Ink Review: Rohrer and Klingner Morinda

Here it is, my first, and most difficult to capture, of a series of Rohrer & Klingner inks! German in origin, I thought it only appropriate to use a German made pen to conduct the review. In this case I used a Reform 1745. A great-quality-for-the-price piston filler, fine springy-nibbed, plastic bodied, 1980s West German pen. Please, forgive the inaccurate color scan, I tried photographing the review in all sorts of different light, but they all came out looking too orange. The below scan was the best result I got, but even the scan is too bright. The actual ink color is somewhere between dried blood and the mid-range reds in the rose pictured below.

[click image to enlarge]

I really enjoyed writing with Morinda. It is a perfect ink in the sense that there are no technical issues, it has great flow, minimal feathering, and no bleed-through, so the only thing I have to worry about when using it is whether or not I like the color of the ink. And, I do!

While I wasn't initially impressed with the color, as I wrote with it, it occurred to me that it would be a perfect red to write a love letter. Morinda has just enough purple in to soften the color, producing the same softening effect as the texture on a rose petal.

Rohrer & Klingner inks are German products and are difficult to find in the United States because they currently do not have a U.S. distributor. The ease of purchasing these inks, however, is about to improve, as The Pear Tree Pen Company, who provided me with these samples, just received a order for the inks. If you'l like to see Morinda and other R&K inks in person, I suggest ordering a few ink samplers to try them out for yourself.

Ink Review: Levenger Fireball

This has been the most difficult to photograph of all the reviews I have done. In the pictures (and I've taken many many pictures using different camera settings, lighting, etc.), Fireball comes off as a bright orange. And, while Fireball is orangy, it is much deeper and more saturated, so that at first and second glance it is a conservative red ink. As a friend put it, it looks like a weathered red, or a hot ember minus the glow.

Not wanting to scrap the review altogether, I have decided to post the pictures with the above comment. And, at the end, I have placed a color corrected photo, which although still not perfect, is a more accurate representation of the color in Levenger Fireball. Now, without further ado, the review:

Click for a larger, higher quality image.

I really put the steel toed boots to Fireball for this review. While I gave it the smoothest of roads to drive on, I gave it one of the poorest vehicles in my collection, a Parker 15 "Jotter." The Jotter has a tendency to thin my inks, leaving them shadows of their bottled selves. It also scratches from time to time. But, Fireball managed to rise to the occasion.


The name "fireball" for this ink is a bit of a misnomer. While the color is indeed a red-orange, I wouldn't say that it's the brightest of inks, hence why I called it a "conservative red." Aside from that, however, I found Fireball to be a very nice ink. It's well behaved in even my most troublesome fountain pen and has complex color.


Fireball flowed very consistently from my nib, writing well in a pen that has a tendency to thin my inks. As a result, however, there was a tiny bit of feathering on even the nicest of papers, in this review Clairefontaine 90 g. However, the feathering could be the result of the nib, which, as I mentioned before, can be scratchy at times.

I offer you my most sincere apologies for the inaccurate color representations in the above photographs. I have employed some very basic color correction on the below photo to offer a more accurate representation of Fireball. For what it's worth, however, you can take from my troubles that Fireball really is a complex color.


NOTE: I just found out that some time this year, Levenger discontinued Fireball ink. I got this bottle on the sale counter at the Levenger store in McLean, Virginia... there were none left. If you find a cache of it somewhere, please leave a comment to this post letting readers know where to pick it up.

J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe Review on Clairefontaine Paper

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J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe is named after the popular French beverage that bears the same name, made from green mint syrup and either lemonade or 7-Up (I found differing recipes). In either case, the model for the ink is a very diluted green color, with bubbles.


The J. Herbin take on the diabolo menthe has many similar characteristics as the drink. The ink is very faintly green and I described it as "frosty" even before I found out that the drink it is modeled after is carbonated. Where the model and the product differ, however, is that I would describe the ink as a teal, with more blue than green. But, then again, I did find both to be refreshing.


The above image is my full page review of the ink, taken with a flash. Click for full view.


This above image is the same review, taken without a flash. Click for full view.


While writing on the wonderfully smooth 90 g Clairefontaine paper in my new Quo Vadis Habana journal, I experienced no feathering, no bleedthrough and no nib creep.

Overall, I found Diabolo Menthe to be a nice, cool, teal with a very wintery feel to it. While I don't think I will be using Diabolo Menthe as an everyday ink, and I don't have any current plans for it... I will think of something. After all, winter is right around the corner, and this is just the color ink to get me into the spirit of the season.

NOTE: Winter is my favorite season of them all, and I can't can't can't wait for it to get here.

Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa Ink Review

Once I saw one, I had to purchase a bottle of Iroshizuku ink, if only for the bottle. The bottle I found was being sold half price on eBay, half filled with tsuyu-kusa ink (Japanese for spiderwort, as in the bloom). As it happens, I very much like it.

In addition to being very attractive, the 50 mL bottle is also practical - it has a small well at the bottom of the bottle, allowing you to get every last drop of ink into your fountain pen.


To view the full review in the highest quality, click on the images to open them in a new window.

This is the full ink review with no flash:


With flash:


I wrote the review on 20 lb, 92 whiteness copy paper. It just happens to be the paper I use in my office printer. The review was written with an Esterbrook 2668 nib.



The ink dried within a reasonable amount of time, fully dry in fewer than 10 seconds.


As you can see by the chromotography sample, tsuyu-kusa is a very pure blue ink. It is mostly cyan dye, with a darkening dye and a touch of cyan - but not enough to make the ink look purple.


I purchased this bottle on eBay, but you may purchase the entire line of Iroshizuku inks at JetPens, with whom I have zero affiliation. Although they charge 22.50 for the 50 mL bottles of ink, JetPens offers free shipping on orders of $25 or more.

Montblanc Racing Green Ink Review

During my search for gorgeous green inks, I came upon a rash of impassioned recommendations in favor of Mont Blanc Racing Green. The ink is apparently slated to be discontinued, and its supporters are trying to save it. I wasn't initially impressed by the scans of the ink on Fountain Pen Network, but decided to purchase a bottle in order to see for myself. I figured that if I didn't like it, I could probably sell it to a Racing Green diehard at minimal financial loss.

The ink is a tad expensive, usually found for around $12.50 per bottle. The value is pretty good, however, in that it comes in 50 mL bottles, compared to J. Herbin bottles, which hold only 30 mL of ink.


First, I would like to mention my admiration of this bottle. The bottle, made of thick glass, has been described as shoe-shaped, with a small reservoir that allows for every last drop of ink to be used. Both solid and functional, the bottle also manages to be very attractive. It is presently the only ink bottle that I leave on my desk at work, the rest are in a drawer.


Now for the ink itself. You may click images to view full-size.


All the reviews of this ink I have seen, including this one, have failed to do complete justice to the color it puts on paper. So, I have done some close ups that I feel do a better job of capturing the shading and coloration of the ink.




I would like to note that while most people write their reviews on white copy paper, I used my everyday paper, Staples EcoPaper made of sugarcane waste, called bagasse. For other reviews of this and other inks, take a gander over at the Fountain Pen Network.

Oh, and for the record, I'm definitely going to keep this beautiful ink in my regular rotation.

UPDATE: There is word from an authoritative source that Racing Green is not on the chopping block for discontinuation.

J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage Review

When writing letters, I almost always write with a fountain pen. Fountain pens give me versatility in both line choice and ink choice. As such, I have many pens with many different nibs, and I have many bottles of ink. The only green ink I have at the moment is Lierre Sauvage, made by J. Herbin.


I have taken images of my review via scanner and digital camera, unfortunately, neither image does full justice to Lierre Sauvage. The scan is much too blue and the photo does not capture the crispness of the line laid down by the pen and ink combination. So, to best inform you about the ink, I give you both images. Click the images to open full size in a new browser tab or window.

The scan (click to enlarge):

The photo (click to enlarge):


For more ink reviews, visit the Ink Review sub-forum at the Fountain Pen Network.