13aphomet
December 6th, 2015, 08:01 PM
So I received a package from Japan the other day and inside was a Pilot Custom Heritage 91 with a soft-medium 14k nib. It's a pretty unassuming pen. No crazy bells or whistles, no fancy ink system, no obscure materials.. just a regular old fountain pen. I didn't really think much of it other than it had pretty good reviews from people on Youtube and forums.
I opened up the Pilot plastic clamshell and took it out noticing that it was a pretty good size. Capped it was roughly the same size as my Pelikan m400. Uncapped, it's longer.
The pen is black resin with rhodium trim. Very reminiscent of a Sailor 1911 or Platinum 3776. The clip is tight, but not too tight. So far so good.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215050_zpso1nq5q89.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215050_zpso1nq5q89.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215149_zpsbzbczn5d.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215149_zpsbzbczn5d.jpg.html)
I had purchased a Con-70 converter to coincide with it's delivery because it does NOT come with one (it does come with a black cartridge). The converter fits perfectly and holds a good amount of ink. I found the Con-70 kinda tricky the first I tried to fill it. I thought it was broken, but it was actually me that was broken. You have to pump the button fast to accurately create the vacuum needed to fill the chamber. After some trial and error I managed to fill it all way up with one of my favorite inks; Diamine Bilberry.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215225_zpsiab16wkm.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215225_zpsiab16wkm.jpg.html)
When I wrote with the pen for the first time I was amazed. This pen is really special. For the price (less than $100 from Japan), it's one hell of a pen. The pen is extremely comfortable in my hand. Could be a little thicker, but it's definitely not too thin. The grip section is perfectly tapered and whether you hold the pen down towards the nib or up a little higher it's comfortable. I generally hold my pen a littler higher than normal so finding out that the threads weren't sharp was also a nice surprise.
As for how the pen writes, well.. it's great. This is easily one of the best writers I have. The nib is a soft-medium in 14 karat gold nib. As you write you can feel the springiness of the nib. It feels like the nib has shocks on it like your car. It just wants to give a little bit, bending slightly as you apply pressure. This softness, as you would expect, creates a wider line on the page..and a WET line at that. Boy, now I'm excited. The pen easily goes from what I would call a Western fine to a double broad.. and does so with grace. It doesn't feel like your damaging your pen, or surpassing some kind of limit. It's organic.
The pen will railroad if you take it too far and write too fast; which is expected. This would only be a problem if it railroaded too early and it does NOT.
Oh, and before I forget - This pen is also smooth. Very smooth. There IS a small amount of feedback, but it's good feedback. It also doesn't suffer from any kind of small sweet-spot or anything. It pretty much writes in any position. I haven't tried reverse writing.
So what you get is a beautiful elegant looking pen that has the ability to hold a very decent amount of ink, that writes smooth and on the wet side and is capable of a wonderful amount of line variation. What's not to like..?! Well, nothing.
This would make an absolutely wonderful daily writer. I'm convinced I could write for hours with this pen.
My final word is that if you have $100 to buy a pen (and converter), there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn't buy this pen!! You won't be disappointed.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_214215_zpsh4jvppsb.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_214215_zpsh4jvppsb.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215340-1_zpsi5dqcbhw.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215340-1_zpsi5dqcbhw.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215456_zpsbazu9znd.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215456_zpsbazu9znd.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/2015-12-04%2022.01.30_zpsoxv82cqg.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/2015-12-04%2022.01.30_zpsoxv82cqg.jpg.html)
I opened up the Pilot plastic clamshell and took it out noticing that it was a pretty good size. Capped it was roughly the same size as my Pelikan m400. Uncapped, it's longer.
The pen is black resin with rhodium trim. Very reminiscent of a Sailor 1911 or Platinum 3776. The clip is tight, but not too tight. So far so good.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215050_zpso1nq5q89.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215050_zpso1nq5q89.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215149_zpsbzbczn5d.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215149_zpsbzbczn5d.jpg.html)
I had purchased a Con-70 converter to coincide with it's delivery because it does NOT come with one (it does come with a black cartridge). The converter fits perfectly and holds a good amount of ink. I found the Con-70 kinda tricky the first I tried to fill it. I thought it was broken, but it was actually me that was broken. You have to pump the button fast to accurately create the vacuum needed to fill the chamber. After some trial and error I managed to fill it all way up with one of my favorite inks; Diamine Bilberry.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215225_zpsiab16wkm.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215225_zpsiab16wkm.jpg.html)
When I wrote with the pen for the first time I was amazed. This pen is really special. For the price (less than $100 from Japan), it's one hell of a pen. The pen is extremely comfortable in my hand. Could be a little thicker, but it's definitely not too thin. The grip section is perfectly tapered and whether you hold the pen down towards the nib or up a little higher it's comfortable. I generally hold my pen a littler higher than normal so finding out that the threads weren't sharp was also a nice surprise.
As for how the pen writes, well.. it's great. This is easily one of the best writers I have. The nib is a soft-medium in 14 karat gold nib. As you write you can feel the springiness of the nib. It feels like the nib has shocks on it like your car. It just wants to give a little bit, bending slightly as you apply pressure. This softness, as you would expect, creates a wider line on the page..and a WET line at that. Boy, now I'm excited. The pen easily goes from what I would call a Western fine to a double broad.. and does so with grace. It doesn't feel like your damaging your pen, or surpassing some kind of limit. It's organic.
The pen will railroad if you take it too far and write too fast; which is expected. This would only be a problem if it railroaded too early and it does NOT.
Oh, and before I forget - This pen is also smooth. Very smooth. There IS a small amount of feedback, but it's good feedback. It also doesn't suffer from any kind of small sweet-spot or anything. It pretty much writes in any position. I haven't tried reverse writing.
So what you get is a beautiful elegant looking pen that has the ability to hold a very decent amount of ink, that writes smooth and on the wet side and is capable of a wonderful amount of line variation. What's not to like..?! Well, nothing.
This would make an absolutely wonderful daily writer. I'm convinced I could write for hours with this pen.
My final word is that if you have $100 to buy a pen (and converter), there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn't buy this pen!! You won't be disappointed.
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_214215_zpsh4jvppsb.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_214215_zpsh4jvppsb.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215340-1_zpsi5dqcbhw.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215340-1_zpsi5dqcbhw.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/20151204_215456_zpsbazu9znd.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/20151204_215456_zpsbazu9znd.jpg.html)
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u434/13aphomet/Pens/2015-12-04%2022.01.30_zpsoxv82cqg.jpg (http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/13aphomet/media/Pens/2015-12-04%2022.01.30_zpsoxv82cqg.jpg.html)