SCRIBO Piuma first impressions

[Geert Jan]

It’s been less than a week since I received my Scribo Piuma, so far too early for a real review, but I’d like to share my first impressions here. Please bear with me, I'm not used to writing these reviews/impressions...

 

the history

A few years ago I bought an OMAS with a medium Extra Flessibile nib and I really liked the feel, but for daily use it was too wet, the line too wide. By the time I made the decision that it would be another Extra Flessibile OMAS was no more. Fortunately SCRIBO managed to get hold of the tooling for the OMAS nibs and I had my second chance. The design of the Feel didn’t appeal that much, but the Piuma looked to be much more to my liking so I ordered that one without first seeing it in real life.

 

the unboxing

The pen arrived pretty soon after release on 10 May 2021. Packaging: an outer box which at first looked generic, but the inside is the SCRIBO pale blue and branded. In it a personalised note (quite appreciated!), a small bottle of SCRIBO ink (Rosso Chianti). And packed in wrapping paper the box made out of cardboard, the flap opens with a magnetic closure (nice touch to open it there is a small piece of leather with the SCRIBO logo on it). In it instructions/warranty and in even more wrapping paper a pen roll/sleeve with space for two pens and a polishing cloth. All very nicely packaged with attention to details, but without going over the top with a very ornate box. But on to the pen!

 

the pen

The pen is cylindrical, top of the cap with a metal insert with the SCRIBO logo, and the end of the barrel tapering down. Both barrel and cap are round with two facets. When capping the facets align (requiring a little more force than I would like). The clip is on one of the facets, aligning with with the SCRIBO name engraved in the facet of the barrel. When uncapping the pen the name and nib align. The nib is (as the OMAS nibs were) rather slender, emphasising its length (even tough it’s just a bit shorter than a Bock #6). Engraved on the nib is ‘feel the FLEX’, SCRIBO, and the gold content; on the side is the nib size. All engraved (not laser engraved). Personally I would have preferred the SCRIBO feather on the nob (Piuma means feather after all), but I don’t find the text on it distracting.

 

I chose the Altrove finish (the website refers to it as burgundy, I see some amethyst/purple in there as well). The material is pretty dark and understated, but there is definitely depth and shatoyance once you have the pen in the light. I don't think this picture does the pen justice, lying on my desk just catching a bit of sunshine really transforms the material.

For me the biggest jump into the unknwon was the section of the pen, as the SCRIBO site doesn’t tell you that much about it. As it turns out the section is comfortably long, and the diameter ranges from 11.4 to 11.1 mm. The threads are not sharp at all, nor is the step-down between barrel and section (but I cannot imagine you wouldn't notice it if you were to hold your pen there). See picture, I measured from below the ring at the end of the section. For me a big relief: a larger diameter would become uncomfortable for me.

 

 

Weight: 29 gram (capped with converter), 18.5 gram uncapped. Length 144 mm capped, 133 mm uncapped

 

the writing

Writing: I won’t bother you with my handwriting, but I could not notice any ink starvation after 1.5 page of writing (not flex writing). I cannot do proper flex writing and I didn’t get the pen for that either. What I wanted (and got) was a very nice smooth and soft nib. Just a quick demo of the amount of variation in the picture; paper Tomoe River 52 gram, ink OMAS Blue (quite fitting I thought). Not pushing it too hard; SCRIBO suggests the tips of the tines can go from 0.5/0.6 mm (no pressure) to 1.8 mm (yikes! I would have trouble sleeping if I did that to my pen).

I haven't been able to do a real drying out test (leaving the pen unused? no way!), so the best I can report here that there is no issue at all after one day of not using it (difficult enough to leave it just lying on my desk that long).

 

Thanks for reading

[Frank C]

Beautiful pen! I have a Scribo Feel (or two); they are great pens. From your information, I would infer that you have the 14Kt. Extra Fine nib. Thanks for the review, especially the part about the section; it is always a mystery until you actually get to write with it. I like the Grigio, but it would be hard not to get the altrove; it is gorgeous.

[Geert Jan]

Ah yes, forgot to explicitly state the nib size, sorry about that. It is an Extra Fine, as you already spotted (hope from the text with reference to the SCRIBO site, though you can just see it on the nib as well). Based on my experiences with OMAS (have an Extra Flessibile in an Ogiva,  and a regular fine in a 360), as well as the info on the SCRIBO site I was pretty confident an Extra Fine Flex would work for me.

The Grigio seems to be a signature colour for SCRIBO (the box, the inside of the outer box, and as I recall one of the first colours for the Feel).

[lehi53]

Thank you for this.   

[peroride]

14 hours ago, Geert Jan said:

As it turns out the section is comfortably long, and the diameter ranges from 11.4 to 11.1 mm.

Thank you for the section measurements. They too are similar to the Feel despite it's more bulbous barrel. Also glad that c/c is sufficient for ink flow. I'm considering a Piuma and was wondering about potential insufficient flow. My Feel F is wet but I am concerned about servicing should the piston ever fail. c/c seems to me a good failsafe.

[Frank C]

Which ink did you use in your pen? I filled my Scribo Feel with Scribo ink. From their website, "These water-based inks have been precisely made to offer the best writing experience with our extra flexible nibs." I find that to be true. The downside is that they "feather" horribly on inexpensive paper.

 

 

[sansenri]

I am attracted by Scribo nibs, but this is the second Scribo pen that I am not likely to buy.

That very deep step is keeping me away, I hope they don't make it a standard of their pen design.

I am aware that if the section is long enough it may not be a huge issue, but still I don't understand it...

[Geert Jan]

I used OMAS Blue. One can only assume that ink was formulated for exactly this type of pen, after all the nib is the same as OMAS, and the feed looks the same to me as well (not going to risk anything with pulling nibs on either the old or the new pen. Had the small bottle of ink thta came with the pen been a blue, I might have used that. Now I just kept one known factor. As an afterthought: perhaps I should have used Aurora blue, as that may be an easier reference for others.

[Frank C]

Scribo has their inks made for them it Italy. It is probably the same company that made the ink for Omas. Omas blue is one of my favorites. If a pen company sells an ink with their name on it, I tend to use it in their pens. 

 

I agree that Aurora Blue is something of a standard blue ink. I would say that Aurora Black is the standard to which all other blacks are compared.

 

If I get a chance, I may do a little ink chromatography to compare the Omas and Scribo blue inks.

 

Once again, thank you for your posts. The Piuma has moved up on my (very long) buying list for pens. The next question is: Which nib to get?

[Orval]

 

5 hours ago, sansenri said:

I am attracted by Scribo nibs, but this is the second Scribo pen that I am not likely to buy.

That very deep step is keeping me away, I hope they don't make it a standard of their pen design.

I am aware that if the section is long enough it may not be a huge issue, but still I don't understand it...

I had the same apprehension about the step... until I could hold and try the Scribo Feel in a penshop. The step is absolutely not a problem although I have a rather high grip. Even if you hold it on the threads - 55mm from the nib tip - the step is still not an issue because of the bulbous form of the barrel. The Feel has excellent ergonomics and balance, an organic feeling to the hand compared to with the Pelikan M800 e.g. feels awful and primitive. A good workhorse. One of my best writers.

[sansenri]

On 5/18/2021 at 12:13 AM, Orval said:

 

I had the same apprehension about the step... until I could hold and try the Scribo Feel in a penshop. The step is absolutely not a problem although I have a rather high grip. Even if you hold it on the threads - 55mm from the nib tip - the step is still not an issue because of the bulbous form of the barrel. The Feel has excellent ergonomics and balance, an organic feeling to the hand compared to with the Pelikan M800 e.g. feels awful and primitive. A good workhorse. One of my best writers.

 

Yes, I've been told before. Like you I should probably try it, that would be the only way to be convinced.

Aesthetically the step also puts me slightly off, although that would not be an obstacle if all other aspects worked.

The Fell looks overall nicer than the Piuma.

[dms525]

Thanks for the review!

 

I am a big OMAS fan, so the new companies with OMAS heritage are automatically attractive to me. However, the design of the Scribo Feel, their materials and the price has been off-putting for me. The Piuma with a lower price and some more attractive resins and a more aesthetically pleasing design broke my resistance. I am neutral on the piston versus C/C filling issue.

 

I bought a Piuma with a B nib with a plan to have the nib ground to Cursive Italic. I have the pen back now for several weeks. In a word ... well, five words: I love how it writes.

 

Surprise strength: The big step down to the section is no problem at all. The pens is exceedingly comfortable to use. I do grip pens pretty close to the far end of the section.

 

Surprise weakness: None, really, with my pen. However, it would be nice if Scribo offered a factory stub with no added cost. A few vendors do offer a factory stub, but it is more expensive than buying the pen with a B nib and having it custom-ground, as I did.

 

I would strongly consider adding more of these to my collection, if ones are produced in attractive materials.

 

David

[Frank C]

14 minutes ago, dms525 said:

Thanks for the review!

 

I am a big OMAS fan, so the new companies with OMAS heritage are automatically attractive to me. However, the design of the Scribo Feel, their materials and the price has been off-putting for me. The Piuma with a lower price and some more attractive resins and a more aesthetically pleasing design broke my resistance. I am neutral on the piston versus C/C filling issue.

 

I bought a Piuma with a B nib with a plan to have the nib ground to Cursive Italic. I have the pen back now for several weeks. In a word ... well, five words: I love how it writes.

 

Surprise strength: The big step down to the section is no problem at all. The pens is exceedingly comfortable to use. I do grip pens pretty close to the far end of the section.

 

Surprise weakness: None, really, with my pen. However, it would be nice if Scribo offered a factory stub with no added cost. A few vendors do offer a factory stub, but it is more expensive than buying the pen with a B nib and having it custom-ground, as I did.

 

I would strongly consider adding more of these to my collection, if ones are produced in attractive materials.

 

David

I would love to see a writing sample and photo of this unique pen.

[dms525]

55 minutes ago, Frank C said:

I would love to see a writing sample and photo of this unique pen.

 

Sure! Note that these photos were taken indoors with light from a double-paned window. They have a slight yellow cast that distorts the colors, especially the nib, which is rhodium plated but looks gold.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

David

[Frank C]

20 minutes ago, dms525 said:

 

Sure! Note that these photos were taken indoors with light from a double-paned window. They have a slight yellow cast that distorts the colors, especially the nib, which is rhodium plated but looks gold.

 

Enjoy!

David

Thank you for posting these photos. That is truly a unique pen. I'm sure that you'll enjoy using it. 

[maclink]

I received a Rotia version yesterday. A very good looking pen as they tend to be from Italian makers. It was bigger than I expected but not too big. Like an M800 I’d say. The step down was not a problem ergonomically. I found the pen comfortable to hold.  

 

However, the writing was where my experience fell. I got a M 14K nib and it was way too much of a gusher, leaving a pool of ink along the lines I wrote, even when writing without pressure. The nib also felt odd when writing. Perhaps from the heavy flow, medium grind and flexibility. 

 

One option was to send the pen back to have the nib exchanged or retuned.  My decision was to send it back for a refund because I didn’t feel comfortable reconciling the price with the overall experience, even while imagining the pen with a nib that performed better. 

 

[Geert Jan]

Perhaps het-setting the feed could have tamed the flow (possibly in combination with a dryer ink). In the past I used this to make an OMAS Extra Flessibile M nib (essentially the same nib and feed as Scribo uses) a bit less wet as well (still plenty of ink if you put apply a little pressure). Since then I started to appreciate finer nibs as well, so i gotmy Piuma with an EF Flex.