Faber-Castell × HUNTING Loom fountain pen gift set

Friday at 08:49 PM

Faber-Castell has seemingly discontinued its Loom fountain pens, a while ago now at that, and ‘new old stock’ of variants with matt finish on the barrel are getting harder to find. Yet, there are quite a few listings for the model on Taobao, notwithstanding many of the colourways are showing as sold out; and this collaborative edition is purportedly for this year. Are the Chinese sellers just running out old stock, or is the Loom still in production in 2024, albeit for a narrower market only away from the West?

I already have the matt gunmetal version of the Loom. It's a competent writing instrument, although I don't see it as being superior to the Essentio Aluminium, which uses the same type of nibs (in removable nib units) and filling mechanism, and has the same bulbous cap design of which I'm not a fan aesthetically but which proved to seal more effectively than the caps on the Ambition (and, from what I read, the Ondoro) fountain pens. My grip on the Essentio Aluminium is surer; notwithstanding the gunmetal finish being touted as matt, the Loom is still quite slick to the touch.

In some of the marketing images for this edition, the cap is green and the barrel has an attractive reddish cast; but in some of the photos attached to customer reviews, the pen looks awfully like the matt gunmetal version. I was intrigued. Is Faber-Castell just dressing up old stock with a fancy box and some markings on the end of the barrel, or is this actually new?

The price for the package isn't cheap, compared to what I remember of Western market prices for the Loom back when it was available; but, considering it comes with a converter and a bottle of ink, it isn't a total rip-off on account of being a limited (?) edition either. I figured someone *might* pay its asking price for a new matt gunmetal Loom if they want the discontinued item badly enough. On the other hand, if this is truly different looks-wise, then it'd be cool just to have and show off at fountain pen user gatherings.

So, I took the bait when I could stack a couple of discounts on the listed price.

You can see for yourself whether it's differentiable other than for the markings on the barrel finish.