The Laban Mento Terrazzo

Ostensibly, this blog is about fountain pens and the art of the hand written letter. However, I sometimes venture off into other realms of thought and forget to write about writing, so a mini review of my recent pen purchase should, to paraphrase Dylan, "bring it all back home."

The writing instrument pictured above is the Laban Mento Terrazzo marble resin fountain pen. If you are looking for an impressive writing instrument that performs well and doesn't cost too much the Mento Terrazzo may be the pen for you.

In size it's as large as the Montblanc 149 Diplomat. If you are unfamiliar with Montblanc's signature pen let me say this: The Laban Mento Terrazzo is hefty but it's not heavy. (It ain't heavy it's my writing instrument.)

In looks the pen is very retro, and is not as yellow as the photo above would have you believe. The tones are more in the spectrum of blacks, grays and egg shell. What's nice is that the pattern is carried over to the gripping section, which on many of the Laban pens, are black. The clip and the band are made of steel. For its size it is very light in weight so it is not fatiguing to write with for extended periods.

The nib is two toned stainless steel and lays down a line that is on the thinner side of medium. (More like a European medium than an American medium.) At first the pen seemed very dry to me; the ink flow was rather stingy. By slightly increasing the space between the nib and the feed I was able to increase the ink flow. Because the nib is stainless steel and not 14k gold, the pen is very affordable. Over at iSellPens (http://isellpens.com/laban.htm) you can purchase this pen for $69.00. Some dealers are asking anywhere from $89.00 to $125.00 for this pen. Even at $125.00 dollars this still makes for an excellent purchase Have Pen, Will Write

Cliff Jake Jacobs
Scribo Ergo Sum