notebooks on a clearance shelf at Staples. The same day I found the identical set (different color combination) at Target for retail price. I like the perforating for easier tear out as I rip out a page or two every day to rewrite my daily task and notes list.