Matthias at Bleistift discovers the Chung Hwa 6903 pencil in Shanghai.

Cheryl at Writer’s Bloc peeks inside the Fabrica Pocket-in-a-Pocket notepad.

Julie at Pens Paper Inks…Whatever offers the DeAtramentis Black Edition for your consideration.

Alex at Economy Pens recommends the Pentel EnerGel X 0.7mm Violet.

Terri at Filofax Fixation confesses her newfound obsession with the Lamy Al-Star.

Yochanan at Multi Pen Dimensions checks out the SK-Sharbo +1 multi-pen.

Dave at Seize the Dave gives good marks to Rohrer and Klingner Verdigris ink.

JJ at Penagerie grouses about the Paper Mate Sharpwriter mechanical pencil.

Rodney at GreaseMonkeyHands receives a Namiki Sterling Dragon as a gift.

PenandPaperHoarder dismantles the PHX-1: Design Tool Set.

We’ve been picking up some new readers lately, so it seemed like a good time to give our new friends a little idea what they can find on the Tiger Pens Blog.

We’re all about ink pens here, from fountain to ballpoint, and the ways that people use them, whether for writing, office work or creating pieces of art. Occasionally, we’ll touch on notebooks and paper, but there are several excellent blogs that do it so well, we usually leave it to them (we’re looking at you, Notebook Stories, Rhodia Drive and a dozen others).

Our favorite pens are the ones that are relatively inexpensive, reliable and comfortable to use – gels and rollerballs and hybrids from Pentel, Uniball and the like. We’re also fans of novelty pens, or just about any kind of pen that is ‘different.’

In keeping with our love of pens and their uses, we run several regular features on the blog. In no particular order, they are:

Pen Reviews – Fair, honest assessments of the newest disposable and refillable pens, as well as the classics that deserve a new look once in a while. Yes, we probably sell most of them, and, if we like a pen, we’ll tell you…but if we don’t like one, we’ll tell you that, too.

Giveaways – Pens are great fun…and FREE pens are even funner, err, more fun. So, every month, we set aside a special package of pens to give to one of our readers just as our way of saying ‘thanks’ for visiting. If you discovered our blog through one of the giveaways, welcome, and we hope you stay a while.

Totally Random Pen Stuff – This is an occasional feature comprising news about pens coming to market, pen-related stories in the media, and mentions of interesting pen collectors, as well as other miscellaneous pen nuggets of interest.

Conversations About Handwriting – Pens aren’t much good if we don’t use them, and handwriting is one of the most common uses of pens, so naturally we follow the chatter on this topic with great interest. Our occasional handwriting feature collects tidbits of news and opinion on handwriting, from features on handwriting teachers to the handwriting practices of presidents.

Inappropriate Uses of Pens – Some people do the craziest things with their pens…things that pens were clearly not intended to do. Sometimes, they are amusing, other times, mind-boggling. We collect those stories, and once in a while, post them for our readers’ enjoyment.

Penthusiasm! – There is a wonderful, vibrant community of pen enthusiasts online who happily share their endless knowledge of pens through blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Every week, they write dozens of posts about pens, pencils and paper that are, by turns, amusing and fascinating. Each week, we try to round up some of the best ones and share with our readers, in case there is something they’ve missed.

Blog Reviews – Each month, we try to select one pen- or paper-related blog to feature as an outstanding blog. We choose them based on…well, basically, their ‘wow’ factor. If they often have posts that we read, then say, ‘oh wow, that was cool!’ then there’s a good chance we’ll review them at some point.

Guest Posts – We’re continually amazed at the level of expertise or just plain enthusiasm of some in the pen community. When we come across someone who writes brilliant pen posts, whether reviews, anecdotes, or obscure finds, then we invite them to post on our blog, both to help spread the word about them…and to impress our readers with our nifty pen friends.

Tiger Pens News – It’s no secret that we sell pens, but the last thing we want to do is flog our products too much on the blog. This blog is first and foremost about providing our visitors with informative and entertaining posts about pens and pencils. But once in a while, we get in a new product, or have a special deal running that we really want to share with as many people as possible. When that happens, you’ll read about it here. Just not too often.

One thing we’ve been thinking about is adding a regular feature on artists and theworks they create with pen-and-ink and pencil. So many of you seem to be quite talented, and we love seeing the drawings and sketches that you post on your sites and on Twitter. Whether a new visitor or a regular reader, please let us know what you’d think about seeing a regularly featured artist on the blog.

And, if there is anything new or different that any of you would like for us to try, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send an email using the ‘Contact’ link at the top.

The blog is here for you, so we want it to be exactly what you want.

Nina at Nina Johansson explains why she uses Noodler’s and Platinum inks for drawing.

John at John a Lookin’ Around discovers the Noodler’s Ahab Flex nib fountain pen.

Andrew at Stationery Review loves his first fountain pen, a black Lamy Safari.

MJ at MJ Monaghan reveals his quest to find the perfect pen.

Pencil Talk displays the very tiny World Press Cartoon pencil.

OfficeSupplyGeek shares his buyer’s remorse over the Pilot G6 gel pen.

Heather at A Penchant for Paper offers faint praise for the Pentel Fiesta 0.5 mm mechanical pencil.

George at My Supply Room shows off his set of vintage Lindy pens.

Andrew at Economy Pens unboxes the Retro 51 Hex-O-Matic ballpoint pen.

Leigh at My Life as a Verb thinks the Kaweco Sport Chess Print is cute.

When thinking about felt pens, I visualise school children in the classroom adding colour to their masterpieces.  If you looked in a few pencil cases I wonder how many contain a Stabilo Greenpoint Sign Pen.

With the legendary orange & white stripe barrel, the cap, end cap & sturdy clip are colour coded with the ink inside.  These pens are available in black, blue red, green, lilac & turquoise & the strong tip is 0.8mm wide.

The target market appears to be school children, office workers & teachers,  Stabilo suggest they can be used for soft writing, colouring & highlighting.  When I used the Stabilo Greenpoint my first impression was that it would be more suited to drawing or colouring than writing.

As I’ve mentioned before I couldn’t draw a picture if my life depended on it, so I ploughed ahead & started to write.  Given a choice a medium tip would always be my preference, however this 0.8mm tip produced a line that looked just too wide.  The lack of a grip combined with the hexagonal barrel did not feel comfortable & unfortunately the writing experience was not enjoyable.

Made from 98% recycled plastic this pen is certainly up there with the best examples in the environmentally friendly camp.  Stabilo’s Green line is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  There are other companies keen to be green, Pilot markers in the Begreen range are one example & are made from around 76% recycled material, on the other hand many don’t appear to have joined the green brigade at all as yet.

If I needed to write labels or make entries in a scrapbook, the Stabilo Greenpoint Sign pen may come in useful.  In my opinion, for what it’s worth, I still feel they would be more suited to drawing or colouring.  If I were a few years ooh OK then decades younger, I’d be more than happy to have one of each colour in my pencil case.

Stabilo Greenpoint Sign Pen Review

Personally I like the bold colour choices that Gel pens have to offer, the Zebra Antique Hyper Jell as the name suggests are a range of gel rollerballs offering 6 old fashioned ink colours that were probably around long before the colour wheel was even thought of.

I have often read that gel pens are “ideal” for scrap booking.  I have vague recollections of a large dogeared A3 paperback with thick dark grey pages that were full of entrance tickets from favourite places like Madame Tussauds, London Zoo, along with a variety of other events.  I even saved some of the tickets from transport companies that had taken us there & Snapshots were carefully stuck in place as a lasting reminder of happy times.

Anyway on to the review, I chose to sample one of the blue-grey pens, they are also available in bordeaux red, forrest green, grey, brown & black-blue.

Here’s what I thought of this Zebra

Looks

This is not the most stylish pen I’ve seen.  The relatively wide cushioned grip is comfortable & non slip, this positive is spoilt somewhat by the clouded transparent barrel & end cap, it gives me the impression that it is cheap.  OK it doesn’t pretend to be high end but some of the other inexpensive Zebra’s, the Z grip with cheetah & tiger patterns come to mind, are more pleasing to the eye in my opinion.  I suppose you could argue that a clear barrel makes it easy to keep check on the ink level, but it’s the only benefit I can see for it.

Writing experience

The acid free pigment gel ink did perform well, it was quick to dry ensuring there were no smudges in sight.  I found it raced across the page without any skipping & the ink flow was consistent.   Some gel pens dry out easily & others react to cold temperatures, I retrieved mine from the car after a particularly cold night & it worked with no problems at all.

As I mentioned at the beginning, one of the things I like about gels are the bold & often bright colours, this antique shade of blue-grey looks lack lustre to me, I find the blue Papermate is much more vibrant.

My opinion aside, Zebra are sure to have done their research before launch, they must know they have an audience for these pens.  I hadn’t realised until recently that scrap booking is a pastime that many people still enjoy,  I’ve even noticed there are work from home business opportunities on offer for resourceful individuals that have the talent to make something from nothing.  Now I come to think about it no doubt there are folk out there that like to work with vintage photos, make items look distressed & add character to their work, maybe these Zebra Antique Jells will be added to their collections.

Zebra Antique Gel Pen Review

For general writing I would not usually consider using a pencil.  I’ve only ever used one when I thought that I may need to erase something.  I wonder if the Pentel Twist – Erase Mechanical Pencil will change my mind.

I can see the obvious benefits a mechanical pencil has to offer over it’s standard wooden cousin.  No more hassle looking for a sharpener, or trimming with a sharp knife, as I often used to see my granddad do (not recommended, especially if there are any young readers out there).

The Pentel Twist-Erase can be pressed gently at the end of the barrel & the lead is revealed.  There is a large eraser at the end, this should last even the most frequent users for some time.  It can be hidden away & protected when not in use by turning the moving section of the barrel away from you.  Simply reverse the process & the lead will be visible again.

You will find this pencil with 0.5, 0.7 & 0.9mm leads, I am reviewing the 0.7mm with a black barrel, blue is the alternative.

I have read some reports stating that the eraser was not the best quality, my test didn’t show this. I was able to erase & re-write a sentence over it & also left a line with text erased, all that remained was a very faint outline.

The only negative I could find was the clip, it didn’t attach to my notepad easily, in fact it caused it to come off in my hand, revealing the case holding 2 spare leads.  Nevertheless it was easy to put back together & just snapped closed.

As I started of by saying I am not a regular user of pencils, the Twist-Erase is one of Pentels popular pencils, I can see why.  My experience was positive, the chunky soft rubberised grip made it  comfortable to hold & I found it easy to use.

If you are one of those owners that likes to have attractive writing utensils to show of in public you may want to go for something at the luxury end of the market, or even pick yourself up an antique.

On the other hand if you’re looking for a pencil to take notes, or complete any of the other tasks that regular users do, from students, teachers & various professions, I’d say the Twist-Erase provides a value for money option whatever the use.

As far as changing my mind goes, I like to see dark text on the page & I can’t imagine a pencil ever doing that, but I’ll keep it close by, I’ve heard they can improve your writing.

Pentel Twist Erase Written Sample

Although I can’t honestly say that I recall my school days with too much affection as some, that’s not the case when it comes to writing instruments, I have vivid memories of my first “real pen” it was a Parker Jotter.  I can remember wandering around the local newsagents & stationers, ferreting  through the blister packs hanging on racks looking for the best colour.

Parker are also known for fountain pens, the ballpoint wasn’t introduced to the collection until 1954.  Several years of research completed, it was claimed that these ballpoints were different from their competitors in that they had a choice of nib sizes, wrote 5 times longer & were simple to refill.  In the early days various changes & modifications were made.  The ink formula & tungsten writing ball were improved, today it’s still considered by some as timeless classic.  I would go so far to say Parker is a household name, maybe due to my early experiences.

Working for Tiger Pens, I get the opportunity to review a range of pens, today I’m pleased to have the chance to revisit memory lane.  The classic stainless steel section at the top of the barrel is met by a navy blue section, made from moulded plastic which completes the look.   You could also choose a Parker Jotter ballpoint in red, white, bronze or black.  All have blue ink & medium point tips that appear through a metal nozzle when the push button is pressed.  A retractable ballpoint that is 5” long, I found it light to hold & somehow feels smaller than other pens, although checking others on my desk it’s clear that is not the case.

So what about the performance, the Jotter gave the results I expected, no sign of blotting & the same appearance as many other medium nib ballpoints.  It did feel relatively slim when held & the absence of a grip left me feeling it was slipping my grasp when writing for any length of time.

The original Parker Jotter can be refilled & comes in a bronze & black gift box, overall not bad for an everyday pen, sadly I don’t think the writing experience this time around will stay with me as long as that of my very first pen.

Parker Jotter Ballpoint Pen Review

Seth at Good Pens introduces one of his favorites, the Kaweco Sport fountain pen.

Tammy at Simply Madly Me gets down to the fine points of the Tul needle-tip gel pen.

The Beached Librarian finds much to recommend about the Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen.

Make It…a Wonderful Life shows off artwork by kids using tin foil and colored Sharpie markers.

George at My Supply Room displays a mint set of 1980s Bic pens from Canada featuring Wayne Gretzky.

Dave at Seize the Dave explains why he has just about given up on Moleskine notebooks.

Marta at Marta Writes gives us a look at her pen collection of Pentels, Paper Mates and Sharpies.

Sara at Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Thirty-Something DIYer shares her drawing of Coraline (from the movie).

Cheryl at Writer’s Bloc asks and answers the question, “Does Fast-Drying Fountain Pen Feather?”

Azizah at Gourmet Pens deconstructs the Stainless Steel Sharpie Pen.

If pens had a personality I would class gel pens as easy going.  I have always found them comfortable to use no matter how long for, the ink always flows well & produces vivid text on the page.

Having just put the Uni-ball Signo Scents under the proverbial microscope, I have been impressed by the range of vibrant colours.  When it comes to the sniff factor, for me, they didn’t all come up to scratch, more on that shortly.

The Signo scents are regular stick pens, they have a colour coded plug at one end & cap with Signo logo at the other.  When it comes to colour I don’t consider there is anything regular about these pens, I think all 10 colours are all vibrant & would add interest to any diary, journal or note book.

Thinking about their uses, whilst I like the convenience of digital files, I still love to keep an old fashioned photo album.   Theres nothing nicer than flicking through the pages on a cold Winters day reminiscing about old times in sunnier climes.   I found the strawberry & orange pens worked really well on dark paper & look forward to trying out a few more in my latest album.

As promised back to the sniff factor.  This range comes in sweety & fruity scents, they have a medium 0.8mm tip that writes a 0.5mm line, maybe its me but I found the coconut felt finer than some of the other colours.  Here is my verdict pen by pen

Sweety

Cola Black – I was unable to smell anything

Cherryade Red – did have a scent

Soda Blue – a very sugary smell, as I can’t be sure how soda should smell, give this one the benefit of the doubt.

Mint Green – yes this smells a bit like Polo’s to me

Bubblegum Pink – my top marks on the scent front, most definitely bubblegum

Fruity

Strawberry Pink – fruity but not the smell I expect from strawberries

Pineapple Yellow – again does smell fruity but not what I expect of pineapple

Coconut Brown – just a hint but another positive

Orange – I’m starting to wonder about my sense of smell now, all I note is a fruity aroma, nothing citrus

Blueberry – this smells just like my herbal tea

Uniball Signo Scents Colours

Well I am more used to testing the fragrances you are likely to find on the ground floor of department stores than on pens & paper, but it was a fun exercise.  Although very basic & not in the least bit scientific my test has taken time, I have left the caps off whilst jumping from one (flavour) to the next & I’m pleased to say none of the pens have dried out leaving me to conclude that whilst Signo scents maybe not the best pens for the office, they are certainly fun to have around & I can imagine them having fans of all ages for different reasons.  I’d probably guess that children would be the majority but it wouldn’t be the first time I was proved wrong.

I usually have low expectations when picking up a regular ballpoint pen.

Before the point even touches the page, I know the writing experience is going to be less than smooth, and the ink is going to be ‘meh.’ That’s just the nature of ballpoint pens – they’re meant to be inexpensive and adequate, but uninspiring. Plow-horses, not thoroughbreds.

So,  the Pentel Vicuna 0.7 mm turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It’s easily one of the smoothest ballpoints I’ve ever used, and, while not spectacular, the low-viscosity ballpoint ink is certainly more liquid and more vibrant than typical ballpoint paste.

The Vicuna debuted last year and has slowly been spreading to international markets, recently making its arrival at Tiger Pens. Apparently, the initial marketing of the pen indicated that it was targeted at female pen buyers, which doesn’t really track because there is nothing particularly feminine about the pen.

Design

The barrel is a mix of semi-translucent plastic and darker rubber. The plunger mechanism is solid, with little play in its movement. The clip is simple, made of clear plastic. The barrel is slim on the top and flares out midway into the grip, which consists of shallow grooves cut into the rubber.

The overall appearance is sleek, simple and attractive, particularly the blue model. It’s comfortable enough; however, the pen is extremely light, giving it a bit of an insubstantial feel. The refill also seems comparatively small, adding to the sense that this is not a sturdy, long-lasting pen.

Ink

According to Pentel, the ink in the Vicuna is a pigment hybrid designed to be thinner than regular oil-based ballpoint ink. As a result, it lays down a slightly wetter line with bolder color than usual – not gel quality appearance, but definitely an improvement over the norm.

(One thing I noticed was that the color intensity seemed to fade slightly as I wrote.)

Writing with the Vicuna produced serviceable ink distribution without a lot of skipping or clumping. It tended to smear more than a straight ballpoint paste would. At one second of drying time, there was significant smudging. The smudging was slight at three seconds and minimal at five seconds.

Writing experience

This is where the Vicuna really impressed me.

Yes, I had to bear down more with the pen than I would with, say, a G2. But, it didn’t require an uncomfortable amount of pressure, and the overall writing experience was smooth, continuous and flowing. There was a clear and discernible difference in the level of friction generated by the Vicuna and a normal ballpoint pen.

On a scale of 1-10, I would put the Vicuna’s smoothness about a 7.

That counts for a lot, as far as I’m concerned.

But…

To me, the number one selling point of a ballpoint pen is the lower cost when compared to gel or liquid ink pens.

People don’t buy them primarily for performance, but because they are cheap and reliable (or reliable enough, anyway). These are pens that can be easily replaced when they stop working. Of course, the tendency to smear less and adhere more easily to some surfaces helps, but it still usually comes down to cost.

And that is where the Vicuna fails…and why, frankly, I just don’t understand the purpose of the Vicuna.

At more than US$2 per pen, they’re overpriced for ballpoints, even refillables, considering that Pentel already offers the much less expensive but still serviceable Superb RT and WOW ballpoints, among others. And the Vicunas don’t perform well enough to compete with any of Pentel’s gel pens – especially when you can buy the far superior Pentel EnerGel-X for less than the cost of a Vicuna.

(By the way, while this pen may be Pentel’s answer to the Uniball Jetstream RT, it isn’t nearly on that level.)

So, as much as I like Pentel pens in general, I can’t recommend the Vicuna. Not at the current price.

If you’re in the market for ballpoints, go with the Zebra Z-Grip instead. Or just step on up to a gel pen.