As usual, I had no intention of buying a pen, but Paul (at Akkerman in The Hague) said ''I have the Ogiva Cocktail with a stub nib'' and showed me this one and we chuckled... sigh.
ABOUT
Body Material: Cotton Resin
Trim: Rhodium-plated
Length (capped): 146.4 mm/5.76"
Length (uncapped nib-end): 127.2 mm/5.01"
Length (posted): 172.77 mm/6.80"
Barrel Diameter: 10.9 - 13.3 mm/0.43" - 0.52"
Section Diameter: 10.9 - 12.5 mm/0.43" - 0.49"
Nib material: 18KT Gold
Weight (all): 22 g
Weight (cap): 8 g
Weight (body): 14 g
Fill type: Piston-filler
Price: € 390,00
Where to buy:
La Couronne du Comte
PACKAGING
The Ogiva Cocktail, like the
Ogiva Alba, has attractive packaging. First, a shimmery slate grey sleeve marked with the logo can be removed. This sleeve is marked with the limited edition number of the pen. Inside is a solid box similarly marked on the top. Taking the lid off reveals a light grey felt nest with a grey pen sleeve. The pen is inside, in a plastic sleeve (complete with QC check and all). The inside of the lid says, in the felt:
Italian
Creativity,
History,
Craftsmanship,
The Pleasure of
Writing
The bed can be removed to find the paper work and guarantee. It's very pretty packaging and also makes for a lovely display bed for the pen. The sleeve is also very useful.
Super useful packaging. Reverse that lid and it's two pen slots underneath!
APPEARANCE
I love the design of this pen - it's a nice size and shape, and I picked the yellow because of the way it glitters. The pen is round, torpedo-shaped, with a translucent yellow body, highlighted by shiny rhodium-plated trim. Vodka Lemon is a great name - it makes me think of the lemon color, and the vodka makes me think of the translucence. The finial is just the cap material, nothing else to it, except it's rounded off. The clip is attached internally, starting wide, thinning out, then ending with the OMAS rolling ball clip.
The center band at the end of the cap is perfectly placed - it's almost halfway on the pen and looks very even. It's simple at first glance, but has a Greek key design and is marked with OMAS in small writing. The end of the pen has a single ring indicating the piston-turning knob.
The section tapers gradually from the barrel to the nib, but remains mostly straight. The threads are located in the middle of the section, oddly enough. The end of the section, just before the nib, has a band that matches the center band. On the section is the limited edition numbering of the pen.
I had a hard time picking between the three Cocktail colors, but the yellow was too bright and happy to pass up.
NIB & PERFORMANCE
The 18KT gold rhodium-plated nib is superb. It has a single slit, a breather hole, and is a smooth, polished nib. The nib is marked with ST (stub, on the side), OMAS, and the gold content., along with the arrow design.
This stub nib is so delectable. The danger of being able to try a pen, as opposed to just buying it online, is once you try a nib that is so lovely, it's hard to leave it there. This nib is coupled with an ebonite feed. It needed a thorough flushing to clear out the machining oils from the feed, and after that, ink flow was excellent - nice and juicy, highlighting ink colors and bringing out shading so well. It's a nice, wide stub nib, but is still suitable for daily use. It's smooth - not too crisp on the edges, but offers a pleasant line variation, both in terms of its natural shape, and also with some springiness. I love this thing. I have had no issues with it, so long as I keep it properly aligned on the page, which is quite easy to do. If it's properly aligned - no skips, no hard starts, no running dry. Fantastic.
This is a juicy writer. It's perfect for me. I love juicy stub nibs.
The piston itself performs without issue, except you can see ink has gotten into the seal. It doesn't affect its function, but since it's a clear pen, it's very obvious, and I haven't been able to clean it out. It doesn't bother me, but I can definitely see how this would drive some people crazy. Also, I imagine this shouldn't be the case. So far, the seal is holding - no leaking of ink through the back.
IN HAND
The clip is well-designed - it is set close to the cap, is slightly springy, and has the rolling ball on the end, which allows it to easily slide into pockets, pen pouches, and on to pages.
The section is comfortable, despite the threads being in the middle of it. It's not an issue for me, but if you grip your sections tightly, this might be a bother for you. They are smooth so they aren't uncomfortable to touch. I grip well below the threads.
Unposted, the size, weight, and balance of the pen are right up my alley. I love it and have no complaints. The cap does post by friction and although it is secure, it doesn't post very deeply. Since the cap is light though, it doesn't feel top heavy, but it's a little too long for me to enjoy using it posted for longer writing sessions. I still find it usable even when posted. I use it unposted in general.
PROS & CONS
OVERALL
I think this is a great pen. I love the yellow, although I know it won't appeal to everyone. That's ok. It also is available with many other nibs - 18KT gold in extra-fine, fine, medium, and broad, 14KT gold extra-flessible in extra-fine, fine, medium, and broad, along with stub and italic. It's a piston-filler, has a gold nib, an ebonite feed that you can heat set if necessary, is well made and well put together, has three stunning colour options, a large ink capacity, is very pretty and comfortable, and is priced reasonably based on what it's available with, I think.
My warning from the Ogiva Alba review, should you select an extra-flessible nib:
Just be gentle with the extra flessible nibs - don't treat it like a steel flexible nib. It's much softer and requires much less pressure to flex it fully.
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