Friday, January 7, 2011

Mont Blanc Racing Green Review




Well, this is sort of a revisit rather than a review. This ink was produced for a few years I reckon, and was discontinued around end 2009. I had always been intrigued by the scans and photos I saw online of this ink, and recently when I had the good fortune to chance upon a bottle of it at a local MB boutique, I took the plunge.


The name of the ink is quite exciting, and there has been an elaborate discussion on the subject in another review. The ink is a dark mossy green that shades considerably and almost fills up a spectrum of colours from a dark olive green to a black. The most interesting feature about the colour of this ink in my opinion is that it is difficult to classify it as a warm or a cool shade. This is precisely because in my experience the ink has exhibited a particular temperament to appear as both a warm shade of dark green and sometimes a cooler one. The only drawbacks of this colour that I can conceive of is that it's not exactly a regular shade of green and that it often looks a bit dull right next to a brighter shade of green. The ink is very well-behaved and a low maintenance ink- cleaning the pen is hardly ever an issue. Drying time is very moderate. I don't know how much water resistant this ink is. Also I don't know whether anything written in this ink fades over a period of time, I haven't used it for so long- but nothing of the sort has occurred in close to a month of use. On a 70gsm paper this ink neither feathers nor bleeds through.


The Mont Blanc ink bottle is exquisite, and has a sense of luxury about it. The ink perfectly complements that- it's so beautiful. It's a bit pricey, but worth it in my opinion if someone likes the colour. Just like everyone else I also have no clue at all why its production has been discontinued. I certainly bemoan it's premature demise and shall miss it once my bottle is used up. But then I honestly think it's a bit crazy to think too much about it not being around. After all, it's just another ink, however great or ordinary.