Ink Review: Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year 2017: Smoky Quartz

This is the only brown ink that I regularly use. It performs well and, importantly for me, doesn't have a red tint to it. I bought it on a whim and I'm glad I did!

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Originally Posted by Eciton

This is the only brown ink that I regularly use. It performs well and, importantly for me, doesn't have a red tint to it. I bought it on a whim and I'm glad I did!

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Yes, it's quite unusual to have a good brown without red in it. :)

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Originally Posted by Chrissy

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Originally Posted by Eciton

This is the only brown ink that I regularly use. It performs well and, importantly for me, doesn't have a red tint to it. I bought it on a whim and I'm glad I did!

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Yes, it's quite unusual to have a good brown without red in it. :)

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Indeed. I'm kinda hoping that a bottle of SQ will be in the swag bag for the Pelikan Hubs in a few weeks; if it isn't, I'm going to pick up a bottle. For the meantime, I'm buying my first brown in a while: Kyo-iro "Stone Road of Gion". Ordered a bottle from the Andersons to be picked up at the show this week. I'm hoping it has similar qualities, but the color and drier nature will be (I think) a good match for the new pen with the music nib.

http://blog.andersonpens.com/wp-cont...eRoad_Main.jpg

Great review, as always. I just got some, and really like it, especially in a wet pen. I can see it looking a little pale in a dry pen, but its richness comes out with moister. I don't spend enough time with cows to judge a previous response, but that's ok, I guess. I also enjoy that tiny hint of metallic stone that you can sort of see through, or at least I can imagine that.

Well Jon you lucked out.
They did give away Smokey Quartz at the Pelikan Hub.

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Originally Posted by ac12

Well Jon you lucked out.
They did give away Smokey Quartz at the Pelikan Hub.

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Perfect setup: we had a nice local hang, about 20 people. One of my good friends and local pen peep, Mark, had signed up as hub master. Not only did he do a fine job on that level, he suprised everyone by having hand-made (in his shop) these great 4-pen stands. I found that the gifted SQ from Pelikan fits perfectly on top (two more spots under it for pens) so I'm all set! I actually picked up a bottle of Stone Road from the Andersons at the SF show and last night was able to comapare: very similar inks and pallette, with the Kyo-Iro winning marks for nice shading, and the Pelikan (possibly) better for readibility in correspondence. Hey, embarrassment of riches!

https://i.imgur.com/4tx0Mlkl.jpg

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Originally Posted by Marsilius

Great review, as always. I just got some, and really like it, especially in a wet pen. I can see it looking a little pale in a dry pen, but its richness comes out with moister. I don't spend enough time with cows to judge a previous response, but that's ok, I guess. I also enjoy that tiny hint of metallic stone that you can sort of see through, or at least I can imagine that.

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You're welcome :)

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Originally Posted by Jon Szanto

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Originally Posted by ac12

Well Jon you lucked out.
They did give away Smokey Quartz at the Pelikan Hub.

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Perfect setup: we had a nice local hang, about 20 people. One of my good friends and local pen peep, Mark, had signed up as hub master. Not only did he do a fine job on that level, he suprised everyone by having hand-made (in his shop) these great 4-pen stands. I found that the gifted SQ from Pelikan fits perfectly on top (two more spots under it for pens) so I'm all set! I actually picked up a bottle of Stone Road from the Andersons at the SF show and last night was able to comapare: very similar inks and pallette, with the Kyo-Iro winning marks for nice shading, and the Pelikan (possibly) better for readibility in correspondence. Hey, embarrassment of riches!

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I wish I could have been there for that. :(

Smoky Quartz is a great brown, a perfect match for Pelikan's Renaissance Brown M800. I expect to be using a lot of it, so I bought three bottles, and came away from the Hub with a fourth. Other nice surprises: Noodler's Chisholm Trail, the 2017 Dallas Pen Show ink. and Monteverde's Brown Sugar. Then there's always the old reliable Iroshizuku Yama guri. And to think I didn't like brown inks until recently.

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Originally Posted by jmccarty3

Smoky Quartz is a great brown, a perfect match for Pelikan's Renaissance Brown M800. I expect to be using a lot of it, so I bought three bottles, and came away from the Hub with a fourth. Other nice surprises: Noodler's Chisholm Trail, the 2017 Dallas Pen Show ink. and Monteverde's Brown Sugar. Then there's always the old reliable Iroshizuku Yama guri. And to think I didn't like brown inks until recently.

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I just saw *another* lovely looking brown today: a KWZ Limited Edition ink called "Confederation Brown" made for Scriptus 2017 up in Canada. Don't know how it will play for everyone but here's a link to the Facebook post with some nice photos.

Here is a sample of the Smoky Quartz using a Waterman's no.3 in Steel Quartz color.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...cba0fbcf_c.jpg

Quite a match, I'd say :)

I too love the BROWN INK. So recenly I bought this . It is a lovely ink. I have diamine Chocolate Brown. Waterman Absolute brown.Daimine BACH which is lovly too. and a Noodlers brown .Thank you for your review and it is a fantasticrewiew, speciallyI Love that photo.

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Originally Posted by Cyril

I too love the BROWN INK. So recenly I bought this . It is a lovely ink. I have diamine Chocolate Brown. Waterman Absolute brown.Daimine BACH which is lovly too. and a Noodlers brown .Thank you for your review and it is a fantasticrewiew, speciallyI Love that photo.

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You're welcome, and I see that you have some nice brown inks already. :)

I liked it enough to go back to my B&M and buy a second bottle.
I was way to lazy to drag out my brownish inks and compare. I just liked it.

When I finally run out of Lie de Thee, I'll get another bottle...ASAP, even though I haven't used it as much as I could have.

MB Toffee was another go to shading brown ink I went too. (Now a save ink, in it's too expensive to replace. It's a think three times to use type of ink. It has become what is @ as good, that is affordable. It will never be replaced with a new bottle of that ink.)

I didn't get Smokey Quartz as a replacement, in then four years ago, MB Toffee was still affordable at E-15 (I bought it at E-13 when it first came out). Now at E 23+ not an ink for me any more. 1/3 price jump in 4 years has nothing to do with inflation, but keeping up with the Jones, GvFC; C d'A and any common cheaper than GvFC and C d'A, Japanese ink...that costs E-22-25 over here in Germany. That GvFC or C d'A may have crawled under E-30 don't interest me at all.

E-20 is my limit.
Pelikan Edelstein will fall to that limit in a couple of years.

I did like Smokey Quartz enough to get two bottles. I really got to get back to using a F, M & B nib when testing an ink....at least dip and go. There is much one don't see just using one width of nib.
I do use 90g paper that allows shading when .... almost all the time now that I got away from buying regular copy paper.......My Rhoda is the new 90g, never had any 80g.
I would expect....a wet semi-flex nib to kill it's shading I got with a dryer regular flex.
But then you get line variation to play with.

I should stay away from ink subsections, in I get urge to ink a pen....and I need to stay at 7 or less pens to use up inks...............It's all to easy to get up to 17 pens inked.....and actually one don't use any ink with so many pens inked.

When I first purchased this ink, I complained about it's dark tone.
However, I hadn't matched the pen to the ink.
In all the pens after that day...it has performed better than any other "Brown" ink in my collection. Broad, Flex, Stub, Needlepoint...they all work with this ink.
I prefer, and regularly use, this ink and it will definitely be the first "Brown" in my collection that I finish a bottle of...

I bought a second bottle after the first filling.
Got to use some of that ink.....soon.

(I say that about lots of inks....)