One of my favourite dystopias (isn’t that a weird phrase?) and definitely in my top five books is Brave New World by the British author Aldous Huxley. It was published in 1932, but twenty-six years later Huxley published Brave New World: Revisited in which he gives a very bleak reflection on how prophetic his prior publication had become.

So I’ve decided I will start doing something similar, in which I look at past reviews and see whether my opinion remains; what’s changed and how I feel about the product later on. Hopefully there won’t be any mention of conditioning, totalitarian regimes, caste systems or anything like that.

However, there is something that my reflection has in common with a theme in Brave New World – consumerism. Since the last review I fell in love with the pen so much that I ended up buying a second Custom 823, this time the amber barrel with a medium nib. The pen isn’t available for retail in the United Kingdom, but I’ve still ended up with a second. I feel like I could end the review here because I really don’t know how else to express how much I love this pen.

But I wouldn’t do that to you.

You can read the original review of the Pilot Custom 823 here – opens in a new window.

What I said Then VS How I Feel Now

I bought the 823 on a whim because I saw it on eBay for a decent price, compared to the “unnecessary premium” on the price tag that I thought the 823 carried (as well as the customs tax I’d be hit with). I also had my reservations about it being very similar to the TWSBI Vac 700 but just with a gold nib.

To put it into perspective, I’m not someone who has a preference of a gold nib over steel nib, as long as it feels great. However, my Vac 700 has been uninked ever since my first Custom 823 joined the family.

Not just because of the nib (though partly). I still agree that the weight, length and feel of the pen is unrivalled. It doesn’t just beat my TWSBI pens, it gives my Pelikans a run for their money (though I would never admit this to their face). Once again, to put things into perspective, Pelikan is my favourite pen brand, as I said in my Stola III review. But I also adopted a ‘credit where credit’s due’ outlook when I said the Stola wasn’t as good as other pens in Pelikan’s arsenal. So again, credit where credit’s due – the 823 is up there with the M800 as one of the pens I would describe as ‘perfect’.

The thing with vacuum fillers is that you have to unscrew the blind cap at the end to ensure a constant flow of ink while writing. This still isn’t something that annoys me. Some people don’t like keeping the blind cap open while they write, but there’s something fun about doing it in my opinion just before you put nib to paper.

Round Up

The Pilot Custom 823 still isn’t available from Pilot UK, for whatever reason. I stand by what I said about this pen being “FANTASTIC“. I have the broad and medium nibs and I’m sure I’ll get a fine nib too with a black barrel if I can help it because my OCD wouldn’t permit anything else.

All my pens give me enjoyment, but there are a few pens that give me as much enjoyment as the 823 has. The Pelikan M800 is on the same level, but the Custom 823 has a slight edge in some cases, such as having a more conservative design and larger ink capacity which might be more advantageous (that being said, the M800 is a piston filler and has a decent ink capacity anyway). Though, you don’t have the option to have silver trims with the Pilot like you do with Pelikan models.

TL;DR – buy this damn pen and then buy a second one. Possibly a third..