Pilot Blue vs Pilot Blue

[Mayo]

This is a comparison of two different Pilot inks, the Pilot Namiki Blue IC-100 cartridge, which came in together with one of my Pilot pens (I only have a single cartridge of it) and a Brazillian made 500ml bottle of Pilot blue ink, which I got assuming it would be the same Pilot Blue, but I got quite a different ink instead.

To keep it short: It is a blurple ink, not as much of a true blue as the Pilot Namiki blue cartridge, but still looks blue when writing. It dries a bit faster, flows a bit wetter, is less resistant to water and bleach overall. No flow issues so far, I've got the Pilot Namiki blue catrdige on my pilot penmanship with an extra fine nib (also swapped in a F nib for comparisons), and the Pilot Brazil's blue in my kakuno with a fine.
Here's some comparisons on Rhodia and Tomoe River paper respectively (They both do about the same on cheaper absorbent paper so I haven't scanned those).

 

 

One question I have is if anyone recognizes if this ink is sold elsewhere, maybe a different product name? Here's the chromatographies for both.

[LizEF]

Fascinating!  Thanks for sharing this comparison.  (I have no practical use for the info, but it's still really interesting.)

[yazeh]

I prefer the Namiki blue by far

Great job  

[Mayo]

I contacted Pilot Brasil via e-mail and they confirmed that nationally made products have a different formulation to imported ones. In their own words:

 

"Agradecemos o seu e-mail, informamos que a tinta importada e a tinta fabricada no Brasil são formulações diferentes, por este motivo apresentam tonalidades de cores diferentes, porém produzidas para serem utilizadas em canetas tinteiros."

 

Or, translated:

 

Thank you for your email, we inform you that the imported ink and the ink manufactured in Brazil are different formulations, for this reason they have different color tones, but both are made to be used in fountain pens.

 

After writing with it for some time with a pilot fine nib I also noticed that the ink doesn't look so much like a bluerple, but a really vibrant blue, which is nice too I think. So, if any of you end up purchasing Pilot blue ink from Brazil, now you know!

[lapis]

Thanks for this comparison. I am not familiar with your Brazilian version and would only like to note that "Pilot bottled" inks and "Pilot Namiki cartridges" are usually quite similar. Well, at least here in Europe. I posted that here a few years ago -- solely because some members thought that Pilot is Pilot whereas Namiki is a completely different company.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/330316-three-pilot-blue-blacks/

 

Also, this post dealt with blue-black and not with blue. I assume that Pilot blue (in the bottle) is practically the same as Namiki's blue (in cartridges) but I should check out those two as well. Nonetheless, that still wouldn't answer your question involving your nationally-made products. You found the answer yourself.

 

Whew

[Mayo]

3 hours ago, lapis said:

Thanks for this comparison. I am not familiar with your Brazilian version and would only like to note that "Pilot bottled" inks and "Pilot Namiki cartridges" are usually quite similar. Well, at least here in Europe. I posted that here a few years ago -- solely because some members thought that Pilot is Pilot whereas Namiki is a completely different company.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/330316-three-pilot-blue-blacks/

 

Also, this post dealt with blue-black and not with blue. I assume that Pilot blue (in the bottle) is practically the same as Namiki's blue (in cartridges) but I should check out those two as well. Nonetheless, that still wouldn't answer your question involving your nationally-made products. You found the answer yourself.

 

Whew

 

That's a good comparison format! For blue-black far I've used both cartridges and bottled ink (after I managed to grab a bottle, and a con-70 converter) in my Custom 74, and haven't noticed differences, so that's consistent with your results.

 

I grabbed this 500ml bottle of Pilot Blue thinking it would make a good workhorse ink for school and work, so it's a bit of a bummer that the resistance to water is not as good as the Namiki cartridges or imported bottles, but the color is pretty nice and strikes me as something in-between J.Herbin Eclat de Saphir (which has a pretty similar looking chromatography, but writes more blue) and Diamine Billberry.

[Azulado]

I found your review particularly interesting. I had seen the half liter bottle of Pilot, at an amazingly low price, and it always caught my eye. I never thought it could be a different color than the bottles imported from Japan. I had thought about buying this liter bottle with friends and family in mind: I have sometimes given pens as gifts and it is always good to supply ink, otherwise, when the cartridges wear out it is possible that the pens end up forgotten in a drawer. At least in the city where I live it's difficult to find fountain pen ink in stationery stores. Only if they become real enthusiasts will they order it online.
I bought the bottle of blue Pilot in Brazil. The color is very nice, different from the traditional royal blue. The only drawback is that it leaves stains on ABS plastic pens. Does the Brazilian blue have the same problem?

 

[Lithium466]

Thank you for this comparison. I am now on my way to hunt some Brazilian made Pilot blue!

[jchch1950]

In how many countries Pilot manufacture ink? Maybe they will have many shades of blue. Any information will be useful to try to make more comparisons.

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for sharing.  The Pilot Mixable Blue cartridges are yet another blue and my favorite Pilot blue is from the Varsity disposable pens and that ink is different too.