Review: J. Herbin Tempête Fountain Pen Gift Set @NoteMakerTweets

I have used J. Herbin's other fountain pen, and while it is a decent, affordable fountain pen, it is quite small and a bit cheap. The nib is also not the most amazing thing ever. I've had my eye on this Tempête (Tempest) for awhile because with so many other great things - sealing wax, seals, inks, blotters, and more, surely J. Herbin must make a better pen as well!

ABOUT

Body Material: Acrylic
Trim: Chrome
Nib material: Steel + iridium
Filling system: Eyedropper (includes eyedropper)
Cap: Threaded
Posts: Yes, friction
Length (capped): 153.2 mm/6.03"
Length (uncapped nib-end): 136.4 mm/5.37"
Length (posted): 172.0 mm/6.77"
Barrel Diameter: 7.9 - 12.5 mm/0.31" - 0.49"
Section Diameter:10.0 - 11.3 mm/0.39" - 0.44"
Weight (all): 24 g
Weight (cap): 8 g
Weight (body): 16 g
Price: $143.80 USD
Where to buy:

NoteMaker

PACKAGING

This Tempête fountain pen and ink gift set is beautifully presented in a slim, matte black box. The lid has the J. Herbin logo ship in a glossy black printed on it, along with "Depuis 1670". It's large but it has a very interesting look with the glossy black on the matte black. It's a rather sexy box.

Inside, there is the fountain pen, four 10 ml glass bottles of ink, a J. Herbin branded eyedropper, a certificate of authenticity, and a small notebook with brand, pen, and ink details. It's a great set to get you going with fountain pens. Everything is snugly held in place in a foam bed - nice and safe. I would keep this box!

APPEARANCE

I really like this Tempête. The shape appeals to me very much. It has a round cap and barrel, a long, torpedo-shaped end, and a slightly rounded conical finial. The finial is chrome, and is connected to the clip. The clip is probably my least favorite part of this pen - it is short, relative to the cap, unmarked, and has a rather dull shape. I guess it looks like a paddle or something, maybe? I don't care for it, anyhow.

The center band is a wide chrome band near the end of the cap, set almost flush in the red acrylic of the cap. It is engraved with J. Herbin and Paris. I like this - it's simple and smoothly set in the acrylic so it's nice and clean.

The section is pretty short compared to the barrel, and is a solid red like the cap. It is round and smooth, tapering ever so slightly towards the nib and ending in a bit of a flared lip. This part is a bit messy - there are rough parts of plastic sticking out. It isn't terrible, but for the price of the package, I feel like it should look a bit better. At the back of the section, there is an O-ring that is smaller than the diameter of the section so there is a small gap between the section and the barrel threads. An O-ring that fills that gap properly would look better, although this is functional.

The barrel is unbranded, which keeps it clean for looking through and seeing all your ink. Whether you're looking at your ink or not, it shows off the large, clear ink reservoir well. The end of the barrel is a long, tapered, clear, polished acrylic piece. I love this effect, and ink looks great sloshing around in there. The clear block at the end, where ink does not reach, is sort of like a magical fountain pen crystal. Am I the only one who feels this way about these clear end bits?

There are other color versions of this pen, but I really like the bright, cherry red of the cap and section. The clear would be really awesome, no doubt. I like this pen. It's pretty, and the full size makes it look even better than the small J. Herbin fountain pen.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The nib on this pen is fantastic. It is a large nib - I assume a #6? I haven't measured it, but it's definitely larger than J. Herbin's other fountain pen. It is a medium nib, with a single slit and a round breather hole. The center of the nib is engraved with the J. Herbin ship logo, and J. Herbin. One tine shoulder says Depuis, and the other says 1670. Who doesn't want a ship on their nib??

Ok, ignoring how nifty it looks, how does it write? Much better than I thought it would, because I was expecting something like the smaller fountain pen - decent enough but writes like a $10 pen. According to the papers included, this is a medium nib. It is quite pleasant - fairly firm, smooth, wet, consistent ink flow, no skips or hard starts, and it keeps up with normal writing, faster writing, and it doesn't run dry during long writing sessions. Assuming your ink reservoir isn't empty, of course. Although the nib is firm, I can squeeze out a bit of line variation if I really must, except not without a fair amount of pressure.

As an eyedropper, the pen performs well. I didn't have any ink leaking or burping while the barrel was full of ink. If I flicked the pen or tossed it around, a few drops got into the cap, but that's pretty normal stuff. It didn't start blorping ink as I wrote. There are quite a few section threads so with an O-ring and a bit of silicone grease, it seems pretty leak resistant.

IN HAND

The clip, although I don't like how it looks, is great. It's nice, snug, slides on and off pockets, pouches, and papers really easily and smoothly. It's a very useful clip. The section has smooth threads and it is not slippery. I find the lip at the end sharp, and I grip low - over the bottom edge of the section, so that's a little bit bitey. I have to keep pulling my grip back, off the edge.

Unposted, the pen is a comfortable length, weight, and balance. The cap can be posted by friction. The cap is pretty long and it does sit deeply, but it still feels long, top heavy, and for my hands, unbalanced. Given the length, I think most people could use this comfortably in the unposted set up.

The eyedropper that accompanies the pen is cute and effective, although a bit tough to squeeze. Any eyedropper will do, should you lose or break this one. Heck, you can even just pour your ink directly into the barrel from the bottle if you have a good hand. I've tried. Narrow mouths work best to minimize ink disasters. The finish of the pen looks great upon arrival. With weeks of use, I can see the bright polish of the barrel becoming a little dull from all the micro scratches. Fear not: it's still more than clear enough to see your ink!

The four bottles of ink are not my absolute favorite J. Herbin ink colors, but there are so many colors in the line up. I like a few, though. The four colors included in the Red set are: Rouge Caroubier, Rouge Opéra, Rouge Bourgogne, and Terre de Feu. My favorites of these four would be the Rouge Bourgogne, and Terre de Feu - they aren't too light, and they shade nicely.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

Considering 4 x 10 ml ink bottles, an eyedropper, and the Tempête fountain pen, this is a pretty cool gift set. At NoteMaker, four inks go for $21.54USD (or so), and the set is $143, so if we pretend the pen itself is $122, it's an expensive pen. It's an acrylic pen, an eyedropper filler, and has a larger steel nib. Well tuned, looks good, but what do you think? I think the fountain pen is too expensive, but it is a pretty unique pen. The set itself is quite nice, attractive presentation, and it's a great idea for someone who loves fountain pens. Or for yourself, if you want to try the pen and have a few bottles of ink to carry around.

I received this pen free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review.