Posts filed under Fountain Pens

Benu Pixie Fountain Pen Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram [@allthehobbies][0] because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

When I heard that Benu Pens was coming out with a pocket pen, I was 100% sign me up, unless it’s too blingy/colorful, you know, “too much”, and even if it is, I probably still want it. When I saw pictures of the pens, I was surprised at how many of the colorful ones I was tempted by! It was so difficult to pick that I had to ask Instagram which one I should get at the Baltimore Pen Show (too many people said “all of them”, lol).

The Benu Pixie, as you can guess from the name, is a very small pen. It comes with a cartridge but it cannot fit a standard international converter.

After much deliberation, I ended up picking the Aurora Gold Pixie with a Medium nib and inked it up with Vinta Heritage Brown Pamana (one of my fave brown inks cuz of the subtle green sheen). It wrote with no issues and is a smooth writer. It’s my first Medium nib Benu (I have Euphoria’s in Fine and Broad) and it gave me a medium line, as I expected. Benu’s have a reputation for working well with shimmer but I haven’t yet tried it with such a small nib/feed (maybe next inking!), so your mileage may vary.

*Benu Pixie, Aurora Gold, Medium, inked with Vinta Heritage Brown Pamana.*

It’s really hard to tell how small the Pixie is, so I decided to compare it with one of the more popular pocket pens, the Kaweco Sport - I happened to have an AL Sport inked up, which is pretty much the same size as the plastic Sport. I am also using a Col-O-Ring card for scale.

*Uncapped, you can see that the Pixie is quite a bit shorter than the Kaweco.*

I unscrewed the barrel so you can see that a regular standard international cartridge fits in the Pixie. The AL Sport has the Kaweco foldable converter (which is pretty flippin’ awesome, btw). The foldable converter fits just fine in the Pixie. No pics because it’s not that interesting. 🙂

I wanted to check if the regular Kaweco mini piston converter would fit in the Pixie and you can see that this is how far down the piston would be, once you screwed the barrel back on. Needless to say, that’s not a lot of ink.

I suppose one could eyedropper it if you silicone-greased the nib threads and barrel threads, but I didn’t try that.

*Unposted, the Pixie is barely usable for me, whereas I routinely use my Sports (and almost all other pens) unposted.*

*The Pixie can be posted (friction fit) and it is more comfortable to write with. The posted Kaweco feels too long by comparison, lol.*

*Capped pocket pens: Kaweco AL Sport, Benu Pixie, Schon Pocket 6, TWSBI Mini AL.*

*Uncapped - the Pixie and Schon are very similar in size, buth the former has a very small nib, while the Schon has a Jowo 6 nib.*

*Adding a couple “regular sized” pens to the mix - Platinum 3776 far left and Benu Euphoria (far right.)*

*Once you post the Pixie (as well as the other pocket pens), you can see that it is much more comparable in size to “regular” pens like the unposted 3776.*

You can also refer to the Pocket Pen Roundup article to see how the Pixie might compare to other pocket pens not shown above.

The Pixie comes in EF-Broad nibs and is available in the following colorways: Aqua Glow, Aurora Gold, Emerald Sea, Honey Bronze, Icy Violet, Plum Cream, Stardust Pink, Twilight Lagoon, Coffee Brown, Royal Blue, and Smoky Black (the last 3 are the most “solid” colors available). MSRP ranges from $59-$72 (the sparkly, colorful ones cost more). As of this writing, Benu has come out with 3-pen Pixie sets, in different colors than the ones above, for $186. They are offered in 3 different sets and are only available on the Benu website.

*A couple other Pixies (Royal Blue and Stardust Pink) headed to the Bossman for a giveaway! The Aurora Gold is MINE!*

(Disclaimer: Thank you to Luxury Brands of America for providing the Benu Pixie in Royal Blue and Stardust Pink for giveaway. I got the Aurora Gold at the BWI pen show.)

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Posted on April 25, 2025 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Benu Pen, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Kakimori Frost Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Minimal and lightweight, the Kakimori Frost Fountain Pen is an excellent, budget-friendly version of the classic cigar pen. It's just a little larger than pocket-sized, so it's comfortable to hold and travels well, and it has that elegant silhouette that's so popular with high-end pens like Namiki and Nakaya--but for a fraction of the cost.

The body of the Kakimori is made of polycarbonate plastic. It's very light, but feels sturdy. The finish has a frosted texture that's smooth but easy to grip. The body is fully transparent, though the frost effect softens the view of the converter inside the pen. In this dark Moss color, it looks like antique glass. It's also available in Purple, Red, and Clear.

Both of the pen's ends are rounded, and the cap unscrews from threads in the center. The pen has a long, narrow grip section that slopes gently toward the nib, and there's a fairly large step-up to the body of the pen from the threads. It doesn't interfere with writing, however, as it's set fairly far back from the grip. The cap does post, though I found the posting to be a little wobbly and insecure. The cap did fall off the back when writing once. However, the pen is long enough that it doesn't need to be posted for comfortable writing. There is no roll-stop, though, so the cap will have to be looked after, if it's not posted.

The pen takes a standard international cartridge or converter (it comes with a converter, but no cartridge). It looks like it should be usable as an eyedropper pen, but its specs say not to, so I'm not. For now. The steel nib that came with the pen performs wonderfully. I got a Fine nib, and it writes a nice fine line that flows well and has never skipped on me, despite a rather feverish writing session in a coffee shop where I wrote under the influence of too much caffeine. It really is a pleasure to write with, and it's lived in my notebook pocket for several weeks now.

One of the nicest things about this pen, though, is that it's reasonably priced. At $58 on JetPens, it's nicely in that "nice gift" (for yourself or someone you love) price range. It's not cheap, but it's not giving the same sticker shock that most fountain pens do these days. And for how it feels and writes, I'd say it's underpriced. It comes in a simple, triangular cardboard box with no frills, which is my personal preference, so they also get bonus points for the eco-friendly packaging.

The only beef I have with this pen is that it's going to force me to make some tough decisions as I evaluate my pen collection. Because I only need so many cigar-shaped plastic pens. And this one? It writes better than several of my fancy, collectible, expensive ones. But I don't have to make that tough decision today. Today, I'm taking this pen to a cafe to write.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on April 3, 2025 by Sarah Read and filed under Kakimori, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

ensso Bolt Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The idea of a retractable fountain pen is something of a white whale. There are very few options, and it seems every one of these options comes with some serious trade-offs. For something that seems like such a big design challenge, that doesn't stop people from trying. It's also not often that we see new options come onto the scene in this category, so that's why I'm excited to talk about the Bolt from ensso.

On the outside, the Bolt looks like another machined metal pen that uses a simple bolt mechanism to control the retractable refill. The all titanium body is lightweight and feels great in the hand, but it's really surprising to extend the refill and see a slim fountain pen nib emerge from the end of the cone.

At just 5.16 inches (13.2 cm), the Bolt is a really comfortable size both in hand and when storing. The barrel diameter is fairly slim at just 3/8" (9.5mm), similar to most gel pen barrels and a little slimmer than most fountain pens.

In most cases, there are two Achilles heels when designing a retractable fountain pen: clip placement and sealing the nib when not in use. There are other challenges when designing a pen like this, but these two seem to be obvious factors with the products we have access to today. The way we hold a pen when writing is unique to each individual. For a pen like the Pilot Vanishing Point or Decimo, the clip placement might make the pen uncomfortable for many people. If you can't accommodate the clip being part of your grip pattern, then it just doesn't work for you.

With the Bolt, the clip is an optional accessory that installs on the back of the pen barrel. The unit I have for testing didn't come with the clip, but it's easy to install by using a coin to remove the plain end and screw on the clip end. When using the clip to store the pen upright, this does face the nib toward the ground. I thought that might be an issue since gravity and motion might cause some ink to leak out and stain whatever it's clipped to.

I tried this out by simply carrying the pen around in a pocket with the point faced down. In my testing with normal walking, no ink escaped from the pen, and the nib was clean when I got it out to write. My assumption is that some leakage could still occur depending on the environment and the level of movement you put the pen through. I would certainly be careful about flying with this pen due to the large air pressure change. Either empty the pen before flying or isolate it in a bag to prevent some inky mishaps in your luggage. Overall, though, I really appreciate the clip placement on the Bolt, and I like the optional nature of the clip even more. Even though I don't have a clip to try out, I still think I prefer this pen sans clip. It's more sleek and the bolt mechanism acts as a great stopper to keep the pen from rolling around on flat surfaces when not in use.

Similarly, a fountain pen isn't much use if the tip dries out after a couple of hours while retracted due to a bad seal that lets too much moisture leave the nib and feed. This seems to be the really tricky bit to design and manufacture at scale. Pilot seems to have a good solution, as does Platinum.

With the Bolt, I've been incredibly impressed by how well their seal design works. According to their webpage, they spent over a year developing and testing this system, and it's really simple in practice. It's just a small piece of silicone that has a couple of slits that form an X pattern that allow the nib to pass through, but come back together to form a seal over the nib when it's retracted. I've left this pen alone for over a month and come back to use it only to find that it writes almost immediately. Very nice. Also, ensso includes two extra silicone seals with the pen in case the original one (or second) fails. Time will tell how these hold up.

One of the concerns I had when looking at this silicone sleeve mechanism is that the contact with the nib and the silicone might cause excessive ink creep on the nib. By ink creep, I mean how ink tends to leak a tiny bit around the slit on the top side of the nib. And if you try to use a paper towel to clean up a tiny dot of ink, you end up dragging a lot more ink onto the nib due to the capillary action of the towel when it hits the slit. I'm happy to report that this just isn't an issue with the Bolt. There hasn't been any ink creep on this nib at all.

And while talking about the nib, let's just take a minute to admire this custom nib unit that ensso designed. It's reminiscent of the nib units you see in Pilot's offerings, but this one uses a standard international cartridge converter to supply ink. The actual nib and feed are super small — they're like miniatures.

I've really enjoyed using the Bolt over the past couple months. It's a solid performer that has really impressed me and removed any doubts I had about the performance of the retractable nib design. Operating the bolt mechanism is really easy to do one handed, and I really like the amount of resistance the spring provides. I also love how the nib retracts a bit slower than you expect due to the drag of the silicone on the nib unit. It's similar to watching a soft-close drawer finish closing. Satisfying.

The only nitpick I have for this pen is about the feel of the bolt mechanism. It works well, but I don't love the metal-on-metal feel/sound when operating it. This is likely unavoidable since all the parts are metal, but I wonder if a small synthetic bushing would help smooth out the feel and get rid of the minor nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of metal grinding against metal. Or maybe a little dab of carefully applied silicone grease would alleviate that problem. Either way, it's a minor gripe on an otherwise stellar pen.

The Bolt is only available in the titanium finish, but you have an option of EF, F, or M nibs (and you can pick up several), along with the option of a clip. The clip is an additional $25 on top of the standard $120 price for the pen. You can pre-order the pen now and expect delivery later this month. If you like retractable fountain pens and like the aesthetic of this pen, you should go for it. It's a solid performer at a great price, and it will hold up to years of use thanks to the titanium material and the extra silicone seals that ensso provide with the pen.

(Brad purchased this pen via the enso Bolt Kickstarter campaign.)

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