Pens And Ink: Pelikan Ductus P3110 with Diamine Salamander

As the Pelikan Hub is on this friday (there is one going to be in Amsterdam too this year which I will be attending, yay!) I thought it would be fitting to highlight a recent acquisition I made from this brand. And it's a pen I thought I would never buy, until I read this great review by Joshua of the Pelikan's Perch a while back about the Pelikan Ductus. By chance I came across one locally where the price was right and I was sold! Or well, the kind people at the office supply store sold the pen to me :)

Joshua reviews the P3100 version, which has silver accents on the pen body and cap, but I purchased the P3110 version which has gold accents. And I must say, it has a very attractive finish. The brass body is coated with a black lacquer and then buffed to a shiny finish. The gold stripe accents on the cap and piston knob really make the pen pop and it reminds me of a raden finish, but without the "bling". It's a very classy looking pen. And that's why I like it, it's a very nice every day carry for the office!

When I was thinking of an ink to pair it with, I wanted a dark green ink with some shading but also needed to be fast drying to be able to take quick notes in the office. So obviously it also need to be a safe for work kind of color. What I came up with was Diamine Salamander, a darker version of Rohrer and Klingner's Alt Goldgrün. It doesn't remind me of a salamander al all, but hey I don't come across many of those myself, so I can't really compare the green hues on that little critter. See a review of this ink by Ed Jelley here, but I don't agree with him describing this as a mucky, garbage water color though, ha! To me the color resembles a darker olive green with a hint of brown and black which you can see in the shading. A very interesting color for a very interesting and unique pen. 

The pen is a cartridge filler only (which is a bit limiting), it takes 2 short or 1 long standard international cartridges and I refilled an empty one by using a syringe. This way you can still use other (bottled) inks. At first I thought the pen would be too heavy or big and uncomfortable in my hand but having written with it for several pages, it's got quite a nice balance to it, un-posted. I do not post this pen as it does become ridiculously long and then top heavy for me.

Let's talk about the nib as that is what most people seem to have issues with on this pen. Not on performance, no, but on looks. You can see right away why, it looks nothing like the fancy nibs on the Souverän series, at all. My pen is fitted with a 18k rhodium plated medium nib which in writing show a little line variation which is nice. I have no problem with how the nib looks and the performance of it is really nice, after I had tuned it a bit with on a maylar with high micron grid sheet. It was just a tad scratchy and now it writes smooth and glides over paper. The nib can be unscrewed from the section just like most of the Pelikan pens (I have personally tested it with my pen) so this way it's very easy to clean.

It's a shame that this beautiful pen is considered the "ugly ducking" of the higher end in the Pelikan range. To me it's a very eye catching pen and though the nib does look different, the performance is stellar. The clip also has a nice spring to it so you can easily wear it in your shirt pocket (which I never do, I don't think I even own shirts with pockets) and also remove it without struggle from your pen pouch if you slide the clip over the pen slot, like I usually do. The only downside it has is the filling system, which I can overlook because you can at least put a long cartridge in there and fill with a syringe from a bottle. This odd little ducking is definitely unique and while it's not love at first sight it can definitely grow on you with each writing experience. 

I'm going to bring this pen to the Hub meet on Friday and am in the process of picking out a few others I am bringing along. Very excited to see what other people will bring and I will definitely share how the hub gathering went. Follow me on my Instagram if you want to see some picture updates on the day. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

namasté