Benu Euphoria

The Benu Euphoria Bourbon fountain pen: early thoughts 7th blogiversary post.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 8 Comments

In my recent post about my pen show haul, I mentioned my Benu Euphoria Bourbon and the fact that it deserved a post of its own. Well, here it is.

I first laid eyes on this pen at the London Pen Show in October 2023, on Derek Bambrough’s Stonecott Fine Writing table. The pen just calls to be picked up and looked at. Also on the same table were inks from Diamine’s Shimmering Fountain Pen Inks range, including Caramel Sparkle and it did not take me long to imagine them together.

The Benu Euphoria, Bourbon edition.

All of this surprised me, because I was not previously drawn to fountain pens that are sparkly, nor had I any urge to use glittering inks. I thought that I would have no use for them and that they would clog my pens. As recently as 31 July 2023 in my post on the 21 plus 5 pen questions, I had been dismissive of sparkly pens and inks, although mentioning that if I were to buy a sparkly pen, it would be a Benu Euphoria. This name-dropping suggested a knowledge of sparkly pens which was a little disingenuous, as I had been shown a Benu only the day before, at a pen club meet.

I later read on Cult Pens’ site, that Benu was created in 2016 and that the Euphoria range celebrates life and things that bring us joy. This particular model celebrates Bourbon, a whisky (or whiskey in the USA) distilled from maize and rye and named, according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, after Bourbon County in Kentucky where it was first made. I have not found any suggestion that the pen celebrates the Bourbon chocolate biscuit, named after the French or Spanish House of Bourbon. Details of this pen range as well as some special editions and the other lines can be seen at http://www.benupen.com.

Ten facets on the cap and barrel.

Handling this pen at the pen show, the material did not suggest whiskey to me, but rather a woodland carpeted with sun-lit autumn leaves. As you turn the pen in the hand, areas of red appear, like pools of blood at a crime scene. Not exactly a joyful image I agree, and I do not mean to spoil the pen for anyone, but I thought of Armenia and its troubled history. Benu pens are hand-made in Yerevan, Armenia. I found the pen both poignant and beautiful and, having some Armenian ancestry myself, of course I had to buy it. And a bottle of Caramel Sparkle.

Diamine’s Caramel Sparkle, shimmering ink.

The pen appears to be made of a transparent acrylic, generously infused with fragments of glitter which catch the light and give the pen its richly golden-brown depth, with areas of red in the cap and the barrel. It was really the patches of red that sold it for me. The grip section and cap threads are black, as is the broad cap band, on which the name BENU appears. The pen is faceted (although not the grip section) with ten polished sides. The facets of the cap align perfectly with those of the barrel, which is both impressive and very pleasing.

There is no separate finial at either end, just slightly convex or domed acrylic ends which, like the rest of the pen, are beautifully smooth and polished.

The nib is a number 6 sized Schmidt, in stainless steel. Mine is a Broad, marked with an ornate “B” in the centre of the imprint. It writes beautifully smooth and wet but not too wet. The pocket clip is also stainless steel and sprung, to lift when the top end is squeezed, to enable the clip to slide easily over a pocket.

Faceted barrel. Broad nib writing sample.

Uncapped, the pen is a very good length, around 137mm, being well above my preferred minimum of 130mm. The grip area is also of a good length offering plenty of space for different grips. If, like me, you grip the pen quite high up, then you may find your thumb resting on the cap threads but these are heavy duty and not sharp. Further up the section, there is a step where the coloured material begins which allows the cap to be more flush with the barrel, although not completely. The cap takes about two and half rotations to remove although I had not even noticed this before now. The cap can also be posted although the pen becomes ridiculously long and back-weighted.

The pen came with a Schmidt converter but can also take standard international cartridges and could be eye-droppered, although I have not tried.

Schmidt nib and converter too.

Naturally, I was eager to try out the pen and also the Caramel Sparkle ink. I was delighted with both! The ink makes for an excellent combination with the Bourbon. The ink is a joy in itself. Gold glitter settles at the bottom of the bottle like sediment in a wine and the bottle needs shaking before filling the pen. Then it is entertaining just to watch the glittery ink swirling in the bottle. At our recent pen club meet, the ink drew much interest and I gave samples to five of our group.

I have not had any trouble with ink clogging the pen or causing hard starts. I give the pen a little shake before writing to wake up the glitter although I am not sure that this is necessary. The ink is a lovely golden brown and dries with a gold sheen. It is marvellous to watch fresh ink on paper via an illuminated loupe, as the tiny glitter particles swim around like pond life, until the ink dries and the sheen appears.

Woooh, sheeny!

I am very glad to have found this pen and to have made the purchase. Coincidentally, like Benu, this blog also started in 2016. As I write this, on 5 November, it is the seventh blogiversary. I take this opportunity to thank everyone for reading, liking and commenting over the years. I love the interaction that the blog brings, in this wonderful, global community. Special thanks also to those who have been kind enough often to include my blog in their own weekly lists of links, notably The Gentleman Stationer in his Sunday Reading posts, the Pen Addict in Sunday’s Misfill posts and The Well-Appointed Desk in their Link-Love posts. Recognition from these far larger blogs across the pond, is very gratifying.

Today’s post is my 248th of this blog. The blog has drawn 546,000 views to date and the number of new subscribers has roughly kept pace with the number of posts. Am I losing interest in the pen hobby, after seven years? Not at all. As my latest venture into sparkling pens and inks shows, I am still discovering new things.

When pen, ink – and facets – are perfectly aligned.

The London Autumn Pen Show, 2023: my haul.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 7 Comments

Here in London, our autumn Pen Show has just taken place on Sunday 8 October, at the Novotel, Hammersmith.

I had been eagerly looking forward to this event as always. The last two shows had set me on a path of seeking out vintage Parker fountain pens. I had bought several more on eBay, in the arid months between shows. I did not have much specifically in mind to look for this time, other than to find a cap jewel for my Parker 51, which I had bought on eBay without one.

The show was well attended. There were more vendor tables than in March although the venue provided ample space without feeling crowded. I cannot list everyone but for many great photos and videos from the day, head over to John Foye on Instagram, @stjohnspens.

Claire and Derek sporting pink hair at Stonecott Fine Writing.

It was wonderful to see and chat to numerous friends from the pen community throughout the day. My fellow blogger Gary dapprman had his own table, aiming to release some pens from his collection back into the wild. It was good to see Jon of pensharing recruiting plenty of new members for his unique service for the community. I enjoyed chatting to many vendors, including John Hall, John Foye and Kirit Dal, and the lady from Pen Friends whose name I did not catch.

Kirit Dal’s Aurora table is always enticing.

My first purchase of the day was at Mark Catley’s Vintage Fountain Pens table, where I found the cap jewel that I wanted. My Parker 51 is now complete.

For vintage Parkers, there were hundreds for sale in the room. At Graham Jasper’s Pen Estates tables, I handled a wonderful, mint condition Parker 51 in a sumptuous Forest Green, but this was one that got away.

I was keen to take a look at some Parker 61 pens, particularly an early model with the ingenious capillary filling system, which I wrote about in my recent post. After looking at a few tables, I found a tray of Parker 61s, and unlike on eBay, had the luxury of inspecting them and dip-testing them in Quink blue black. I decided on a gorgeous classic, black model with a rolled gold cap and deliciously smooth nib.

My newest, but oldest Parker 61.
The Teflon-coated, capillary filler, or “cell.”

I caught up with my friend So-Jin, who mentioned that I had been rather negative about sheening and glitter inks in my blog post, on the 21 Pen Questions that did the rounds a few months ago. Having written that such inks were not my thing, it was strange that within minutes after our conversation, I found myself at Stonecott Fine Writing Supplies’ table, drawn to a very glittery Benu Euphoria Bourbon in gold and brown with tantalising patches of crimson. As I turned the pen in my hands, I envisaged filling this pen with Diamine’s Caramel Sparkle, available at the same table. I chatted with @claire.scribbleswithpens who was assisting Derek for a while. I did not purchase the pen immediately, but the temptation proved too much for me and I returned to buy it, along with a bottle of Caramel Sparkle soon after. Benu are based in Yerevan, Armenia, from whence my distant ancestors came.

Benu Euphoria Bourbon.

My final pen purchase of the day, was a Jinhao 82 in a pretty pastel jade green. I already have one in Caribbean Sea Blue with a fine nib and am very impressed with it. This pale green version has a medium nib and makes a great, inexpensive, EDC pocket pen.

Jinhao 82 in a particularly lovely, Jade green.

Finally, having largely resisted the many notebooks available, I weakened at the sight of an Endless Recorder A5 journal with Tomoe River at Louise’s table. Newer versions now come with Regalia paper. TR paper may sadly become extinct.

Endless Recorder, A5 journal.

Back home I felt that I had, broadly speaking, heeded my wife’s instructions not to go mad and not to stay too long. I enjoyed inking the Benu (which deserves its own post later) and the Jinhao 82, which I paired with Pelikan Edelstein Olivine. The new cap jewel and brass bush, found their place in the Parker 51.

But the biggest thrill of all was the Parker 61. The seller had removed her sticker from around the pocket clip and I had not noticed until later in natural daylight, that my pen was an edition called the Parker 61 Heirloom, featuring a rainbow pattern in two tone rolled gold on the cap. Given that my pen was made in England, I believe this pattern dates it between 1964 and 1967, from what I read on parkerpens.net. My pen remembers The Beatles.

The rainbow cap of the Parker 61 Heirloom.
Markings on the cap and barrel.

I rinsed the nib and polished the gold cap. Without attempting any cleaning of the capillary filler, I thought I would first try to fill it and see if it worked. I decanted a little Waterman Serenity Blue into the plastic ink receptacle in a TWSBI ink well. I then placed the capillary filler in the ink, and took a photo of the ink level at the start of filling and another one about three minutes later. The ink level had gone down significantly. I found this enormously exciting.

Preparing to try out the capillary filler for the first time!
Physics in action.

However, the pen did not write initially. I gave it a few gentle shakes downwards, but this did not appear to have much effect. Fearing that there may be a blockage from decades-old dried ink in the feed, I dipped the pen and began to write with the ink that the nib had retained. Once again, I revelled in its smoothness, but with a worry that this might last for only a paragraph before the nib ran dry.

But to my growing relief and exhilaration, the pen continued to write for a full page, then a second, a third and fourth page of my A5 Stalogy notebook, by which time I was certain that the ink I was seeing on the page was ink that the capillary filler had drawn up.

The nib writes a smooth medium-broad.

I am hugely pleased with the Parker 61 Heirloom and everything about it. It looks and feels great and writes like a dream. The filling system is unique. It was heralded as “the pen that fills itself” and, as I read, took 12 years to develop! Also, as a party trick, this pen can write upside down, on a wall or ceiling, because the flow of ink to the nib is a product of capillary action and not gravity. And the price of all this enjoyment? A modest £45.00. I recommend anyone who might be hesitating, to take a look at vintage Parkers.

My haul.