Yak Leather Pen Case Giveaway Winner

Sorry y’all, got distracted by the fun of the Triangle Pen Show. The pen case winner….

Bruce! Email me so I can get your mailing address and get this case on the way to you. Thanks everyone who entered :)

Yak Leather Pen Sleeve & Pen Case (with GIVEAWAY)

The good people of the Pen Boutique Ltd. sent me a pen sleeve and a 12 pen case for review. I’ll start with the one I liked, the single pen sleeve in brown.

Fun fact, we can’t remember the last time the complex mowed the grass. I’ve got catnip growing in my backyard!

The leather is smooth and sturdy, with the Yak Leather logo stamped at the top. It’s been a perfect little holster for one of my currently inked clipless Vanishing Points. In spite of not having a secure closure at the top I’ve had no issue with my pen falling out. The stitching is neat and even. And the leather smells AMAZING. I wish there were some way for you to be able to smell this through the internet. It smells like Good Leather. Picture me, sitting at my desk, covertly sniffing this leather pen sleeve, because it’s so good I just want to keep smelling it.

I also kept smelling the catnip. It smelled like mint!

There’s not much else to say about the pen sleeve—it’s a straightforward product, made well. The sleeve, I’m keeping.

Then there’s this 12 pen case.

This could be yours someday, if you’re lucky. Or if you buy your own

The good: it’s also seemingly well made. You’ve got protective cushioning to the covers, two zippers with leather pulls. The leather is a pebbled texture, which I’m guessing will better hide any blemishes it may pick up. The zippers unzip far enough to almost get it to lay flat when open (perhaps with time the leather will relax to do this without needing help). The velvety divider in the middle is removable, presumably so you can use it to lay a pen out on, the better to look at.

Or the better to one day forget to put back in and lose. Hey, look, a size comparison!

Now for the perplexing and annoying. This case is an inconveniently large size to only be carrying 12 pens. I can easily fit 12 pens in a Nock Sinclair and only take up half the space. Maybe if all of your pens are those honking jumbo oversized novelty fountain pens–but even those don’t fit!

I will award points for being unusual, but minus all those points for practicality

The pen loops used here are not intuitive. At first I thought these were just excessively wide leather loops, and this case was only for people who like big, chunky fountain pens. It wasn’t until I saw a YouTube review of the case that I realized there were elastic loops underneath the inflexible leather loops to hold pens in place. But unless the pen you’re putting in comes to a point, you’ll have to use two hands to finagle reaching under the leather loops to hold up the elastic loop and slide the pen in.

It took more time than I feel it ought to putting 12 pens into individual loops

When the case only holds 12 pens, I presume it’s meant to be carried on the go. But this case is too large and cumbersome to properly put pens back into to be one I wanted in my everyday carry. But it might just be me, that’s why I’m giving it away!

You might love it! I might just be crazy!

The rules:

1. Since I can only afford so much postage, I’m going to limit this giveaway to the U.S. only. Just leave one comment on this post any time between now and May 31st 2018 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
2. One winner will be picked at random from the comments section of this post. Only one comment per person! Comments in excess of one shall be deleted. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. I will hand-number the entries because that’s still just how I roll. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. I’ll post the contest winner on June 1st 2018. Winner will have one week to email me. There’s a link to my email at the top of the right sidebar.

Yak Leather Single Pen Sleeve (Brown) at Pen Boutique

Yak Leather Premium Leather 12 Pen Case (Black) at Pen Boutique

(Pen Boutique provided this pen sleeve and pen case at no charge for reviewing purposes — opinions entirely my own)

! 200th Review Giveaway Winner !

WOW!!! There were 177 awesome giveaway participants. Everyone said so many nice things! I wish I could give everyone everything, but I can’t afford all that postage. I do want to thank everyone for entering and especially for all the wonderful comments! Now, for the winner:

jeff, the winner is you

If this jeff is you, please send me an email (link is on the upper right links menu) with your mailing address ASAP! That way I can start wrapping all these goods up, and possibly figuring out international postage if necessary. Thanks again everyone for participating!

Tombow Airpress Giveaway Winner!

I got distracted and temporally displaced, and forgot to announce the winner yesterday! So, without further bibble-babble, out of all the contestants, here is your winner:

 

martha, you are the winner! Please send me an email (link is on the upper right links menu) with your mailing address so I can get this pen to you ASAP!

Tombow AirPress Pen – White (Review & Giveaway)

Lacking a portable scanner with me at this time, I’m having to make do with photographing the writing sample instead

I don’t know if stormtroopers took over Tombow or if the staff there are just being remotely brain-controlled from the Death Star, but I too was contacted to receive and give away a white-and-black version of the Tombow AirPress Pen. Thanks to Tombow for providing these pens!

It also matches my car. I should give more rides to stormtroopers carrying these pens for the ultimate matching experience. More matching than a deathcage match even.

I’ve had some exposure to the AirPress before, evaluating it as a potential motorcycling pen, but I forgot to get around to actually reviewing it. And I have reviewed the similar AirPress Apro ballpoint pen. As I’ve noted before, I like the lightweight, compact body and the grippability of it—both the non-slip surface covering the whole body, and the slightly wider body itself.

I’m not sure if you can really see it, but it is snowing in the background. And foreground. And on the ground

That wider body makes it easy to hold and write with the pen even with gloves on (and in the cold, on wet paper, upside down, etc.).

Why is the arrow pointing? What does it mean???

The lanyard loop I understand. The hinged clip, we’re good. I like the grip, and the windows where you can see some of the process mechanisms that pressurize the ink cartridge. The only thing I don’t fully understand is the little plastic arrow thing on the end of the clip. I feel like it has some secret meaning or purpose and I just don’t get it.

UNDER PRESSURE, pushing down on me, pressing down on you—wait have I made this joke before

Just like the Tombow Apro AirPress, the regular AirPress ballpoint pen does really well with drawing. Each click of the pen (on the retraction actually, unless I’m mistaken) pressurizes the refill for 492 feet of writing. Is there a machine that tests these things? One robot arm holds the pen while another mechanism scrolls several hundred feet of paper by? Or is it just some probably underpaid guy writing the same word over and over until either he snaps or the ink cartridge runs out? The writing smoothness I would rank just under the supersmooth category; not butterglide skatesmoothery, but it’s still good. For the utility you get, there’s not much sacrifice of performance in terms of how the pen writes. I might loan my pen out to some LEOs I know to see how it holds up to some real field work.

What does 492 feet of writing even look like on paper? Has anyone stopped and really consciously looked at 492 feet of words?

Tombow AirPress Pen at Tombow

 

And now, for the thanksgiveaway! Tombow has provided an extra pen for me to give away, so give it away I shall!

The rules:

1. Since I can only afford so much postage, I’m going to limit this giveaway to the U.S. only. Just leave one comment on this post any time between now and Cyber Monday, December 1st 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
2. One winner will be picked at random from the comments section of this post. Only one comment per person! Comments in excess of one shall be deleted. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. I will hand-number the entries because why not. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. I’ll post the contest winner on Tuesday, December 2nd. Winner will have one week to email me. There’s a link to my email at the top of the right sidebar.

Thanks again to Tombow, and thanks to all of you for reading :)

!! 200th Review Giveaway !!

To celebrate 200 reviews’ worth of you all putting up with the haphazardly scheduled posting of my office supply opinions, I’m doing a giveaway! I’ve been amassing this horde for several years, of the choicest goods I’ve ever found on clearance. Mostly from Target, but not all.

That Leuchtturm was an especially good find. Mine has served me well all year.

The goods include:

• Ruled Leuchtturm 1917 Medium Notebook, Black
• 2 Moleskine Extra Small Ruled Notebooks, Green and Purple
• Some Random Turquoise Pocket Notebook from Staples
• One 0.5mm Uni Kuru Toga with extra lead and extra erasers
• One 0.7mm Uni Signo 207 Premier Black Gel Pen
• Pentel Hybrid Technica Set (0.3mm, 0.4mm, 0.5mm, 0.6mm)
• One Wonderland Paperchase Cartridge Fountain Pen, with cartridges
• 4 Sharpie Pens, assorted colors
• 3-pack of Pentel Hi-Polymer Erasers
• Set of Assorted Scented Holiday Pencils

And I may throw in some other Pentel pens and/or pencils as strikes my fancy. Whoever wins, wins it all. THIS GIVEAWAY SHALL BE OPEN TO THE WHOLE WORLD! I may regret this come postage time, but I want to thank all of you, all over the place.

Tobi is not part of the giveaway, but she did keep trying to step on top of the goods while I was taking the picture

The rules:

1. This giveaway is open to the entire world where mail is receivable! Just leave one comment on this post any time between now and Wednesday, December 24th 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. You have two months to remember to enter! No excuses if you forget!
2. One winner will be picked at random by Santa Claus from the comments section of this post. Only one comment per person! Comments in excess of one shall be deleted. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. I will hand-number the entries in Photoshop because apparently that’s how I roll. All the time. Every giveaway. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. I’ll post the contest winner on Thursday, December 25th. Winner will have one week to email me. There’s a link to my email at the top of the right sidebar.

Ink Drop Soup: Pen Chalet Giveaway!

A giveaway that I don’t have to run??? Yes, awesome, sign me up and sign you up, too. The folks at Pen Chalet are having a gift card giveaway which you can enter here. They’re also offering a 10% discount to us all! :) The coupon code is NOPENINTENDED

 

Good luck!

Grandluxe Dialogue Quotes Soft Notebook Giveaway WINNER

I wish I could give everyone notebooks. But, I can’t. Here are the numbered entries, and here’s the winner:

A winner is you! Provided that this is you! If it’s not you then my apologies!

Congratulations, Rose! Email me as soon as possible (link in the upper right links menu on the webpage) with your contact information so I can mail you this notebook and hopefully it will go on to a better life with you! Everyone else, thank you for entering!

Billet Pens and Markers Kickstarter Giveaway WINNER

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway, and a big big thanks to everyone who went and backed the project!!! YOU ARE ALL SO AWESOME! The Kickstarter was successfully funded! GOLD STARS FOR EVERYONE! Now on to the winner. Here are the numbered entrants, and here is the winner:

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

Congratulations, Tim G! Email me as soon as possible (link in the upper right links menu on the webpage) with your contact information and let me know which pen you want, so we can get this pen to you as soon as possible!

Thanks again to everyone and to Billet Pens!

Ink Drop Soup: Billet Pens and Markers – Kickstarter & GIVEAWAY!

When it comes to Hi-Tec-C pens and Sharpie markers, you’ve got two quality brand lines there with almost endless color choices. With so many colors to choose from, you can never have too many pen bodies to put them in—and just in time for the gifting holidays there’s a new pen body on the Kickstarter scene—the Billet Pen and Marker.

Image credit goes to Cliff/Billet Pens for all these images

The body is anodized aircraft grade aluminum, with five basic body colors (red, black, purple, machined/silver, and matte black) and several laser engraved options. This Kickstarter is going fast, because the creator, Cliff, wants to get these pens out in time for those who make Christmas their #1 gifting holiday—multiple reward tiers are scheduled to ship on the 18th of December. I know what you’re thinking, because I thought it too—the 18th?!? What is this, Chinese factory magic? No, Cliff is a careful engineer and has been working on this project well in advance, stockpiling the pens needed (using a slower laser) to make sure that what he offers will be ready in time.

Two solid choices for refill types; Hi-Tec-C Billet body comes with black, red, or blue option refill

Reasons I’m excited about this pen:
+ Thicker barrel body. Some people like slim and slender barrels—they’ve had their pens made time and again. It’s time for something I can wrap my meathooks around and actually write with for a while, and these look like just the solid-sized pens for the job.
+ Magnets. Magnets are always exciting. Unless you swallow two or more of them, in which case magnets are an emergency.
+ Attention to detail. I asked Cliff if he had made considerations to ensure that the refills wouldn’t dry out after a week, two weeks, a month, or more of not being used, because I have had some problems with Hi-Tec-C refills in alternate bodies going dry if I’m not constantly using them. The Billet pen has a special rubber plug, and the marker has a special inner cap to keep them from going dry.

Did I mention the excellent price? It’s excellent.

This Kickstarter ends Monday, December 16th at 2:59am EST, so get on it!!! That’s not very many days, and the project only has to get to $5000 to be funded! Don’t deny me this pen because you were feeling Scroogey :)

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THE GIVEAWAY RULES!

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To sweeten the spirit of things, Cliff is offering to give away a Billet Pen to one lucky winner! If you win, you get your choice of any of the pens being offered on the Kickstarter! Your rules as follows:

1. To enter, just leave one comment on this post any time between now and Monday, December 16th at 2:59am Eastern Standard Time. Sadly, this contest is only open to U.S. residents (but not to worry, internationals, you can get one of your own if you back the project on Kickstarter).
2. One winner will be picked at random from the comments section of this post. Only one comment per person! Comments in excess of one shall be deleted. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. I will hand number the entries because that’s just how I roll. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.
3. I’ll post the contest winner the morning of Monday, December 16th. Winner must email me as soon as possible! There’s a link to my email at the top right sidebar. I’ll forward your info to Cliff so he can ship you the pen of your choosing!

Good luck! And thank you to Cliff of Billet Pens!