Review: Stipula Passaporto Fountain Pen - Double Broad @JetPens

I like cute pens, which is why I was attracted to the Stipula Passaporto when I was browsing JetPens (you know, something I spend endless hours doing).

ABOUT

Body Material: Resin
Trim: Metal
Length (capped): 3.62"
Length (uncapped nib-end): 3.42"
Length (posted): 4.94"
Barrel Diameter: 0.56"
Section Diameter: 0.36" - 0.45"
Nib material: Steel
Weight: 20 g
Fill type: Cartridge/Eyedropper
Price: $90.00USD
Where to buy: JetPens

PACKAGING

For the size of the pen itself, the packaging of the Passaporto seems too large. The pen comes packaged in a hard red box with cut corners, inside a metallic cardboard sleeve. The red box has the Stipula logo in gold on the top, with gold edges around it. Inside, the pen and a glass eyedropper is nestled in place on a very soft bed. I like the inside of the box quite a bit, and I really like that Stipula included a glass eyedropper for turning the pen into an eyedropper!

APPEARANCE

The Passaporto is a very small, compact pen. Think pocket-sized! It has a clear resin body - barrel, cap, and section, with a silver center band that has the Stipula leaf logo on it. The feed is in a black collar so you can't see the feed itself. The body is round and thick, with rounded ends. The section is smooth and narrows towards the nib.

The threads on the outside are metal. Stipula is etched on the barrel very tastefully - such that you can see it but it doesn't affect viewing of the ink inside. Most important, of course.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The nib is pretty plain and I find it rather underwhelming in appearance. It's a double broad steel nib that says Stipula on it. There are four leafs on it as well.

The nib tines appeared to be quite tight, but I don't like to adjust anything until after I've reviewed the pen - it seems only fair to review the pen as it arrives from the company, right? Therefore, onward. The pen was turned into an eyedropper and was filled with the lovely Montblanc Lavender Purple ink.

I found that the pen didn't write all that well - it was on the dry side and it skipped. I like the broad line the nib put down, although I think if it had been more wet, it would look even better. When I wrote with it, I exerted slight pressure on the nib and it made the lines a little wetter and it wrote nicely. In the writing sample, the wetness was pretty satisfactory when I used that slight amount of pressure. Without pressure, the nib would just dry out. Annoying.

After adjusting the nib a little (making the nib wetter), it wrote much more pleasantly and I liked the performance of the nib much more. It also stopped skipping, which was a relief.

IN HAND

The Passaporto is a very small pen, of course, so don't be surprised that it'll be hard to write with unposted, even if you have small hands! It is a postable pen, so you'll want to do that. My complaint with that is the cap doesn't post very securely. I found that even when posted, the cap would wiggle off as I wrote. Annoying? Yeah. Very annoying. I could feel it wiggling off slowly so every now and then, I'd have to push it back on. I also tried twisting the cap slightly when I posted it. This helped a lot, but you must remember to do this!

The pen itself is comfortable to hold though, that's the thing. It's not too small when it's posted, it's quite nice. It's comfortable, light, well-balanced. The threads aren't a bother, which is good, since they are pretty much inevitable.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

Overall, once the nib was adjusted, I really liked it. I also really liked the look of the pen, especially as an eyedropper. It's great that Stipula included a glass eyedropper along with the pen! Be aware that the pen needs a good flush with water and some dish soap/ammonia before using it, and the tines might need a bit of loosening if it writes dry and skippy. Easy to fix. They're cute pens and worth a look at.