(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 because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m a TWSBI super fan but when the TWSBI PIPE was announced, I thought to myself, “Really, TWSBI? Do we really need this?” and “Don’t all fountain pen addicts already have (at least) one blunt tip syringe?” But as a devoted fan and now, TPA writer, I had to find out for myself, for you and of course, for science!

No surprise that I had to get the new TWSBI SWIPE Salmon (don’t ask me why they all-caps the model names, lol), but I also snagged the new TWSBI PIPE. I had to see for myself whether it was worth the $10/9 EU price tag.

The TWSBI PIPE comes in a plastic sleeve with little orange nubs to protect the ends and a sheet of illustrated instructions.

The instructions say that the PIPE is suitable for TWSBI piston filling fountain pens, their piston converter and spring loaded converter (both of which are included with the TWSBI SWIPE (check out the review for more info,) as well as “Euro spec standard converter”, aka standard international converter. The PIPE doesn’t actually work in all of their piston fillers though; TWSBI’s website says it “fits our Diamond series fountain pens”, which would be the 580 (regular/AL/ALR) and 580 mini. The picture in the instructions shows a Diamond-style barrel but that may not be obvious to most folks though. It does not fit the Eco/Eco-T because the grip section is not removable. I also tried it with the TWSBI Classic and Precision - both of which wouldn’t keep the PIPE in place. And for the heck of it, I tried it with the TWSBI GO and there’s no place it would fit, and it also doesn’t work with the Vac 700R or the Vac Mini, but I didn’t expect it to work for any of those 3 pens.

The PIPE itself is around 4”/10cm long, making anything you attach to it very long and somewhat unwieldy. I was eager to ink up the new Salmon SWIPE with J Herbin Corail des Tropiques which I only have in a 10ml bottle, so it took a lot of concentration to make sure I didn’t knock the bottle over. I can only imagine how much easier it would be to knock over a sample vial (good thing I have a LEGO contraption for that). It could come in handy for inking from an Akkerman bottle if you lost the marble or something, but otherwise, it’s excessively long in my opinion. It would’ve been neat if the PIPE fit into syringes, but again, that would make it even longer. One bonus though is that its length makes it easier to keep your hands clean because there’s so much of the PIPE that doesn’t touch any ink. Keep in mind, I was doing this one handed because I was taking pictures; it is a little easier and a bit more stable with two hands.

So, does it actually work? Yes … mostly. I first tried it in the spring-loaded converter that comes installed in the Salmon SWIPE and I got a pretty good fill. It wasn’t filled to capacity, but a bit more than half. If I wanted to get a complete fill with the PIPE, I had to put the tip up, very carefully press down on the converter “button” to avoid shooting ink everywhere and expel some air. Because there’s still some ink in the PIPE, I did get a little ink on my fingers. While still depressing the button, I reinserted the tip into the bottle and released the button. I got a bit more ink from doing that.

TWSBI SWIPE — *Press the button before inserting into the ink bottle (especially if your bottle is full, mine is not.)*

I had essentially the same experience with the TWSBI piston converter - about half full the first time, then a few drops while expelling air and getting a little more the second time. The standard converter takes just a wee bit of effort to fully insert the PIPE as it fits very snugly onto the converter; this isn’t a bad thing, just something to note since it was much easier to fit on the TWSBI converters. I couldn’t get more ink with the standard international converter even after expelling ink. I suspect the little piston in that converter is struggling to pull up more ink with just a couple turns from a top-off.

Now to try it with the models that the PIPE was designed for – the Diamond models. Would it perform any better? Nope. Both the 580 regular size and Mini got about ½ to ⅔ full from the first fill and neither was able to draw up more ink in subsequent attempts. The PIPE did not fit securely in the Purple 580 AL that I picked but it fit just fine in the Mini AL. I tried 4 different 580s ranging from long discontinued models to ones I bought last year and the PIPE just wouldn’t stay in securely. That said, if I held the pen such that the tip of the PIPE pressed against the bottom of the ink bottle, it would mostly stay in place while I twisted the piston cap and the ink got drawn up. So it does work, just don’t hold the PIPE away from the bottom of the bottle or it might fall out and possibly make a mess. I was also able to get the PIPE to work in the TWSBI Aurora (and Draco) as well though it’s difficult to tell how full the fill was. I suspect it would be about the same as filling the 580 - approximately half full.

Cleaning the PIPE is pretty easy. You can put it under running water, which should clean it out pretty easily. You can also blast water through it with a bulb syringe; just be aware that you may get some backspray because it’s not a tight fit. The upper tip has a concave “lip” which can cause a little bit of spray if you squeeze that bulb syringe too hard. You may also get a little bit of ink in the lip where it connects to your converter/piston so you have to rinse that top bit too. While not difficult to clean, ironically, I found that the best tool to clean the PIPE was to use my trusty blunt-tip syringe.

Pros:

Fairly inexpensive
Sturdy metal construction and not likely to break
Works pretty well if you don’t already have a blunt-tip syringe
Easy to clean

Cons:

Length of PIPE makes it awkward to use.
Did not consistently fit the 580s
Doesn’t work in all pens
Very difficult to get a full fill

After all this, would I recommend the TWSBI PIPE? Only if you really had to have one cuz you’re a TWSBI nut like me and if you didn’t already have a blunt-tip syringe. And if you don’t have one, please do yourself a favor and get one because they are (1) cheaper, (2) allows you to get as full a fill as you’d like in pretty much any pen (including ones not supported by the PIPE) and (3) have other uses like cleaning out converters/cartridges, etc. In all honesty, I would have preferred to use the syringe to fill up all of these pens/converters instead of the PIPE. So while it breaks my TWSBI-loving heart not to be able to wholeheartedly recommend it, at least it’s not a total bust. If a completely full fill isn’t a requirement and you want to have a sturdy backup for a blunt-tip syringe (maybe for traveling…hmm…), I think the TWSBI PIPE would be an acceptable purchase. But if money is tight or full capacity fills are a priority, then save the $10 and get yourself a blunt-tip syringe in a couple different sizes instead.

(I bought my TWSBI PIPE (and Salmon SWIPE) from LemurInk during the LA Pen Show.)

TWSBI PIPE - Is this really necessary?

Pros:

Cons:

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