Review: Noodler's Ahab & Neponset (+ Apache Sunset and Habanero)

[alanlight]

https://youtu.be/kGEg0Ktvm0c

[Pterodactylus]

Well done, thanks :)

Just a note to flexing your nib, you only can flex your nib on the downstroke in direction of the center line of the nib.
In the video you holded the pen about 45° to the left and tried to flex it on the vertical, this does not work (45° out of the center line).

The Noodler’s flex nibs are not really flexible in their default state, with good will you can call them semi-flex, but they can be modified quite easy (e.g. with the EMF mod).

I wonder that you did not mentioned the aweful smell of the vegetable resin.

I have a Ahab and with a modified nib and feed is quite ok, but using it as a „real“ flex pen need quite a lot of tinkering.
The overal quality and construction quality of these pens is quite low, never ever comparable with similar priced pens of the big pen makers (like from Parker, Lamy, Pelikan,....)
The only reason to get one of these for me is if you want to get a tinker pen and to modify their flex nib.
For normal writing you could get nicer pens for the same money.

I agree, the Apache Sunset is a stunning shading ink (I own it and love the shading)
But it has no long term stability in the pen.
If you let Apache Sunset sit in a pen unused for about a month it will turn into a liquid (don´t call it ink anymore) which do not dry forever on the paper anymore.

This looks like this (this is Apache Sunset after a Month in a pen):

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/751/23155673786_3225a6dbee_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/BhbT5W)
Noodlers_response_06 (https://flic.kr/p/BhbT5W) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5717/22885938940_7c520f1c8b_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ASmqj9)
Noodlers_response_03 (https://flic.kr/p/ASmqj9) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5636/22813786049_1250eaeb34_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/AKYBLM)
Noodlers_response_05 (https://flic.kr/p/AKYBLM) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr



But maybe Iˋm wrong and this is not a bug....
Maybe itˋs a hidden feature....

Maybe Noodler’s should advertise this as a new unique selling position: The hidden hard copy feature, exclusive by Noodler’s ink.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/568/23189500275_0421bffe3a_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Bkbfwg)
Show_response_22 (https://flic.kr/p/Bkbfwg) by Ptero Pterodactylus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/117783735@N07/), auf Flickr

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who has this trouble with Noodler's inks. It's obnoxious to write a letter and have to set it aside to dry over night, and come back the next day and it's still not dry.

[alanlight]

Apache Sunset is quite amazing... it's almost like it's designed to never dry.

Pterodactylus: I actually did mention the odor of the resin, mine did smell, but the oder went away after a few weeks.

[taylorwfu]

I just tried an Apache Sunset ink for the second time (both were samples). The first time, I used it in a 0.6 stub, and I loved the shading, but the ink got lighter and lighter the longer I wrote. When the feed was saturated, it was beautiful and dark, but by the end of a page of writing, I could barely see what I had written. My second sample was, I hate to say it, the same as the first, albeit in a different pen. I journal daily, and it's just not a viable option for me, despite my love for the darker, full feed shade.

I got rid of an Ahab due to the smell. Just couldn't take it, no matter how fun writing was with it.