Another friend taking a trip to Japan, another “please help me” shopping jaunt to Itoya…

I wanted an EF but was told that the store exclusive rhodium-trimmed pens came only in F/M/B, so I plumped for my first broad nib ever! I already have pens with the #5 nib in F (my Custom Heritage 92) and M (the Namiki Impressions Ruby, pictured above) so this was the last option. I was also motivated by a little bit of curiosity, and the confidence that I could always grind it down if I didn’t like it.

But before we get to the nib, let’s discuss the rest of the pen:

I’m currently using a CON-20 in it because it was the cheapest converter I could buy when I was away holidaying in Singapore, but it will take the other models and fit a CON-70 comfortably, as with the other versions of the Custom 74. (Funnily enough, I have 3 pens of this size but none of them are the actual regular 74…) The CON-20 holds 0.9ml of ink, and this is an ink-hungry nib!

The nib and feed will pull out of the section easily, allowing for easy cleaning, and the converter is of course easily removable. The whole pen feels very solid, and the Custom 74 is a good size in the hand.

I had a little bit of baby’s bottom with this nib, and that was soon smoothed out. Even before that, the nib was juicy and laid down a really thick line, allowing tons of shading in, though it tended to have some issues with downstrokes. Now, it writes perfectly, and positively oozes with how much ink it lays down.’

I’m still adapting to the size of handwriting this pen forces me to go at. I’ve always had tiny handwriting, but this nib is such a joy to use, I guess I’ll just have to buy notebooks that aren’t A5 so I can write more than ten words a line!

Below are the two Pilots that came my way during December: you’ll remember the Pilot Kakuno demonstrator from a few weeks back…