Editing The Pen Addict 481/transcript (section)

== Kaweco Premium Nib Discussion ==


'''''Brad:'''   Right.

''''Myke:'''  It seems wild to me to like, no matter what the price level is of the pen, to spend that amount... I mean, honestly, just to spend that amount of 1.5 times on a nib anyway, you want to be walking away with something real special. But I think you're right. What you're getting here is a decent experience, but that's what you should have got at first.

'''''Brad:'''   Yes. We agree. I just didn't do a great job.

''''Myke:'''  No, I don't know. I think that that might have been... I think that was on both of us.

'''''Brad:'''   I'm in one of your roundabouts over there, and I'm Big Ben parliamenting it.

''''Myke:'''  That's a very interesting sentence that you just came out with.

'''''Brad:'''   So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. It exists. Like, here's the... I'll put a bow on it, finally. All of us Kaweco fans, we're going to buy one of these nibs and find out for ourselves. And I think that's probably it. Like, this is not like a needle move type of situation. This is more of a... This is more of giving Kaweco an option to say, you don't like it? Here, try this. And pay a very premium price for it. And, you know, that's kind of it. I'm still just genuinely confused by the positioning of this product more than, like, the technical aspects of it. So, I'll get one. I'm sure a lot of people will get one. And I just... Like, it's going to be fine. And it's just... It's not a $44 repeated purchase type of thing. I'll buy 10 more Kaweco sports before I buy a second premium nib.

''''Myke:'''  What is, like, an expensive Kaweco?

'''''Brad:'''   Like, what's the AL sport? Like, their core, like, premium pin is, like, $75, $80. Like, the ALs and the Steels and the Brasses range from, like, $65 to $95. And then they have a few, like, carbon fiber ones, like $125.

''''Myke:'''  And what nib do they come with? The same. The same. Yeah. See, that's where I could maybe argue it, right? If you got yourself an all-brass Kaweco sport because you just love that design, right? And you've spent $100, $150 or whatever.

''''Myke:'''  Not the worst thing in the world for me to then spend $40 to get a better writing experience. Because I've done it at that kind of price, like, thing, right? Yeah. Like, spent 50% of the cost to get a better nib. Yeah. But still, I think you should go a little extra maybe and get gold, right? Because they do gold nibs, right? They do sell gold nibs.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. They do. They're really expensive. I mean, they're fairly priced. That's just... That's a mega premium. Like, again, I have one of those. And it was... I want to say it was like $125, $140. They make all their own, right? That's the problem here. Well, I mean, their nibs are made by Jovo and Bach.

''''Myke:'''  Okay. See, I thought they were making their own.

'''''Brad:'''   Well, it's complicated. We've actually covered this before.

''''Myke:'''  Well, really, really, they're like... It's their design, but they're fabricated. It's like... Correct. That's correct. It's like Apple don't produce their own chips.

'''''Brad:'''   That's correct. That's a good way to put it. They design it. They do not fabricate it.

''''Myke:'''  But Kaweco will be probably paying more per nib because of this themselves. So, I mean, like, that's probably why it's more expensive in general, because they just don't have economy of scale.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah.

''''Myke:'''  I feel like they're kind of walking themselves into a very awkward corner here.

'''''Brad:'''   Exactly. So, my argument would be at this, at the AL price point and up, you raise the price and include the nib.

''''Myke:'''  I agree with you completely. That makes a lot of sense. Because that's a premium product anyway.

'''''Brad:'''   For them, yes. Then we can have a more sensible conversation.

''''Myke:'''  You have the entry nib in the entry product, premium nib in the premium product. Easy. Easy.

'''''Brad:'''   But they didn't present it that way. No.

''''Myke:'''  It's just very strange to me, personally, for a company to ship steel nibs and then offer an upgraded steel nib. That's not typically the way this stuff goes.

'''''Brad:'''   That's why I'm stuck on this so much.

''''Myke:'''  Yeah.

'''''Brad:'''   It doesn't matter. Like, this is just one of those things I get stuck on because no one does this. Brand, it does matter to us. It matters to us, right?

''''Myke:'''  This whole show is that it matters to us.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, no one does this, to your point. Like, no one ships a steel nib and says, here's your steel upgrade option.

''''Myke:'''  It's always gold, right? And then it's like, how much gold? And then what plating do you want on the gold, right? It tends to be the way it will go from steel, right? Right, right. Very strange.

'''''Brad:'''   So, yes, I thoroughly enjoy this.

''''Myke:'''  My hope, honestly, Brad, is that this is the start of a slow transition for them. Like, that they're selling it, and then eventually it's going to find its way into the product. That would be nice.

'''''Brad:'''   I would be down with that. That would seem logical to me. I would rather pay $125 for a steel sport with a premium nib than buy, like, a classic sport and an additional nib.

''''Myke:'''  Hmm.

'''''Brad:'''   You know, it just makes much more sense.

''''Myke:'''  Should we talk about something that makes a bit more sense?

'''''Brad:'''   Oh, yeah, because we're going to lose the plot again right after.

''''Myke:'''  Good. It's a good sandwich. This is a scent sandwich. The meat of this scent sandwich is the Canalea Pen Company, who is supporting this week's episode. Canalea Pen Co., they make stunning pens. I'm actually using one today. One of my personal favorites, the Haleakala, which is the yellow, black, and gray one. The front cover pen. Yes, the one. Cover boy. I actually own the one that made its way onto the front cover of Pen World Magazine just out of pure luck, because they said, pick the one you want. This was at the DC Pen Show. And I said, I would like that one. And so, you know, I have good tastes. But I have, I think me and Brad were talking about this before the show today. I think I own six Canalea pens now, because I just can't stop myself from wanting more of them, because they are so special. Also, the company is run by just the best people, Hugh and Carol. They believe that the locations that they emulate in the designs of their pens can help recharge our spirit and connect us with nature. What I know is that their pens, they give me joy. And I think that's kind of it, right? And while the story behind these pens is wonderful, is the execution that sets them apart. Every single Canalea pen is handmade. And because of the way that the acrylics work on the colors, it's done in a process which means that no two pens will ever look alike. That's why one can win, you know, could be on the front cover of a magazine and Myke can get it. And every nib is tuned, hand-tuned by Hugh himself before, they're smooth and tuned, every single nib before it ships out to a customer. So what you get is something truly unique for you. It is very artisanal in that way. I want to remind you about their newest launch, the Manta collection. This includes the Manta Maile Lei fountain pen in the classic profile, the Manta fountain pen in five design profiles, and the Manta ballpoint pen. These feature a charcoal black and luminous green swirling acrylic featuring Canalea's trademark depth and complexity of acrylic design. It's all based on the Manta Ray. And the Manta Maile Lei model features Canalea's Maile Lei anniversary band made of Argentine silver, which is adding something a little bit extra to this very beautiful pen. Canalea pens feature Yowa No. 6 nibs. You can buy steel or upgrade to 18 karat gold nibs direct from Canalea. And they have sizes from extra fine all the way up to 1.1 millimeter stub, not meter. I've done this again. I think I did this last time. Wow. 1.1 meter stub pen. Good job, Canalea. They offer sizes from extra fine to 1.1 millimeter stub. I deleted one M from my ad copy here, and it freaks me out. Not only are these pens handled personally before they leave, they're shipped in a beautiful black walnut keepsake box. I tend to not like and keep pen boxes, because they just take up space. I keep every Canalea one, because they're just these beautiful wooden boxes. You can put things in them. Fantastic. There's one thing more I want to talk about. But the Canalea pen company have made the difficult decision not to attend the Chicago pen show this year. So like they have done for some other weekends in the past couple of months, they will be offering a special promotion on their website during that weekend. So from October 1st to 3rd, customers in the US will get free UPS ground shipping with the purchase of a fountain pen with no code needed. And international customers will get $25 off UPS shipping by using the code ALOHA25OFF at checkout. This is available to all countries that Canalea ship to. So that's ALOHA25OFF for $25 off UPS shipping if you're international. And it's free shipping, free UPS ground shipping for the purchase of a fountain pen for customers in the US. And Hugh and Carol look forward to seeing everybody again next year.

'''''Brad:'''   All right. I have two Canalea things. One is something I've said before, which the feel of the Canalea pen like in my hand is one of the most cool, unique feelings, enjoyable writing experiences. Like I'm sitting at my desk recording this. Like if I spread out my arms and swept everything towards me, I'd probably like, you know, grab like 30 pens here and just like scoot them all towards me. I could pick out the Canalea pen blindly based on how it feels in my hand. It's unique in that aspect. And it's not something that you would think of necessarily. Like if you haven't handled these pens before, if you're just seeing them online, they have this unique feel to them in the way they're polished and finished and the shape of them. Secondly, Myke, I'm going to tell a secret about Hugh. I don't know if you know this, but if you see Hugh in person, he oftentimes, at least I've caught him a couple of times. He uses basically like a shop floor model ballpoint pen for his personal pen. Like when he's at shops and at the shows and has to write something real quick. This is something all of us makers do when you're making a product that you love and you make this great product. Well, you want your customer to have this product, right? You want to make sure your customer has all the things so you don't like kind of, you know, hoard one back for yourself. So he basically has like a reject barrel ballpoint pen that he uses. So Hugh, one of these days, I feel that you can upgrade that pen and get into one of those cool Canalea pens like the Manta.

''''Myke:'''  We should let him know that those folks, they make great products.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, this guy's pretty good. Pretty good.

''''Myke:'''  So go to Canalea Penco today, canaleapenco.com, I should say, to choose your aloha. That's canaleapenco.com. Go and see these wonderful pens for yourself. A thanks to Canalea Penco for their continued support of the show.

'''''Brad:'''   We're going to keep it in Germany for our next segment, Myke. We went with Kaweco first and I have to talk about not one, not two, but three new Lamy products that have crossed my screen at least over the past week. And three very different opinions I have on these three products. Let's start with the easy one first. So the first one is the Lamy Zivo. Okay. This is X-E-V-O. You pull up this picture and you go, oh, that's a Lamy pen, right? You look at it and it looks like a Lamy pen, right? Like if you saw this pen at the store, that's what you're thinking. I would wager if you're, you know, any type of pen fan at all and they're familiar with Lamy's products. So it's a ballpoint pen, you know, standard like black barrel, silver clip. It looks nice. It's got some interesting shaping at the end of the pen on the, where the clip attaches. It's kind of tapered in. Then it has a little bit of a triangular, rounded triangular grip area section. It's really good. Like, can you imagine like this not being a Lamy pen, right, Myke? This, this seems like a Lamy, but I would, I would like to read their ad copy on this or their marketing copy, which I enjoy. And all I have to read is, is three words when they are, they themselves are describing the Lamy Zivo as in unprecedented form. So I feel unprecedented is not what I would consider this pen from Lamy. It is purely a Lamy pen. Like this is not unprecedented.

''''Myke:'''  No, it's impossible to believe.

'''''Brad:'''   It's fully precedented.

''''Myke:'''  No.