Flex-Pen Ink Review: "Montblanc - Kipling\Jungle"

[Detman101]

Shout-out to @mizgeorgeFor the gracious ink sample!

[LizEF]

Not sure on this ink, but at least I know not to try it in a flex pen.   Thanks again.  One more to go.

[namrehsnoom]

I really like the faded green look of this ink - vintage vibes. I also noticed sub-par lubrication with dry pens / fine nibs, but with wetter pens I had no issues. For me, this remains one of the better MB inks.

[Detman101]

8 hours ago, LizEF said:

Not sure on this ink, but at least I know not to try it in a flex pen.   Thanks again.  One more to go.

I wanted to try it out with a little of the "White lightning" to see if it lubes it up enough to be a viable ink for everyday use.

1 hour ago, namrehsnoom said:

I really like the faded green look of this ink - vintage vibes. I also noticed sub-par lubrication with dry pens / fine nibs, but with wetter pens I had no issues. For me, this remains one of the better MB inks.

I really do like the look of this ink also, but like you say...it is super dry.
But that color though...it just screams "royalty".

[lapis]

8 hours ago, namrehsnoom said:

I really like the faded green look of this ink - vintage vibes. I also noticed sub-par lubrication with dry pens / fine nibs, but with wetter pens I had no issues. For me, this remains one of the better MB inks.

I'll buy that. It' the fadedness which turns me on, just like Papier Plume's Streetcar Green or Noodler's (FP Hospital) Bank Note Green.

[PithyProlix]

Wow, this color really speaks to me.

 

Not the same but another ink I suspect might have a similar look is Oster Sydney Darling Harbour. 

 

Thanks yet again!

[Detman101]

4 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

Wow, this color really speaks to me.

 

Not the same but another ink I suspect might have a similar look is Oster Sydney Darling Harbour. 

 

Thanks yet again!

Awesome! If the lubricity on that Robert Oster ink is better than this MB ink...but has the same color....we may have a winner!
Thanks for the info!!!

[PithyProlix]

25 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

Awesome! If the lubricity on that Robert Oster ink is better than this MB ink...but has the same color....we may have a winner!
Thanks for the info!!!

 

Not the same color but I suspect a similar 'feel' to the color. I can't be sure because I haven't used/seen either ink in person. 

[mizgeorge]

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Wow, this color really speaks to me.

 

Not the same but another ink I suspect might have a similar look is Oster Sydney Darling Harbour. 

 

Thanks yet again!

With the two in front of me, the Robert Oster is just a fraction more blue, and a bit more saturated, but very similar otherwise. It isn't a great deal wetter (perhaps a little) - but it's a lot cheaper!!

[PithyProlix]

3 hours ago, mizgeorge said:

With the two in front of me, the Robert Oster is just a fraction more blue, and a bit more saturated, but very similar otherwise. It isn't a great deal wetter (perhaps a little) - but it's a lot cheaper!!

 

The color difference - Sydney Darling Harbour being slightly more blue with a bit more saturation - is exactly what I suspected. I can never justify spending as much as Montblanc wants for an ink when there are so many great inks that are much more reasonably priced.

 

Thank you very much for taking a look for us!

[TCN01]

I'm obsessed with this color, but it simply writes too dry in my Montblanc EF's and Pilot Fines.  Anyone have any recommendations for wetter alternatives?  I fear the Oster might not be enough.  Thanks.

[mizgeorge]

This particular comparison was done for a slightly different question (looking for a sage coloured ink), but might be relevant. 

 

[gawain3]

Does Vanness White Lightning help lubricate with a problem like this?

[dragondazd]

Consider Yoseka Tang Mi Se Blue. It might be a touch dry but it is not 'very very dry".

 

 

[Detman101]

20 hours ago, TCN01 said:

I'm obsessed with this color, but it simply writes too dry in my Montblanc EF's and Pilot Fines.  Anyone have any recommendations for wetter alternatives?  I fear the Oster might not be enough.  Thanks.

I've found that "J.Herbin - Vert Atlantide" has the same shading and coloration as this Montblanc ink...if you do not put any of the shimmer particles in your ink-fill.
What I do when I fill up is....syringe from the top of the bottle without disturbing the particulate, and inject that into my pen.
Then I get the same color as the "Montblanc - Kipling/jungle" without the shimmer particles changing the tone of the ink.
Wetter ink too!

[Detman101]

18 hours ago, gawain3 said:

Does Vanness White Lightning help lubricate with a problem like this?

Indeed it does...but you have to use the tiniest fraction of it with pen ink-fills.
Literally, what I do is dip the tip of a paperclip into the "White Lightning" and then swirl that around inside my pen's ink.
Anything more will turn your ink fill into an unstoppably runny, feathering, page-soaking mess.
I made the mistake of putting a full drop of "White lightning" into an ink fill of my Opus-88 Demo when I first received the bottle and didn't know how to use it.
Lets just say that ink fill wouldn't even stay in the pen if I opened the ink-flow aperture/valve. It just dribbled out of the pen like it had diarrhea. 
Forget about trying to write anything...it was useless.
No choice but to dump the ink, wash out the pen and parts...and start again.
That was how I developed the "Paperclip-Tip" methodology. Using that, you can incrementally increase the amount of wetness by repeating the process every 30 minutes after the ink/WL mix settles.

[Tasmith]

On 6/22/2021 at 10:55 PM, Detman101 said:

Shout-out to @mizgeorgeFor the gracious ink sample!

It was just a question of time before someone wrote a Depeche Mode song.

[Detman101]

On 12/4/2022 at 11:19 AM, Tasmith said:

It was just a question of time before someone wrote a Depeche Mode song.

I see what you did there...
😂

[TCN01]

Thank you Mizgeorge and Detman101!!

[TCN01]

So after much review, I ordered the following trial sizes from Goulet Pens in an attempt to match Mont Blanc's Kipling/Jungle ink in a "wetter" ink:

 

• Herbin Vert Empire
• Diamine Evergreen
• Sailor Shikiori Miruai
• Sailor Ink Studio 462
• Monteverde; Monteverde Green

 

So far I've only tried the Herbin and the Diamine through a Pilot Custom Heritage 91 with a factory Fine nib.

 

The Herbin was nice but a bit too washed out and gray, and it didn't write that much differently than the Mont Blanc.

 

The Diamine was pretty close to the Kipling (a bit more true dark green and less gray), and wrote beautifully.  I'm terrible at documenting my sampling, but in one of the photos you can see some scratching in Kipling and Evergreen right next to each other.