Thursday Drops: More Pilot Custom 823 Fountain Pens (Including Clear), and Introducing the Pilot E95s

While they arrived in the U.S. earlier this summer, I had to wait until the new shop was fully set up before I could bring in additional Pilot inventory, including the new Custom 823 fountain pen in Clear acrylic. Previously available only in Japan, U.S. consumers now have a third option in addition to the Amber and Smoke. We’ve also added the Pilot E95s (formerly known as the “Elite”) which is Pilot’s current “pocket” fountain pen offering that features an inlaid 14k nib.

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Kakimori Colour Liners are fineliner pens that you can fill with your favorite fountain pen inks!

Per a post from earlier this week, we now carry both Kakimori and Object Index products from Japan, including Kakimori’s excellent dip nibs and holders, as well as the range of pens, pencils, and office and desk accessories from sibling brand Object Index. Be sure to check out our initial review of the Cedar Pocket Pen, which features a similar needle-tip ballpoint refill as the store favorite Mark’style Tous les Jours ballpoints.

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized reseller of brands sold. If you haven’t heard, we now have a physical shop in Nashville, Tennessee! For open hours, be sure to check out this page here, which will be kept up-to-date.

1. Pilot Custom 823 Now Available in Clear! In recent years Pilot has focused on expanding their North American offerings with exclusives and colors previously only available in Japan. The most recent release has been the Clear 823 demonstrator, which joins the Amber and Smoke in the permanent lineup.

2. Pilot E95s Fountain Pen. This modern take on the integrated nib pocket pen features vintage style design and portable size. Arguably the closest thing you can find to the Pilot Myu on the market today. Currently available in classic black, with the burgundy/ivory on backorder.

3. Pilot Custom 74. Along with the 14k nib Lamy Studio, I consider the Pilot Custom 74 one of the better deals for a gold nib pen, coming in at sub-$200. These clear demonstrators come in a wide range of jewel-like colors.

4. Pilot Iroshizuku Inks. We’re fully restocked on Pilot Iroshizuku Inks in both bottles and cartridges, including favorite colors such as Kon Peki, Tsuki-yo, Sui-Gyoku and more.

5. Object Index Pens, Pencils, and Desk Accessories. Kakimori sibling brand Object Index offers a curated selection of stationery products from select Japanese manufacturers, all designed to match a single aesthetic. Grey, yellow, and natural wood are some of my favorite colors across the stationery spectrum, so this new line immediately jumped out at me as something I would be interested in.

6. Kakimori Brass Nibs and Nibholders. A favorite for lettering, calligraphy, drawing, and ink sampling, Kakimori’s metal dip nibs are now available in an antique brass finish, in addition to standard brass and stainless steel versions. Wood and metal nibholders are also back in stock.

7. Kakimori Hardcover Notebooks. Kakimori’s gorgeous casebound hardcover notebooks are back in stock, with several new patterns and cover styles developed in collaboration with select designers.

8. Tom’s Studio One-Dip Brass and Stainless Steel Nibs. A slightly different take on the metal dip nib than the Kakimori version, the “one-dip” nib borrows from vintage ruling and lettering pens, allowing you to adjust inkflow and line width using a dial on the side of the nib. Read more about how these work here. Note that these are not compatible with Kakimori nib holders, but rather will fit standard metal “clutch” calligraphy straight pens.

9. Lamy AL-Star Autumn Pink and Sage Green Pens and Pencils. Lamy’s latest AL-Star releases complement their earlier “Fiery” and “Aquatic” releases, with two new black-trimmed models. Available in fountain pen, rollerball, ballpoint, and .5mm mechanical pencil formats.

10. Lamy Studio Royal Red Matte and Piano Red Fountain Pens. Lamy’s 2024 Studio release features two deep red finishes: one in the lacquered “Piano Red”, paired with their excellent 14k gold nib, and the other in a matte red finish that I’ve been waiting years for them to re-release. I hope these stick around for a while.

Pen Review: Object Index Cedar Pocket Pen

If today’s pen looks somewhat familiar, it’s because Object Index has released a pocket-sized take on the Mark’style Tous Les Jours Needle-tip ballpoint, and both feature different versions of the same excellent low-viscosity ballpoint refill. I love these pens because (1) they write a very fine .5mm line that dries almost instantly, with zero smearing; and (2) the hexagonal cedar barrels convincingly imitate the feel of a woodcase pencil.

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Though “pocket-sized,” the pen is still long enough to feel balanced - sort of like when woodcase pencils reach that “perfect” length, having been sharpened several times.

Object Index is a Kakimori “sibling brand” that recently arrived in the shop. The Object Index line includes pens, pencils, and various office and desk accessories, all with a shared minimalist design and complementary colors that include grey, yellow, and natural wood tones. Their take on these “woodcase pens” is a bit more understated than the Mark’s version, with minimal branding and a brushed metal nose cone and knock. The knock feels slightly upgraded on the Cedar Pocket Pen, with more resistance and a firmer feel.

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The signature needle tip of the Ohto refill.

While marketed as a “pocket pen,” I probably won’t be carrying this one in my actual pants pocket, as it’s wood and therefore more subject to damage than a heavier duty metal pen. That said, it’s quite slim, and will fit easily into the pen holders integrated into pocket notebook covers, Plotters, and more, which makes it portable. I understand that this particular pen is also designed to fit into a notepad made by Object Index, which I may try to get in the future.

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Each pen ships with two extra refills, in addition to the one in the barrel.

These needle-tip ballpoints use refills made by Ohto, another Japanese company that makes some of the best needle-tip ballpoint and gel refills around. As I mentioned, it uses a low-viscosity ink that behaves similar to a Uniball Jetstream. Each pen comes as part of a set, which includes three refills (one in the pen, two extra in the package) and is priced at $15 and available in three colors: Grey (shown here), as well as Yellow and Natural. We also have additional refills for this pen available once you use up the three included in the pack (though this will likely take you a VERY long time). For everyday writing, these pens can’t be beat, and many thanks to Kakimori for including an extra in my shipment so that I could review it and test it out myself.

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.5mm Needle-tip writing sample on Midori MD Memo Block paper.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program.

New Arrivals: Kakimori and Object Index!

Wow, that weekend was a blur! Many thanks to everyone who stopped by the shop this weekend to hang out. If you were there, you may have noticed that I spent much of my time photographing and listing all of these new arrivals from Kakimori and its sibling brand, Object Index, including several new Kakimori notebooks, the latest Kakimori brass nibs (including the “antique” finish), nibholders, and much of the Object Index range of pens and markers, pencils, and desk accessories.

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The Kakimori brass nibs are now available in a new “Antique Brass” finish! Kakimori nibholders are also available.

For those unfamiliar with Object Index, they are a Kakimori “sibling brand” (or sub-brand, whatever your preferred term), which focuses on everyday stationery with a minimalist aesthetic. I’ve always loved parallel-style highlighters, which feature a chunky design and two colors with relatively precise tips. The Object Index versions are great, and the Modular Marker is a grown-up take on something I haven’t seen since grade school. Kakimori was kind enough to send me sample of most of the line, which I’ll be exploring in greater detail in the coming weeks.

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized seller of Kakimori and Object Index. Please check out this page for details on our new physical shop, including public hours.

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These Are Heady Times for Fineliner Fans: Kakimori Colour Liners

I’ve been very anxious to get my hands on a recent shipment from Kakimori. Not only did we receive more of the brass, stainless, and the new antique brass Kakimori metal nibs, but I was most excited about the Kakimori Colour Liners, which are yet another fillable fineliner option!

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The wicking refill is very similar to that used by Tom's Studio.

I’ve previously written about the Tom’s Studio Lumos, a series of refillable fineliner pens with replaceable/interchangeable tips and absorbent ink reservoirs. Pens like these have been something of a godsend for me, since I’ve always loved the feel of writing with a felt tip/fineliner pen but don’t like being limited by the stock ink colors. Here, you can load up the absorbent cotton “wick” with the fountain pen ink of your choice, paired with your favorite tip style, to create the fineliner pen you’ve always wanted but have never been able to find at a big box store.

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To fill, you place the reservoir in a bottle of ink and allow it to saturate using capillary action. 

While the Kakimori Colour Liners don’t have as many tip options as the Tom’s Studio Lumos, and may not be “refillable” since the tip can’t easily be removed and the refill can’t easily be accessed after the pen is filled, at only $7 they are definitely the most cost-effective option if you’d like to create a custom set of fineliners and markers to have at the ready, or if you’d like to create a set containing all of your favorite inks so that you have them in a non-fountain pen format for travel, etc. Currently, these pens come in .3mm, .5mm, brush, and chisel-marker tips.

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From left, marker tip, brush tip, .3mm, and .5mm writing tips, all paired with four of my favorite Laban Greek Mythology Inks.

To fill the Kakimori Colour Liner pens, you dip the wick into a bottle of fountain pen ink and simply watch it change color (as shown above). Once the reservoir is sufficiently saturated, insert it into the barrel of the pen and fit the barrel plug into the bottom, which will push the reservoir all the way to the base of the pen nib and allow the ink to saturate the tip. Note that Kakimori doesn’t guarantee that you will be able to remove the barrel plug once it’s been inserted. Once the reservoir runs dry, you may not be able to refill the pen, though I am going to try and I’m sure some people have figured out how to do it. That said, the tip may actually wear out before you can use up the ink. These are large reservoirs that hold a LOT of ink, and fineliners don’t use nearly as much ink as fountain pens to write so they tend to last a long time. You should get a lot of mileage out of one of these pens as long as you use reasonable writing pressure and don’t leave it uncapped.

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The four writing tips and refills, uninked. From left, Marker, Brush, .5mm, and .3mm.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I will guarantee you this: if a company makes a customizable or refillable fineliner, I will buy it for myself and almost certainly stock it for the store. I love these things and consider them to be in the category of “stationery products I’ve always wanted but never thought would actually exist.” If you’re curious about these sorts of pens, but don’t want to take the plunge on one of the fully refillable, interchangeable-tip fineliners like the Tom’s Studio Lumos, the Kakimori Colour Liners are an easy and relatively inexpensive way to experiment. These are available in the shop as of this morning and priced at $7 per pen. I’ve not experimented extensively with inks, but I would imagine these would work well with just about any ink except shimmer inks, due to the size of the particles.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. In addition to the Colour Liners, we stock Kakimori dip pens and nib holders, as well as clothbound notebooks.

My Personal Ranking of the 2024 Lamy Safaris and AL-Stars

This year, Lamy released not one, but two rounds of special edition Safari and AL-Star pens. Because 2024 marked my first full year as a Lamy retailer carrying all of the special editions (plus now with a dedicated space to have them all easily accessible for comparison), I thought it might be fun to take a look at all of the fountain pens together and discuss my favorites from what seems like an especially busy year for Lamy.

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From left: Pink Cliff, Violet Blackberry, Piña Colada, and Cherry Blossom

Ranking My Favorite 2024 Lamy Safaris

The 2024 Lamy Safari releases kicked off with “Pink Cliff” and “Violet Blackberry” back in February. Featuring dark navy and violet barrels paired with pink and purple grip sections, these two pens marked something of a departure from the recent trend of more traditional releases. While I found the contrast refreshing, I’m sure it wasn’t for everyone. The more recent “Piña Colada” and “Cherry Blossom” hit stores in June, and once again featured two-toned pens but with a completely different look. I’d rank them as follows, in terms of personal preference:

1. Piña Colada. I love yellow pens, feel the color is drastically underutilized across the pen industry, and let it be known that I will buy any Safari with a yellow clip.

2. Pink Cliff. A blue-grey matte barrel offset with an eye-searing pink section? Somehow it works. The matte texture lifts this one over Violet Blackberry for me.

3. Violet Blackberry. Two different shades of purple makes for a great looking Safari, but if given the choice, I’m always going with matte texture over gloss.

4. Cherry Blossom. A really nice looking pink pen, and I definitely dig the red clip, but this shade of cherry blossom pink isn’t really my thing aesthetically. The new “Autumn Pink” AL-Star, on the other hand….

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Four AL-Star fountain pens from left: Fiery, Aquatic, Autumn Pink, and Sage Green.

Ranking My Favorite 2024 Lamy AL-Stars

1. Sage Green. This one’s simply beautiful. I love the transparent green section and the tone of the barrel goes well with the black clip and nib. There’s not much more to say here other than this pen looks really good.

2. Aquatic. Same as above. While the fountain pen is shown here for demonstrative purposes, I’ve been using the .5mm Aquatic AL-Star mechanical pencil, as I’ve tried to explore different formats of popular models that I’d previously only used as fountain pens.

3. Autumn Pink. I have a thing for muted pastel shades, and while the Sage Green is definitely my favorite, Autumn Pink is a somewhat unique take on a color (pink) that’s hard to pull off. I expect both of these particular AL-Star pens to do well.

4. Fiery. What? This is T.G.S. and the red pen with the black clip comes in last place? First of all, it’s really not last place since this was a darn good batch of AL-Stars. For me it comes down to the red being slightly too pink for my personal preference, and the muted pink of “Autumn Pink” being slightly more interesting to look at. But again, these are all great looking pens.

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The two winners, at least for me.

So What Are My Personal 2024 Favorites overall?

If I had to pick two pens from the 2024 releases, I would choose the Piña Colada Safari and the Sage Green AL-Star. I definitely felt a bit of a disconnect between the Pink Cliff/Violet Blackberry and Piña Colada/Cherry Blossom Safari releases - there really wasn’t a consistent theme other than all four pens feature contrasting sections and barrels - but at the end of the day the yellow on the Piña Colada pushed it over the top. Sage Green takes first place out of the AL-Star releases, as I really love this color. (Tom’s Studio uses a similar “Sage” aluminum in both their fountain pens and the Lumos series.) I had a more difficult time choosing, however, as I enjoyed most of this year’s AL-Star colors.

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Takeaways and Where to Buy

Every year I look forward to Lamy’s announcement of their special editions, and while I’m probably on “Team Safari” in terms of which pen shape/model I prefer to use on a regular basis, it’s close, and this time the AL-Star won the design battle. After years of different blue tones and very light neutral colors, Lamy built on the success of Lilac and Petrol and took the AL-Star in a different direction with brighter shades that work well in brushed aluminum. The matching clear sections and black trim look sharp, and I’ll likely choose one of each color to keep in a different format (i.e., a Sage Green fountain pen, Aquatic mechanical pencil, Fiery rollerball, and Autumn Pink ballpoint). Viewing the Fiery and Aquatic releases alongside Sage and Autumn Pink also makes me consider them differently, as I personally think they look better as part of a four-pen set than as a somewhat staid red/blue release.

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We have all of the Lamy Safaris and AL-Star’s in stock at our shop, along with curated selections from Lamy’s regular lineup. I was also pleased to see that Lamy decided to release a mechanical pencil in both the Sage Green and Autumn Pink this time around. You can check them out online or in person, as our physical store will be open this weekend!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges from the T.G.S. Patreon Program.