REVIEW: ESTERBROOK ESTIE HONEYCOMB FOUNTAIN PEN

When Esterbrook -one of the most famous American pen brands from the 20th century- was revived back in 2014, it took the writing community by storm... A storm of criticism, that is! The rights to the Esterbrook brand name were bought by someone with an already so-so reputation in the industry, and the pens that came out of the revival had absolutely nothing to do with the original Esterbrook. To make matters worse, the pens seemed to lack quality, the designs were lackluster, and you could see from a mile away that they weren't even comfortable to write with. Needless to say, the revival didn't last very long, and as soon as the storm arrived, it also died down.

In 2018, Kenro (US distributor of Italian brands such as Aurora and Montegrappa) entered the stage and bought up the name to revive the brand once more, and it's safe to say their effort was received quite a bit better. 

Although before I start, I do want to point out that I was surprised to see Kenro bring back Esterbrook with an entirely different design (at least for the Estie) that STILL doesn't carry any resemblance to the original brand heritage. Although they redeemed themselves by offering an optional section that takes the extensive suite of vintage Esterbrook nib units, I continue to find it odd that Esterbrook's vintage pens had such distinct designs and materials, yet they chose not to incorporate any of that in the new line of 'Estie' fountain pens. 

Look beyond that though, and the Estie is just an overall stunning pen. In a way it does fit in quite nicely with my keenness for minimal design: It's a torpedo-shaped design without even a single piece of metal trim other than the simple, straight clip. The acrylic material is the show-stopper here, the Honeycomb finish is by far the best-looking colorway in their current line-up - at least if you ask me. The warm, golden-brown flecked acrylic is slightly translucent, and the pearlescent bits scattered throughout play nicely in the light.

The Esterbrook logo (which remains unchanged from the original, a nice detail) is tastefully engraved in cursive below the clip and is filled with metallic gold paint to match the rest of the trim and blend in quite nicely with the color of the pen itself.

The gold plating on the clip of my particular pen did tarnish a little bit after a few months of use. Nothing a few seconds of spare time and a polishing cloth couldn't deal with though, and the plating seems to have remained intact underneath. But ideally, I'd rather not see it tarnish in the first place. Then again, the Estie is far from the only (and certainly not the most expensive!) pen where I've seen gold platings tarnish.

Underneath the cap are two metal decorative bands adorning the section, right above, and below the threads. The threads itself are also acrylic, at least on this 'standard'-sized version of the Estie. The small threaded section of acrylic is fixed in place between the two decorative bands by means of a silver-colored metal inner construction. The color of the metal inner barrel shines through the threads, giving it an ever-so-slightly different hue than the rest of the pen. It's a minor nitpicky detail, though. In comparison, the Estie oversized receives all-metal threads.

L to R: Edison Beaumont, Edison Collier, Leonardo MZ Grande, Esterbrook Estie, Lamy 2000, Lamy Safari

Now that I mentioned the oversized version... you'd think the regular Estie would be a small pen in comparison, but interestingly it's not that small after all. Measuring 14.9 cm (6.87") capped, and 12.7 cm (5") opened. It's really quite a large pen already, although in diameter it's not outrageous (1.5 cm at the widest point of the cap). The section is rather long and has a fairly common diameter of 11 mm (0.4").

The section has a very comfortable, subtly tapered shape. It transitions smoothly into the barrel over block threads that don't feel sharp, and a tapered metal ring. The overall weight of the Estie is kept low (24g) especially for such a large pen, which makes for a fatigue-free writing experience. Kenro has put a comfortable pen on the table with the Estie. It's large when capped, but has almost perfect dimensions when uncapped.

The Estie comes with a spring-loaded inner cap, similar to the ones found on some of Platinum's and Wancher's pens. It feels more like the mechanism that's used by Wancher, where the spring is substantially stronger and requires a noticeable push to catch the threads. It's something to get used to, but fact remains: the mechanism simply does what it's supposed to do, and keeps the nib primed to start writing straight away.

The nib of the Estie is of JoWo's hand. It's a stock nib with simple branding laser-engraved on the nib face. I've never been a huge fan of laser-engraved nibs and in this case the combination between the stamped design of the stock JoWo nib and the laser-etched Esterbrook logo... It's not the best-looking nib I've ever seen (although not the worst, either). I do appreciate the fact that JoWo tends to fully gold-plate their steel nibs, instead of doing two-tone designs, which I think does fit the overall design of this pen better. 

As far as the actual writing experience goes though, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. JoWo's broad nibs seem to match particularly well with what I seek in a juicy, smooth, broad nib. The tipping is very round (a lot of broad nibs tend to have a more stubbish shape), which makes for a smooth and uniform line that I quite like with my print handwriting. For the n-th time, JoWo nibs are a bit stiff for my liking, but that doesn't distract from the very pleasant writing experience. This broad nib flies through a converter of ink in no time though, and the metal internal parts mean that you can't convert the Estie to an eyedropper for a higher ink capacity.

Of course one of the main selling points of the Esterbrook Estie - and as far as I can see the only real aspect that ties this pen in with the vintage Esterbook brand - is the option for a separate section (the 'MV adaptor') that can accommodate vintage Esterbrook nib units. This adaptor section costs 40$ (and is unfortunately only available in black) but should be well worth it if you want to breathe new life into the spare Esterbrook nibs that you may have laying around. 

At least for a limited time, when you buy the Estie through selected retailers (in Europe, that would be Penoblo in Germany, who sent me this pen for review), you may also get a little (or rather, quite large) gift with your purchase: a custom insulated bottle (a good quality one, too!) with playful vintage-inspired Esterbrook prints all over it. I was a bit skeptical about the bottle promo at first, but I have to admit that mine has been with me to work every day since - thank you for keeping me hydrated, Esterbrook!

Sure, I could nag on about the fact that Kenro sort of missed the opportunity to shape the Esterbrook rebirth a bit more in line with vintage Esterbrooks, but that doesn't change the fact that the Esterbrook Estie is a very nice pen in its own respect. Both in terms of looks and writing performance, there isn't really anything about the Estie that I didn't like... quite the opposite even. 

Perhaps my only gripe with the Estie is that, while it does a lot of things good - and I don't think you'll be disappointed by it -, it doesn't quite manage to excel or stand out. It makes the 195€ (156$ in the US) price tag feel perhaps a bit on the steep side. Especially since that 100-200$ range is a very competitive category to reside in, with some serious competition from brands like Leonardo Officina Italiana, Franklin-Christoph, Edison, Opus 88... You could even get into gold-nibbed pens for that kind of money.

NOTE: This product was provided by Esterbrook (Kenro) and Penoblo, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links.