Top 10 Fountain Pens from the Collection! - It's time to judge all the pens from my collection till Feb 2026, from all the pens reviewed in the fountain pens category. This time I have filled in the ink in all of them to show how it writes.
The notebook used is the Oxford Signature Smart Journal from Sandton Stationery & Print.
Fountain Pen Inks used are some of the ones we reviewed and some of the samples we received at the Pen Meet in Johannesburg on 21-Feb-2026 by Paizley Pen Roll and WriteGear.
I really loved the bottle of Montblanc 60ml glass ink bottles. The design is really different from all the fountain pen inks available around the globe. It does look really cool on your desk. I got two ink bottles from Facebook Marketplace for ZAR 200 in this Mystery Black colour. One was really new and another one was almost at the finish line which came complementary. I have not mixed both the inks due to their age and using them separately and then I can use the empty ink bottle to create an ink colour of my own. The new ink bottle is priced at ZAR 500 at the Montblanc showroom in Sandton City.
Montblanc Mystery Black is really a dark black coloured ink. There is no grey portion in the same. As I see a lot of black ink swabs in my ink manual, I can see there is a clear colour difference between all the black inks. This Montblanc Mystery Black has some kind of brilliance to the same and it really shines on paper. There is no sheen or shimmer in this ink. Lamy T52 Black comes closer to the same but has a lot of grey in the normal writing zones. Camlin Syah Black and Lamy T53 Agate are more grey as compared to this one. If I compare the same with the Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink, then this ink also looks light in black colour. I don't think comparing this ink with Noodler's ink will be a bit of good advice.
I think you should collect inks based on what kind of bottle inks are coming in. The colour of ink is available from every brand and they do have unique glass bottles that I still need in my life. I love the Ferris Wheel ink bottle, Diamine, Twsbi, Endless, Urushi India and many more that I still need to collect.
Thanks to Uncle Derek and his daughter for passing on his legacy of Montblanc Inks as well as some of the fountain pens which will be revealed in separate videos. Check out this Montblanc Mystery Black 60ml Ink bottle and the ink swatch. Slowly we are creating a nice booklet where ink comparison will become easier and more interesting. I have compared the same ink with other black inks I own. Thanks for watching! Aashish
If any ink brand wants to send us their inks, please contact me at editor@thelifesway.com. Even if they cannot ship to South Africa, I can provide them with the Aramex Global Shopper Address where they can send the same to their local country address as well and I pay the courier charges to get them to South Africa.
Montblanc is a brand you aspire to in your hands or pockets. To own Montblanc products, it definitely needs big pockets or a lot of savings and the capability to put some money in exchange for their products. What I found out is that you can own some Montblanc Fountain Pen Inks as they have the lowest starting price as compared to the rest of their items even diaries and journals. I wanted to try their inks and found these inks at Facebook Marketplace going for around ZAR 350. Even if the inks were not full, then I should also buy them as the new bottle of ink is around ZAR 500 for a 60ml bottle in the store. The ink cartridges are only ZAR 160 which you can get from the Montblanc Store.
Returning to this Irish Green Ink, this one is more of a dark green ink which seems like mixed with black as the wetter portions have darker shades of green. The writing using this ink is great on paper and legible due to its darker shading. I really loved this green colour and the ink swabs etc look fabulous as there is a black sheen on this ink as well.
If I compare this ink with Lamy T52 Green, the Irish Green is much darker, and Lamy Green is lighter in colour. The flow of my particular ink bottle was a little bit sticky, whereas Lamy T52 has a good flow of ink. Overall, this is a great ink to introduce yourself to the Montblanc series of inks for their fountain pens which they highly recommend should not be used in any other pens. This was told to me by the sales executive at the Sandton City Store in Johannesburg, South Africa.
This particular bottle has some kind of problems as well where the ink has turned into more like a sticky ink. In the pens where I used this ink, there is a problem with clogging all the time in the feed. Either I need to put some distilled water to make it a little watery or there is ink mould inside the ink that grew because of not using it for a longer duration of time and the space where it was kept as well.
I did try to put it under sunlight but I don't think it helped make it watery and reduce the mould or the bacteria. I have not used it after discarding the 2 fountain pens I used it in. Now in one of them bought from Ali Express named Yiren 401 (replica of Lamy Safari Vista), I have used Organic Studio's Nitrogen Royal Blue because that's a stronger ink and overpowered the Irish Green on the feed. The other pen Parker Frontier I have washed and kept in my fountain pen museum waiting for a video to be made on the same. I have not filled the same with any other ink as yet.
Thanks to Uncle Derek and his daughter for passing on his legacy of Mont Blanc Inks as well as some of the fountain pens which will be revealed in separate videos. Check out this Mont Blanc Irish Green 60ml Ink bottle and the ink swatch. Slowly we are creating a nice booklet where ink comparison will become easier and more interesting. I have compared the same ink with the Lamy T52 Green ink I own too.
If any ink brand wants to send us their inks, please contact me at editor@thelifesway.com. Even if they cannot ship to South Africa, I can provide them with the Aramex Global Shopper Address where they can send the same to their local country address as well and I pay the courier charges to get them to South Africa.
It's my birthday week and I celebrated my 43rd birthday with some of the family and friends. I totally love cutting the cake and eating some great food outside and at home. I have always told that my life has always been the Life of Pi as I was born on 22-7 which is a Pi=3.14 and goes till infinite never fully divisible. This means that my life is full of struggles and I love challenges that are thrown at me and I will overcome them every time with my strong will and the blessings of Lord Shiva!
1. Entertainment - I started the week by completing the Kohrra web series on the Netflix streaming platform. It's a nice one-time watch and loved the acting of Barun Sobti and Suvinder Vicky. This web series is really an eye-opener in terms of various things I missed seeing when I used to live in Punjab, India.
I then watched The Trial: Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha Season 1 starring Kajol and Alyy Khan. This one is the Hindi version of The Good Wife. I have not watched the original so it was okay to watch the same but some of the things are just style though they try to show the courtroom drama but there are better series for the same. This one is fast-paced and things move very quickly without any context whatsoever and then there is a monologue from the main character in a single-liner. I didn't really like the series despite Kajol working in the same.
2. Thank You - I started from 5000 onwards to reach 8000 and again the counter got reset to zero. Then again I took it to 5000 but again it got reset. The third time it also went 5000 but got reset once again. So in total, I did around 13000 Thank You. This is one of the exercises I kept doing and going back to in my life.
3. YouTube - I reached 2222 subscribers on my 43rd birthday on 22nd July. I am really grateful to everyone for giving your precious time to watch my videos. Whatever small I am getting from your views is my only blessing in terms of income from running all these platforms. I completed 1 year of being monetized on YouTube as I got it last year on 12-Jul-22. I had a goal to achieve the payments of USD 100 by my birthday and I got it but it only gets paid next month.
4. Happy Birthday - I completed another year on Planet Earth and was very happy to complete 43 years and was really happy somehow. I have lived for the last 15706 days which is the number of days I have lived on this Earth. This is something I learned from the Momentum She Owns Her Success session where the Group CEO mentioned it. I am not so sure what will be the long-term impact of the same but let's try it out. My initial thought was that it was going to add stress thinking that I had not achieved anything in the long 16000 days of my living on planet earth.
5. Shopping - I bought some of the clothes on my birthday from my favourite brand Polo & Levis and introduced Pringle also into the arsenal of brands I have. There was a sale going on in Sandton City & Woodmeads and I made use of the same. Shopping is always fun as whenever you spend money on stuff you feel good. I also felt like broken dreams when I tried some of the fountain pens from MontBlanc and other brands like Pilot USA which cost more than ZAR 5000+. I felt really lightweight and cheap though the quality may be top-class but my itch to get one really dropped to zero towards buying them.
It's been a long long time I have taken to finish various videos and blog posts. Sometimes I don't get the strength to work the extra mile to finish these posts. Today I have found some so I will do whatever is possible. Do you also feel a loss of energy in your daily tasks sometimes? What do you do to overcome this feeling?
Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for historical tech, new gadgets, stationery, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay Link to all social media platforms - https://t.co/gUHjo8DQ7h Your Lifestyle and Technology Blog for the Last 10.5 Years!
.png "Stationery Review 357 - Top 10 Fountain Pens from the Whole Collection!")
.png "Stationery Review 16: Montblanc Mystery Black Fountain Pen Ink (60ml) ZAR 200 (Used)")
.png "Stationery Review 15: MontBlanc Irish Green Fountain Pen Ink (60ml) ZAR 150 (Used)")
.png "New Year Resolutions - Week 29 Achievements & Failures in 2023 #TheLifesWay")