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reprieve
April 6th, 2014, 12:26 PM
Today was a sad, sad day, my friends. I had to dump half a bottle of Montblanc Racing Green down the drain. :( :( :(

As soon as I picked up the bottle, I noticed that the ink looked abnormally thick. Sludgy, even. Cue intense feelings of dread and sadness. When I opened the bottle, I was confronted with a terrible rotten odor. Not musty (not moldy), just rotten. Kind of like leftover veg that has been sitting two weeks too long in its tupperware in the fridge. The ink was semi-solid. I scraped the bottom of the bottle with a q-tip and the q-tip actually bent from the resistance!

I checked my remaining stock (bought at the same time as the half-used bottle and stored right next to one another in the same drawer) and they looked normal. Phew! Relief.

Now I am down to only two bottles of my very favorite ink. Today was a sad, sad day, my friends.

Lady Onogaro
April 6th, 2014, 12:39 PM
Wow! What would cause that?

tiffanyhenschel
April 6th, 2014, 12:45 PM
I'm so sorry. :(

reprieve
April 6th, 2014, 01:06 PM
Wow! What would cause that?

I don't know. Normally I would suggest the possibility of contamination--perhaps an unclean pen was dipped into the bottle and traces of whatever other ink happened to be reactive to Racing Green and then created some sort of sludge monster. But I'm usually pretty careful about that, and even more so with these Racing Green bottles since it is now a discontinued, hard-to-find ink. Still, I suppose it's possible.

Other than that, I've no idea what might have caused it.

Robert
April 6th, 2014, 05:44 PM
Wow! What would cause that?
Sabotage, no doubt. The Ink Gremlin is afoot!

klpeabody
April 6th, 2014, 06:36 PM
How disappointing. I will say, though, that you are lucky (and smart!) to have the backup bottles in reserve. I have been slowly using a generous sample from a pen friend. It is my favorite green too.

Tracy Lee
April 6th, 2014, 07:00 PM
:eek::(

Crazyorange
April 6th, 2014, 07:44 PM
Bummer. Sorry for your green loss.

Scrawler
April 6th, 2014, 08:04 PM
You should send it back to Montblanc for analysis and replacement.

kaisnowbird
April 7th, 2014, 08:20 AM
Wow! What would cause that?

I don't know. Normally I would suggest the possibility of contamination--perhaps an unclean pen was dipped into the bottle and traces of whatever other ink happened to be reactive to Racing Green and then created some sort of sludge monster. But I'm usually pretty careful about that, and even more so with these Racing Green bottles since it is now a discontinued, hard-to-find ink. Still, I suppose it's possible.

Other than that, I've no idea what might have caused it.

Oh no!! Not your Racing Green!
I wouldn't imagine the occasional ink residue mixing could over time produce this level of rotten horror. Perhaps some other germ or fungal things got involved.

So sorry to hear your ink loss.

mhosea
April 7th, 2014, 10:08 AM
Wow! What would cause that?

Microbes. Dyes are generally organic, and inks do contain preservatives to prevent microbes from flourishing in the ink, but they are not always effective for whatever reason. C'est la vie...literally.

orfew
April 7th, 2014, 02:07 PM
That is unfortunate. Racing Green is a great colour.

reprieve
April 7th, 2014, 06:43 PM
Thanks for empathizing, everyone! I knew I could count on my geeky friends to understand.

bleunuitguy
April 9th, 2014, 06:30 AM
So sorry for your loss. :( I love Racing Green - a pity it is no longer produced.

picautomaton
April 9th, 2014, 07:59 AM
Pity it went into sludge, sorry for your loss.
I had noticed some spots (mold probably) in my half empty bottle of racing green. I purchased some Phenol (carbolic acid) and diluted some crystals in water. I then introduced the Phenol into the ink and let is stand for a week or two. Then poured the ink through coffee filters into clean containers and thereby managed to save the ink.

migo984
April 9th, 2014, 09:26 AM
Has anyone done a direct comparison of the original Racing Green with the 'Racing Green' made by Diamine for missing-pen.de?

The Good Captain
April 10th, 2014, 01:13 AM
Has anyone done a direct comparison of the original Racing Green with the 'Racing Green' made by Diamine for missing-pen.de?
There are a few posts about this on FPN but I haven't got the time at the moment to search for them for you. Hopefully later, if someone hasn't beaten me to it!

migo984
April 10th, 2014, 01:44 AM
Has anyone done a direct comparison of the original Racing Green with the 'Racing Green' made by Diamine for missing-pen.de?
There are a few posts about this on FPN but I haven't got the time at the moment to search for them for you. Hopefully later, if someone hasn't beaten me to it!

I'll take a look myself. Thank you for the pointer.