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Notebook Meeting 2025
Category: Pens & Stationery
Ensso BOLT Retractable Fountain Pen Review
I must have done some good deeds in a past life because the retractable fountain pen market is on the rise. This week we have the Ensso BOLT Retractable Fountain Pen: a Kickstarter project that launched back in January 2024 that secured full funding and completed fulfillment by the end of July. Not a bad turnaround for a Kickstarter. And sure, it 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.
Drehgriffel Nr. 1 – A Quick Look
On a recent trip to Texas I came across a library book store selling Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel gel pen refills. At the time I was looking for something, anything to replace the Schmidt P8126 cartridge I was stuck with. Well, after a slightly rocky start, the Leuchtturm1917 refill was writing surprisingly well for a gel refill in the Parker-style format. I decided upon my return to California that I would seek out the full pen experience to get a better picture of the product.
Baron Fig Squire Hex Review
The Squire Hex is Baron Fig's latest addition to the Squire pen series that includes the original Squire, several limited editions (including the hexagonal Oracle Squire,) and the Squire Click, many of which I had the opportunity to review in the past. The Hex features a six-sided aluminum barrel finished in either Black, Blue, or Green with a polished metal flat-head twist mechanism at the end. The pen comes equipped with a 0.6mm tip Schmidt P8126 rollerball refill, but I'll try not to hold that against it. I actually took a little side quest to find a more suitable refill for my needs, more on that next week. Check out the gallery at the end of this review for some Schmidt writing samples on various papers.
The Poor Penman 