Document Ink Koh I Noor Prague trip

This is a long-awaited moment for me, as I have been looking for this ink from Koh-I-Noor for some time with no success. I could not find it locally anywhere and it was the same story the first time I have visited Prague. It was not available in the shop. On my second visit I did not put much hope in finding it but ... here it is.
And when it rains it pours, I see that the official Koh I Noor website is selling it in Romania as well. For now, it is available only online, but maybe in the future, it will be available in stores as well; fingers crossed.

The Document ink is Koh I Noor's permanent ink. Available in blue or black colors, plastic bottles as the standard Koh I Noor ink, and in a more classic ink well made out of glass which comes in a cardboard box.

I have bought the more "elegant" version.

The inkwell has a classic look to it, with a white label on the face. The logo of Koh I Noor, underneath Document ink is written along with the quantity, 30 grams. 

It is a very dated design, a bit boring but I am not going to judge the ink by its label.

In this setup, it is more expensive. The price was 87 CZK which is 3.42 EUR or 3.82 USD. It is still very accessible but the standard ink is about 3 times cheaper and the quantity is almost double. 

But the comparison is not fair as the standard ink comes only in plastic bottles and not in a more premium glass well. You can "czeck" the standard ink out in this older post.

As I said this is a more expensive ink due to the fact it is permanent and because mine came in a glass ink well. But if you choose to buy the plastic bottle (image of it to the left) you will receive the same formula of ink in a  more economical package, and maybe a nicer design of the bottle and label.
This bottle is 50 ml and costs around 2.10 euros. Much better pricing. If we compare the cost of the document ink in plastic bottle to the standard ink the prices are closer as the standard costs around 1.25eur.

The box is plain white with blue writing. If you get the black document ink the writing on the box will be black. The design of the box is quite underwhelming, I will leave it at that.

And apparently, it is not to be used by penguins?! I did not know why Koh I Noor forbids penguins to use their ink, a bit racist.
But it turns out this means that you should not freeze it.

The ink performs well, as I expected. It works well on cheap paper, it is smooth, it dries fast, and it does what is meant to do. It stays on paper regardless of external factors. It is an archiving ink so it is no thrills. The light blue looks nice but nothing special

The water resistance is excellent. You cant get it out of the paper no matter what you do to it.
I tested it under running tap water high flow cold and hot for 30 seconds.
I also left a piece of paper underwater for close to 10 minutes. The paper was a bit fragile and I just wanted to make sure it does not disintegrate

Before and after pictures.

 

note: I would like to say that the variance in color is caused by the lighting and the camera.

I am also testing the ink's resistance to UV rays. I will be back with the results.

PS. After taking a look at Koh I Noor website I see they have a new ink limited edition. It seems it is in the same plastic 50 ml bottle but the sticker is different.

Mephisto 0.7 Koh-I-Noor Prague souveniers

The second pencil souvenier in line from my recent trip to Prague, is a mechanical pencil named Mephisto.
I will spoil the read saying this is another gem by Koh-I-Noor. I was surprised by how nice the pencil feels and how well it is built.
The pencil features a plastic construction. It is available in different colors, and I chose this incredible dark metallic red color (almost candy apple).

It has a rubberized grip that may not appeal to everybody. Not to mention that the grip seems a bit high and it has an hourglass shape. So you can't really move your fingers too much up or down. It certainly has a sweet spot, it forces you to hold it in the way the designer thought you should hold the pencil.
Besides this, which is not a big deal for me, the rest of the pencil is awesome.

The clip has the name Koh-I-Noor stamped on it. Not too dip, but a nice touch. This is the only place where the name Koh I Noor appears on the pencil. The clips is very solid.

On the barrel, the name Mephisto and lead size are printed in silver lettering. Also, the plastic is color-coded, blue for 0.7 mm lead.

Like most pencils, it has a standard white eraser, covered by a chromed end cap with a hole on top for safety reasons. The endcap slides on and off easily, but not to easy. I did not have any trouble with it falling on its own while in the bag.

The lead is loaded by removing the entire color-coded plastic, along with the eraser and the chromed cap.
The cone tip is stainless or some sort of chromed metal.
It hides a retractable tip that works flawlessly. Either if you hide it or deploy it the action is smooth and does not require any pressure.
And the thing I love the most is the lack of wiggle of the tip. Just after seeing this implementation I can tell the pencil is incredibly well built. Most of the pencils in this price tier and above struggle. Not the end of the world but a definite turn off, especially if you are a stickler like me.

This pencil costs a little more, 113 czk which translates to 4.44 EUR or 4.93 USD.