An absolutely beautiful pen, nice ink, good set.
First the bad: The ink bottle won’t fit the pen nib, only the converter. I’ve seen several online reviews in which the pen came loose from the packaging in shipping. Not only did mine come look, the cap came off. (fortunately, the pen still wrote smoothly.) You will NOT be able to pick the amount of teal swirl on the pen body you get, it will be random. (Mine had very little, subtle bits of color, but I do like it. ) Through FWP, you are limited to the nibs, nothing more interesting like the journaling nib. Don’t care a bit about the pick. See no way to get more of just the ink.
Now the good: It’s a great pen. It’s an outstanding Esterbrook Estie with an FWP flair. Of course, I would prefer there not be the words “Rock Star” under the cap, but I’ll take it. The gold highlights are beautiful also. Esterbrook Esties have a nice, smooth nib, even in XF. They do not have the extremely rigid feel of FWP nibs. You can stare at the pen for a long time and keep finding new, interesting facets.
In addition, it sits as comfortably in the hand as almost any other Estie. If you’re like me, you do hold the pen a little close to the nib, so I can get a bit sore from the ridge in the grip, but this one has a smoother transition than my other Estie.
I also really like the ink. It is a great addition to this edition. Even in an EF, it shows shimmer. It is a deeper purple/indigo than I anticipated, but I do like it. It fits the pen very well.
All in all, an enjoyable splurge.
