Review by Laura Cameron
Have you ever tried a subscription box for something you love? We were sent an Inkredible Box from Truphae for the purposes of this review, and I was super excited to see what they’re all about!
Truephae is a small pen and stationary shop located in Greenville, South Carolina founded to share a love of fountain pens and writing instruments (and paper and cases and other accoutrements) with everyone. The Inkredible boxes were created as a monthly subscription for fountain pen lovers or new collectors to receive a box in the mail with new products to try. There are three levels: The Inkmeister ($25 monthly), The Penthusiast ($75 monthly) and The Collector ($125 monthly). We were sent the Inkmeister for this review!
The Inkmeister Box promises a budget fountain pen useful for testing new inks and a selection of inks to try. The box we received had a Baoer Carbon Fire Fountain Pen ($15.95) and 5 samples of J. Herbin Inks.
This was my first time using a Baoer Carbon Fire Fountain Pen, and actually the first time I had heard of the brand. The pen feels like a metal body, with a carbon design on the barrel, rose gold trim and a gunmetal cap. The nib is a standard steel nib iridium point in Fine. The cap is a snap cap, and is postable (with another snap!) but rattles a bit when posted, so I chose not to. The pen comes with a converter, and I went ahead and filled mine with J. Herbin Blue Pervenche, which was included in the samples. The ink flowed through the feed to the nib easily, and the nib wrote fairly smoothly. Overall, I would say it is a perfectly adequate pen to get someone started into fountain pens, and probably a good pen for testing out those sparkle inks!
As I said, the ink samples included were selections from J. Herbin (the inks included change each month) and there was a nice variety of colors included.
Overall, I thought the presentation was fairly good. I could make a few suggestions – perhaps a cardboard insert in the box with slots for the ink samples and a slot for the pen would make sense and keep everything a bit better organized. Although I love that they included a card with the ink swatches and names (and each sample tube was numbered) I think labeling the tubes themselves, even with printable Avery labels, would help ink collectors identify them in the future.
Finally, I’m left to decide whether I think monthly fountain pen subscription boxes are a good idea. The answer is: it depends. I think a subscription box is a fabulous gift for someone who has expressed interest in fountain pens, or who is new to collecting and eager to try a wider array of inks and pens. However, I do think that after the first (or second? third?) box the journey becomes a bit more personal and enthusiasts would likely prefer to pick out their own pens and inks, so I’m not sure that a subscription model is sustainable. If the goal is to get new users or dabblers more interested in fountain pens and more knowledgeable about Truphae through the box, and then draw them into the shop to select their next pens and inks, then I think that’s more of a winning model.
What do you think?
- Papers: Ghost Paper Notebook ($25)
- Pen: Baoer Carbon Fire Fountain Pen ($15.95)
- Inks: J. Herbin
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
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