Pelikan M200 Cognac Review

I had bought the m200 cognac with its stock Italic nib to replace my old rotring ArtPen. I have to simultaneously admit that the only reason for going with an italic and somewhat flexible nib was to try it out and learn something new. The cognac was launched last year as a special edition and the dazzling golden hues allured me. These were quite vibrant compared to the earlier tones of a lighter Amber demo. 

DESIGN - LET’S DRINK TO THAT (5/6)

The m200 cognac shimmers in honey gold and its golden loops dazzle in absolute harmony. Lack of ambient light makes it adorn darker hues of brown. 

The cognac colours are remarkably darker and more vibrant than the amber hues of a Pilot Custom 823.

The radiance is matched throughout the pen starting with a golden gleam from the finial area and the pelican beak through the cap band before finally converging with the piston ring. When its an m400 the loops multiply into two.

The cap is light and unscrews with less than a complete turn which I like very much, revealing a slightly dullish golden nib. The gold plated steel nibs somewhat lack the lustrous enchantment of a 14k souverän nib, but again a 14k nib comes at a premium. The grip is simple and reveals interior threads of a screw fit nib. The section ends with a slight bump which is usually adorned by a loop in the souverän series. The transparency reveals the plastic piston mechanism.

A gleaming tassie decorated with a protruding plastic jewel painted with a golden pelikan logo adorns the cap with its signature pelican beak-shaped clip. The single cap band succinctly carries an imprint of PELIKAN GERMANY, which is common across the classic series. The logo on the finial is the one embraced by Pelikan post 2003, that of a mother pelican and its chick, in golden paint. You can also see the distinctive lines of the cap insert.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A piston filler with a smooth & sturdy knob is embellished with a golden loop. Apart from its looks, it's an utterly efficient mechanism. The piston end unscrews with three to four rotations and it draws ink quite quickly once the piston is screwed back on. The best part being you observe the thing in action probably through honey gold lenses. A plastic spindle connector in the M2XX limits its overall weight. A M2XX fills upto 1.3 mL of ink. However, given the wet & wide flow especially of the Italic nib, it may not last for a long time. I have found the 14k nibs of the same width running wetter & wider than the steel ones. 

           Keep in mind that these piston mechanisms for M2XX/M4XX/M6XX are not supposed to be dismantled as they are friction fit under heat. In case of problems other than lubricating the piston seal, it’s better to send the pen to Pelikan Germany/Country Authorized Service Center. Pelikan does have an excellent customer service.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6)

The steel nib comes in a classic m200 gold plated look across five stock widths - EF, F, M, B & I (1.1). Like all the pens in the classic series, the nib has standard pelikan logo with the usual convenience of a screw-fit section.

             With standard m2xx/4xx feed, the nib-section is easy to take out for swapping or cleaning. And this golden finish is meant to converge with the cognac glimmer of the pen as well as its gold-plated trims, although its shine is rather towards the dullish side of the golden spectrum. Below the circular breather hole it carries its brandname of Pelikan as well as an encircled logo of mother pelican with a chick. The nib started flexing its tines after some use and it was quite stiff at first. The nib is tipped.

A standard black plastic feed ensures a good ink buffer for the promised wetness and prevents hard starts. No skipping or hard starts in past few months, even if it is lying unused for weeks.

While cleaning the section area, I found some of silicone grease and water trapped between inner and outer walls. Initially I was scared at the thought of a crack, but thankfully the suspect crack-line seemed to move. There is a FPN thread on this.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

It’s comfortable posted with a bit of heft and length, since the cap contributes more than a third of its weight. The capped length is around 12.5 cm. The pen does get some heft from ink inside the barrel. Incidentally, it weighs a gram less even when it shares all its dimensions closely with a m400.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 14 g (without ink)

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6)

The m200 Cognac retails at around USD 170 with the stock gold plated steel nibs. It is also available with 14k nibs from the m400 series. As with all pelikans, the pen is dependable and could be an everyday writer.

OVERALL (5.2/6)

The tipped & gold plated steel nib is smooth and it’s graced with a wet flow. The Italic nib was quite stiff in the beginning, but within a month of ‘light’ use, it started flexing its tines like wings of a bird, even under light pressure. Very springy of course, the horizontal lines run thinner for the Italic nib. There is a lot of ink laid by the italic nib, which take more than 1.5 minutes to dry a wet Diamine Majestic Blue ink on MD Paper. 

In case you are wondering about the quote, it's by Swami Vivekananda.

REFERENCES

Pelikan M4XX

Patent

Piston mechanisms

Ink Capacities

Thank you for going through the review. 

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An Elemental Review of Graf von Faber-Castell Elemento (L.E)

Elemento L.E

To be honest, the Elemento seems so alluring, ever since I have got an Intuition. The yearning could only multiply with time. A sale was good enough to trigger my purchase as I could not wait long to catch hold of the pen. Incidentally, this is my first numbered (limited edition) fountain pen, delightfully so with a wooden barrel.

Elemento, incidentally was designed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of my favourite fountain pen company - Graf von Faber-Castell.  It also marked the release of a few other similarly sized wooden models of intuition. The Elemento range comprises of individually numbered propelling pencils (250 pieces), ball point pens (1500 pieces), roller-ball pens (1000 pieces) apart from these fountain pens (2500 pieces).

PRESENTATION (6/6)

One of the best parts of the presentation is a big hand-crafted wooden case in wenge colour, housing the entire collection. There is also a similar box which holds only the fountain pen. I was not able to get this case due to certain shipping constraints. However to my absolute delight, the Faber-Castell company sent me a spare wooden box, which usually is meant for the Intuition Wooden/Platino editions.  Many thanks to Nicole, who handles marketing at Faber-Castell for APAC/MEA region.

The pen comes in a small cardboard box, which has an L.E number attached to one of the smaller faces of the cuboid. Along with the pen, there is a brochure which narrates a bit of Faber-Castell’s ‘since 1761’ history, along with alluring pictures of the Perfect Pencil, before it delves further into the elements of the Elemento range.

DESIGN (6/6)

This is probably where firms like GvFC revolutionize the past, present and future of design. A dazzle of platinum deeply resonates with the subtlety of discernible olive wood grains in the barrel.

The barrel is made of cross-grained olive wood (Stimholz in German), where wood is cut into discs, perpendicular to the height of a tree. This renders both strength and elegance to the wood. You can notice some heavy varnishing on the barrel, so that any chance of staining is well-eliminated. The wood is said to be fitted onto the barrel in six individual elements, for the sole purpose of transforming it into a fountain pen. A contour of colours ranging from honey gold to reddish brown, garnish the barrel while the black lines running across the length of barrel give it a distinct elegance.

On puling off the cap, you will instantly notice a singularity of the barrel, running sans any joints. A super-sized two-tone nib is divulged with a golden-silvery sheen glistening with the platinum coated trims. Towards the nib end, the singular barrel narrows down to a slightly concave section, to form a comfortable grip. The cap is friction fit and closes onto the barrel, with an audible click.

At the other end of the barrel is a glittering crown, which can be twisted to disengage the nib and filling system. You can find the GvFC coat-of-arms logo embossed on its finial, earlier used to represent complete achievement in heraldic tradition. And, why not!

Once you reach the end cap, you will notice a disc of olive wood adorning the finial and rendering a finality to the wooden barrel.

The cap is engraved with GRAF VON FABER – CASTELL, encircling the wooden finial insert. Below at the cap band, it says GRAF VON FABER – CASTELL on one side and HANDMADE IN GERMANY on the other. ‘Handmade’ because there are over a hundred steps in the entire manufacturing process of this pen, a majority of which are carried out by hand. The clip shines in consonance, with a highly efficient yet visible spring loaded system.

As a Limited Edition (L.E), a number, i.e XXXX/2500 here, is etched at the end of the barrel section, which attaches to the nib & filling system insert. And while writing, you can always observe a subtle reflection of the L.E number, rhyming in cadence with your script, on the visible metallic end of the insert.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

Once the crown on the barrel is rotated anti-clockwise to disengage the nib & filling system, you would notice a rather classical CC filler system. The nib has a screw fit, and inserts into a metallic sleeve like most of the Faber-Castell fountain pens, which I have seen till date. The nib sleeve has threads which synchronize with the inner threads on the metal insert of the barrel, both ending up with octagonal cross sections. The converter has a metallic band which friction-fits into the nib section although it does not fit a FCD Ambition section. With a reasonably high converter capacity of 0.7 – 0.8 mL, the ink does last for quite a while! My usual bias towards piston fillers has always been negated by the relatively higher capacities of Faber-Castell or Pilot CON-70 converters. The converter has a decent suction and resembles a Schimdt K-5.

NIB (6/6) – ALL THAT MATTERS

The giant two-tone nib with an usual iridium tip is run by hand, and it comes in four main sizes – EF, F, M & B along three special widths – BB (extra-broad), OM (L) & OB (L).

The tail end of the nib specifies the size and below it rests the composition (18 ct, 75% Au) of the gold-alloy used. A golden decor runs along the shoulders of the nib and it converges across the outer tines onto the iridium tip, while the rhodium silvery finish diverges from the breathless slit (There is no breather hole on this nib!) across the inside of the tines and over to the tail.

A cross hatched border segregates the rhodium and gold decors. Then, there is a dazzling white coat-of-arms logo resting above the tail-end. This one is a fine nib and writes superbly butter smooth with no hint of feedback.

This feed has closely spaced fins with a buffer capacity to hold ink with transient temperature and pressure, giving an effortless writing experience. 

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

With a cylindrical wooden body, it does give a superb feel with a comfortable weight, without posting. The overall capped length of around 13 cm is more than a typical Pelikan m2xx/4xx. The total weight of Elemento has a significant contribution from the cap, which is quite well-balanced otherwise. You would not love to use the pen posted, though.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.5 cm
• Posted Length ~ 16.9 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2.3 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 40-45 g

While it’s not posted, Elemento compares well with a Pelikan m800, which I feel has a slightly flatter and bigger nib.

ECONOMIC VALUE(5/6)

Although the Elemento retails at more than USD 1200, it is available at lower street prices. I was able to get the pen at a good discounted price. I would not undervalue this rating by much, because in the end, the Elemento is a kind of masterpiece in itself.

OVERALL (5.8/6)

I adore the distinctly granular olive wood design and the remarkably superlative appeal of Elemento, given the contoured gradient of reddish brown to honey gold colour. This pen is blessed with a butter smooth fine nib which delivers a relatively wide but wet line. The line width closely resembles with a Pelikan Fine nib. For a Waterman Florida Blue ink, it takes around 14-15 seconds to dry. I could not find any line variation with horizontal and vertical strokes for this one. Below is a written review of the same:

It was fun reviewing the Elemento. I hope you enjoyed it. Another wooden pen I have reviewed is the Izumo Tagayasan from Platinum (Japan).