A Pen Hobbyist Looks Back at 2025 

RB Lemberg’s blog about pens, ink, and stationery is a must-read for me. A few days ago, Lemberg offered a seven-question journaling prompt that would help pen fiends like me earmark our #2025StationeryHighlights.

I decided to modify those prompts and create my own version of the year that was. While writing this post, I realized that I should do my top ten pens of the year round-up as well. I’ll work on that next.

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PEN OF THE YEAR

Of all the pens I acquired this year—and there were many, so I was spoiled for choice—I had a short list of two. Ultimately, I went with the Montblanc 256 with an oblique broad nib as my pen of the year.

All good things in life are accidents—unplanned and often the result of an alignment of cosmic energy. My pen of the year is one of those accidents. I had bought a Montblanc 256 with an extra-fine nib from Osman Sumer at the San Francisco Pen Show, hoping to use it as my daily writer. A week later, while attending the San Francisco Pen Posse meetup, a pen friend mentioned that she had a 256 with an oblique broad nib. She didn’t like it very much and asked if I wanted to try it. She knows my predilection for oblique nibs all too well. I, of course, said yes. And now it is my pen of the year.

This is not a particularly big pen, but it is well-sized and has just enough girth in its section to be an extremely comfortable writer for long stretches of time. It has a friction-fit cap, which makes it easy to start using quickly. It has ample ink capacity, and I can use it for a couple of weeks without having to worry too much. It is a piston filler, and being a vintage pen, I find it simpler to keep it inked with a single ink.

It is permanently inked with Montblanc’s Jane Austen LE ink, which I have reserved exclusively for this pen. As I mentioned earlier, I have an extra-fine version of the same pen, and that one is inked with Montblanc Midnight Black. These two sit in my Musubi pen case, though I admit the OB gets most of the use. This is my pen of the year, even though it is between 65 and 70 years old.

The pen has a “wing nib” (or butterfly nib), which provides some nice flex. It was designed by Albrecht von Goertz and made by injection molding, explaining why these pens are still in such remarkable condition. They have a clear ink window, gold-plated trim, and came in classic black. Sure, they show their age—but so do humans.

My runner-up pen of the year is by Eric Sands, the artisan behind the brand Atelier Lusso. It is a Carina 15 model made from blue vintage acetate, with a deep blue resin cap and a Damascus steel clip. The technical name for the pen is Carina Hapalua 15 in Vintage Celluloid Acetate with Sapphire Blue Resin.

It is big, chunky, and has the right kind of heft for me. The pen has such a wonderful vintage feel, and blue is my favorite color, so I absolutely love everything about it. I have grafted one of my favorite Aurora nibs onto it, custom-ground from a broad to a stubby, smooth cursive italic by Richard Binder. It is permanently inked with Scribe Indigo. I see no reason to mess with the holy trinity—the nib, the ink, and the paper (in this case, PaperMind Bank Paper A5 notebooks).

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INK OF THE YEAR

I am a blue-ink kind of guy, so it is no surprise that my most-used ink of the year is Scribe Indigo, a recreation of the legendary Parker Penman Sapphire. This ink was created by someone who worked on the original formulation. It is exactly the kind of blue I like—vibrant, saturated, yet understated. It flows well in every single pen and is very easy to clean. I use it in my vintage pens without fear for their well-being.

And yet, despite Scribe Indigo being my most-used ink, my ink of the year is Octopus Fluids Kaviar. It is a purple-gray, smoky ink from their Barock collection. It is nicely saturated but sits just on the wet side. It flows well in most of my pens. What I love most about it, though, is the color and how it shows up on the page—elegant, understated, and subtle. I see the color and think of an Art Deco-era speakeasy, with a jazzy crooner, smoke in the air, and hints of light. Oh, so sublime. I love writing with this ink.

My honorable mention in the ink category is Montblanc Around the World in 80 Days Coal Blue. It isn’t really blue; it’s more gray-black, with blue showing up like a friend who is a foreign correspondent covering distant wars. It is a bit dry, so I pair it only with my big, fat nibs—usually one of my Montblanc 149s.

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PAPER OF THE YEAR

After years of using Tomoe River as my primary paper, this year I switched to Mitsubishi Bank Paper—just as they stopped making it. The good news is that I buy my notebooks from The Paper Mind, and they still have a decent amount in stock. I usually go through an A5 notebook in about 15 days—it’s my journal and catch-all notebook—so it isn’t a cheap option.

At about $35 a copy, it adds up, but there are worse things one can spend money on. The quick-drying 83 gsm paper is just toothy enough for my needs. I write fast, switching between cursive, normal, and block.

I tried a few different papers this year, and Yu-sari is another new paper I see myself using if I can’t find any more Bank Paper notebooks.

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ACCESSORY OF THE YEAR

I commissioned a four-pen leather case from Leather Luxe, a Philippines-based artisan. The blue (of course) case is beautifully crafted and is the perfect way for me to carry my two permanent pens and the two pens of the week that I rotate. I usually have one vintage pen and one modern pen in weekly rotation, in addition to my two everyday favorites, which almost always remain constant.

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REDISCOVERED THIS YEAR

I had to think hard about this, only to realize that I am writing on it. The B6 Notepad from Maruman Mnemosyne was my constant daily companion when I was still an active reporter. This year, with my writing becoming more focused on my book and Crazy Stupid Tech, I am back to scratching and scribbling on these notepads. I didn’t buy any new ones—I had plenty in my closet. I go through one every week. They are spiral-bound, have great paper, and work well with both my fountain pens and gel pens. Yes, I do like the feel of gel pens.

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ADVICE TO MYSELF AT THE START OF 2025

Looking back at the year, I would have advised myself to be more thoughtful and less impulsive about buying (and selling) pens for my collection. I would have urged myself to be more deliberate and to have a long-term strategy. And I certainly would have advised myself to use a spreadsheet to track spending, acquisitions, and sales, rather than relying on a single Apple Note. I am better prepared for 2026. I have guardrails, and most importantly, have come to a place where I know the numbers are going to go drastically lower.

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WORD(S) TO DESCRIBE MY YEAR

Obsessive and excessive, as implied above.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

This was a year in which I learned a few key lessons.

There are a total of five ink colors I truly like. I don’t experiment much with inks, and I like what I like. As a result, my ink collection is shrinking rather quickly.

I became obsessed with trying different nib grinds this year and fell in love with stacked nibs. Most importantly, I discovered that I love vintage nibs on modern pens. I have already found my “dirty dozen” modern nibs (including stacked nibs) and feel less inclined to add more. Vintage nibs, however, remain an obsession, still unabated.

Another big takeaway was realizing how much I love the work of artisan pen makers. Tim Cullen and Eric Sands, in particular, have become favorites; their work and aesthetics resonate deeply with me.

I love writing with 1950s Montblanc nibs. They are my creative haven.

The question, then, is: what are my plans for next year? My goal for 2026 is to further fine-tune my likes and dislikes and begin making changes to my collection. I would like to end 2026 with a capsule collection of pens, nibs, inks, and paper. Whatever the new year brings, it won’t be a year of excess but one of careful pruning and curating.

January 1, 2026.