Ensso BOLT Retractable Fountain Pen Review

I must have done some good deeds in a past life because the retractable fountain pen market booming! This week we have the Ensso BOLT Retractable Fountain Pen. This was a Kickstarter project that launched back in January 2024 that completed fulfillment by the end of July. Not a bad turnaround for a project like this. And sure, the campaign was successful on paper, but how is the pen on paper? Well I’ve been using the pen for a couple months at this point, and I’ve got opinions. Let’s take a look at the Ensso BOLT.

The Pen

The Ensso BOLT is a machined titanium pen with a simple cog-styled j-hook bolt mechanism. Clip-less by design, the BOLT has a smooth barrel with a flat finial and short conical tip. The finial plug unscrews to make way for the optional pocket clip attachment. This section is keyed with a slot wide enough to unscrew with an American dime. Or, I suppose, a screwdriver. The nose cone unscrews into two separate pieces that house the small silicone nib seal mechanism. Uncomplicated, but effective. The BOLT measures in at just over 5 inches in length, making it a great, pocket-able, carry-around style pen.

Inside the pen is where things get interesting. Rather than white-label an existing nib carriage, or tweak an existing design, Ensso created an impressively-simple solution. The mechanism inside the BOLT is similar to those found in basic click pens. The nib unit and converter come together to form one long piece that moves inside the barrel. A spring up front keeps reverse pressure on the unit, and the bolt mechanism in the back pushes it forward. When it’s time for a cleaning the whole pen comes apart with threaded components, nothing glued or pinned in place.

The Experience

Writing with the Ensso BOLT is a lot like writing with any other machined titanium bolt-action pen. The pen has a lighter feel, but still feels substantial in the hand or pocket. The bolt mechanism is a little sticky when the nib passes through the seal. I found the sensation of activating the pen a little off-putting at first. It has either broken-in with use, or I have become accustomed to the slight feeling of resistance.

The nib itself is not unique to the BOLT. In fact, we’ve seen it recently on another retractable fountain pen that was not up to my personal standards. Presumably, the performance of the Ensso BOLT’s nib can be attributed to its unique sealing mechanism. Or perhaps it is simply a better-tuned nib unit. The medium nib writes great out of the box, with moderate ink flow and width on par with Western mediums. In the time I have spent with the BOLT I have tested a variety of ink shades and brands. Throughout those tests I experienced zero hard starts and zero dry out. You don’t even have to take my word for it. Internet pen person Doodlebud performed some actual scientific experiments with other pens in the category.

Never being satisfied with things as they are, I brought my BOLT to the San Francisco Pen Show for a little wheel-time. I brought it to the capable hands of Damien from All In The Nib. Given the round, narrow shape of the pen, I opted for an oblique grind that should help keep a positive contact surface if/when the pen turns in my grip. Ultimately I intend to order an extra-fine nib unit for the BOLT, but Damian’s work is absolutely stellar. The Oblique grind adds subtle line variation while still being easily accessible for regular, every-day writing.

Pros & Cons

The Ensso BOLT is an excellent example of a brand staying faithful to a design concept, and executing on their vision. The pen performs very well as a fountain pen, and exceptionally-well for a retractable one. It writes great, it’s easy to use, and it’s very fairly priced at just $120 USD. But nobody’s perfect, and there are a few areas where I think the Ensso BOLT fell short of perfect. One such area is the optional clip unit. The pen was originally envisioned as a clipless device, and an addon was devised after some feedback from the community. While the clip unit is easy to attach to the pen, it does cause a little friction along the barrel. This has resulted in some slight scratching on the barrel of the pen. Minor, but noticeable. Also on the backend, the cog-style bolt lever is a little sharp around the edges. There are some precise right-angles on that piece.

Moving to the front end, the nose cone can be a bit of a pain to open up. The cone itself is in two pieces: one holds the silicone seal, the other attaches to the barrel. When unscrewing the nose cone, it is quite simple to remove only the first half. This means you have to try to grip the second half by the threads to access the nib unit directly. Carving out two flat sides (like we’ve seen on some vac-filling pens) might be a fix, but I’m no engineer. Additionally, the act of twisting on the nose cone causes some rotation in the nib unit itself. This makes it difficult to get the nib to line up with the bolt for easy indexing.

The last (and probably least) of my concerns is the general inkiness of the nib upon extrusion. I am unsure if there is ink pooling in the nose cone, or if the act of passing through the silicone seal causes a little bit of ink to wipe off of the feed. Whatever the case, whenever the nib pokes through the front, it always comes out a little messy.

At The End Of The Day

Folks, I’m having a great time using the BOLT. I backed the Kickstarter out of reflex in my search for the next great retractable fountain pen, and I think Ensso really has something here. My own complaints aside, you get a whole lotta pen for the sticker price. I’m very pleased to have this one in my collection.

Check out the BOLT as well as Ensso’s other great writing instruments at Ensso.com.

Disclaimer: The subject of this review was purchased by the author at a slight backer’s discount via Kickstarter campaign. All opinions stated are my own.