EFNIR: Herbin Perle Noire

[LizEF]

Extra Fine Nib Ink Review: Herbin Perle Noire

This is review #184 in my series.  Here's the YouTube video:

Post-recording notes: Cleaning was quick and easy. The ink is black and the images look black. This ink was dark red under the microscope (like Private Reserve Infinity Black), but the smear was otherwise uninteresting, so I'm not including an image. The strange thing about this ink isn't the color, but why the behavior is so different from other reviews - it's supposed to be a very dry ink, which means the lines should be narrower than they are.  And it's supposed to dry fast, but not for me. The lines do have nice crisp edges (not jagged like some inks), so if that appeals to you, this ink is a good choice.

The line width measurement is one of the lines used for dry time.  Magnification is 100x.  The grid is 100x100µm.  The scale is 330µm, with eleven divisions of 30µm each.  The line width for this ink is roughly 335µm. (For the curious, with 184 inks measured, the average line width is 291µm.)

PS: Earthquake not confirmed by USGS, but there were multiple reports of something like one; no clue what it was. Maybe the military were blowing things up...

And here is a screen of the final result, for those not interested in the video:

Scan of Completed Review:

Zoomed in photo:

Absorbent Paper Closeup (top is puzzle paper like thick newsprint, bottom is old 20lb copy paper):

Line width measured via microscope at 100x:

Images also available on Instagram: @zilxodarap.

Previous Review: Sheaffer Skrip Blue/Black.

Want to influence the inky sequence?  Take the "next ink" poll.

Need to catch up on The Adventures of Quin and Makhabesh?  Find the whole story here.

Hope you enjoy.  Comments appreciated!

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

Ahh, my favourite (and only) black. I find it quite wet, actually. The red colour is visible when in the bottle, a thin film of ink on the bottle wall will appear red when light shines on it. It's a dark black, relatively cheap/ml in the 100 ml and the 500 ml bottles, and it's got water, bleach, and UV resistance.

[InesF]

Clever Snek, this Snek! 😁

 

Thank you for the review, @LizEF. Hmm, what to say today? It's a black ink, which is black...

I like the appearance as shown in the magnified writing and it seems to behave well on copy paper.

Finally, there is some use for black ink.

 

Help me, have I told everything about black inks? 🤔

[dhanks]

12 minutes ago, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

Ahh, my favourite (and only) black. I find it quite wet, actually. The red colour is visible when in the bottle, a thin film of ink on the bottle wall will appear red when light shines on it. It's a dark black, relatively cheap/ml in the 100 ml and the 500 ml bottles, and it's got water, bleach, and UV resistance.

I wasn't aware that it comes in 500 ml bottles.  Can you give me a source for that?  Thanks.

 

Rumpole

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

Ahh, my favourite (and only) black. I find it quite wet, actually. The red colour is visible when in the bottle, a thin film of ink on the bottle wall will appear red when light shines on it. It's a dark black, relatively cheap/ml in the 100 ml and the 500 ml bottles, and it's got water, bleach, and UV resistance.

Thanks for the confirmation on the red color.  And yes, this one is very affordable in the larger bottles.  Didn't know about the resistance!  Thanks for adding that info.

[PithyProlix]

I'm not into black ink but this is one I've been a bit curious about. Thanks for showing it to us!

 

I think I've heard about sneks. Aren't they the ones that are all neck?

[LizEF]

25 minutes ago, InesF said:

Clever Snek, this Snek! 😁

Sneaky snek!

 

26 minutes ago, InesF said:

Thank you for the review, @LizEF.

You're very welcome!

 

26 minutes ago, InesF said:

Hmm, what to say today? It's a black ink, which is black...

I like the appearance as shown in the magnified writing and it seems to behave well on copy paper.

Finally, there is some use for black ink.

 

Help me, have I told everything about black inks? 🤔

If there's more to say, I don't know what it is.

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, PithyProlix said:

I'm not into black ink but this is one I've been a bit curious about. Thanks for showing it to us!

You're very welcome!

 

2 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

I think I've heard about sneks. Aren't they the ones that are all neck?

  Well, really, they have that in common with snakes and serpents, but sneks are small, cute, and have magic.

[yazeh]

Great review @LizEf

It looks like a really nice ink. I'm not a fan of black ink, though

That snek of yours is creating an ear worm:

Snek, snek, snek

snek, snek, snek,

snek your booty 🕺

 

I hope that improves on the silence  

 

[yazeh]

54 minutes ago, dhanks said:

I wasn't aware that it comes in 500 ml bottles.  Can you give me a source for that?  Thanks.

 

Rumpole

https://www.lacouronneducomte.com/herbin-350th-anniversary-original-ink-500-ml-perle-noire.html

[dhanks]

4 minutes ago, yazeh said:

https://www.lacouronneducomte.com/herbin-350th-anniversary-original-ink-500-ml-perle-noire.html

Thank you.

 

Rumpole

[Karmachanic]

1 hour ago, dhanks said:

I wasn't aware that it comes in 500 ml bottles.  Can you give me a source for that?  Thanks.

 

Coinkydentally^tm I was just searching for a 100ml bottle and came across this as well.

https://www.stiloestile.it/en/inks/bottled-inks/herbin-perle-noire-inchiostro-500-ml-350-anniversario-edizione-limitata

[LizEF]

35 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Great review @LizEf

Thanks!

 

35 minutes ago, yazeh said:

It looks like a really nice ink. I'm not a fan of black ink, though

Me and you, both.

 

36 minutes ago, yazeh said:

That snek of yours is creating an ear worm:

Snek, snek, snek

snek, snek, snek,

snek your booty 🕺

 

36 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I hope that improves on the silence  

I suppose we can count the laughter, at least, as an improvement.

[dhanks]

Just now, Karmachanic said:

 

Coinkydentally^tm I was just searching for a 100ml bottle and came across this as well.

https://www.stiloestile.it/en/inks/bottled-inks/herbin-perle-noire-inchiostro-500-ml-350-anniversario-edizione-limitata

Thank you.

 

Rumpole

[mizgeorge]

Thank you as always @LizEF - great review (I expect no less) and I'm so enjoying the little snek. 

 

I have this ink and barely ever use it. I'm not really a black ink user other than for a couple of pens, which seem to  have found their 'own' inks.  Every time I've used this one, I've found it smeary and it's ended up annoying me. Perhaps I need to try again with a much finer nib, and perhaps slightly more absorbent paper.

[LizEF]

6 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Thank you as always @LizEF

You're welcome!

 

6 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

great review (I expect no less) and I'm so enjoying the little snek. 

Thanks! 🐍

 

7 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

I have this ink and barely ever use it. I'm not really a black ink user other than for a couple of pens, which seem to  have found their 'own' inks.  Every time I've used this one, I've found it smeary and it's ended up annoying me. Perhaps I need to try again with a much finer nib, and perhaps slightly more absorbent paper.

Hmm.  I didn't notice any smearing, but then I use blotting paper for bookmarks, and don't tend to put my fingers where I wrote, add in the Japanese EF that's not terribly wet, and...

[Sailor Kenshin]

You know I was on a black ink kick, right?  

 

I got a sample of JH PN long ago, and ended up mixing it with a few other inks.  It's now sopping wet and very black.  But I had no particular impression of it when using it straight.  Other black inks call to me, like Monteverde Ash and Waterman Black.  

 

Thanks once again for the review, and the sneks.  😊

[LizEF]

22 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

You know I was on a black ink kick, right?  

 

I got a sample of JH PN long ago, and ended up mixing it with a few other inks.  It's now sopping wet and very black.  But I had no particular impression of it when using it straight.  Other black inks call to me, like Monteverde Ash and Waterman Black.

Well, clearly you're making up for the rest of us with all those black inks!

 

23 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Thanks once again for the review, and the sneks.  😊

You're very welcome!

[arcfide]

I remember one interesting comment that was made a while back by Herbin when they were discussing their new Jacques Herbin Encres Essentielles line, Noir Abyssal in particular. If I translated my interpretation of what he said into American-ese, it went something like this: "Well, we had a real challenge creating Noir Abyssal because we wanted to make the best, most premium black ink that was on the market, but when we did our tests, we discovered that we pretty much already did have that in our Perle Noir ink; so it was really a challenge to try to beat our own ink with something even better." Of course, the real conversation was something a little less self-congratulatory, but that's the way I interpreted it. I also like the fact that I do believe their story that Perle Noir is probably one of the oldest inks in existence in terms of being somewhat close to its original formulation and having a long history as a specific product. I think maybe only Diamine and Pelikan have anything approaching that kind of pedigree with a single ink product, and even there, I don't know that Diamine has any specifically named product going back that far, though Pelikan's 4001 series goes back a long ways. 

 

One unique element to Herbin's black inks, IMO, is their distinctly matte appearance relative to their competitors. When you swatch Herbin Noir Abyssal or Perle Noir, they both have a distinctly matte finish which few if any other dye-based black inks I've used have. The chromatography of Perle Noire is actually close to others like Lamy Black and Take-sumi, but both of those inks have more sheen and gloss than Perle Noir. The only thing I've seen come kind of close is MB Permanent Black, but that has a little sooty appearance and feel that Perle Noir lacks. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

12 hours ago, LizEF said:

Well, clearly you're making up for the rest of us with all those black inks!

 

You're very welcome!

Oh, I was just getting started!  Lamy Black, Montblanc, Quink, Skrip, another Monteverde (Onyx?), Chesterfield Obsidian, Pelikan, Aurora (meh), Noodler's regular (too long dry time), and Bad Black Mocassin (yes, it was bad), PR Black Velvet, and my most-hated and the most recommended to me, Namiki.

 

And I'm probably forgetting a couple.  I'm not obssessed.  What makes you think that?

 

I was right.  Forgot Sailor Black, in carts.