Narcos, pens and fountain pens

I am a big fan of the Narcos series and during this long winter break, I had time to watch Narcos Mexico, the third and final season. After 6 seasons of Narcos 3 in the original series where the action takes place in Colombia and the Narcos Mexico, will make a recap of the pens shown on the movie. There were many pens and pencils.

In the original series, first and second season, the action revolves around the Medellín Cartel, and mostly around Pablo Escobar. In the third season the action is shifted in a post Escobar Colombia, to a rival cartel, the Cali cartel.

Murphy and Pena the DEA agents which are trying to take down the Medellin cartel.

 

Looks very much like a Parker Jotter.

The second one not very clear.

A possible silver gold Parker IM ball point

In the third season, the action has shifted from Pablo to the Cali cartel. In episode 3 of the third series there is an insert with president Nixon, signing the act in which American banks have to announce all transactions over 10k $.

 

The act seems to be signed with a Parker 75 

 

The Cali cartel is being controlled is represented by Miguel

He is writing with a Parker Urban Premium

Narcos Mexico, which followed the original Narcos starts with a Parker Jotter used by the director of the newspaper La Voz

A typewriter, a notebook and a Parker. Great setup.

Season 3 of Narcos Mexico, Benjamin, the leader of the Tijuana cartel, receives a gift for his 40th birthday. It is a fountain pen that is supposed to be used by three presidents. It doesn't specify which presidents used it but still a cool gift.

It is not a clear image, it could be an Aurora Talentum. All this just before an intense moment, where in a club Chapo is trying to get them (a lot of shooting involved)

 

 

If you haven't seen the TV series, I highly recommend giving it a try. It is very good and even if you think things or characters will not live up to the previous season, you will be in for a treat.

Koh-I-Noor 5219, 2 mm clutch pencil with metal grip section

I do not think that many people still use clutch pencils, but for those of you who still enjoy them, Koh-I-Noor has you covered with a wide range of clutch mechanical pencils. I have reviewed several of them, at the end of the post there are links to the other pencils.

The Koh-I-Noor 5219 is a typical clutch mechanism, meaning it has the jaws that keep the lead and by releasing them you slide the lead in or out. The pencil comes in five different colors, red, blue, green, purple and yellow.

The construction of the pencil is a mix of metal and plastic. As you can see, it has a shiny metal tip and a knurled grip. The rest of the barrel is made out of plastic, with Koh-I-Noor painted on and the model number 5219.

This particular model features a strong clip  that has stamped on the brand. And as any Koh-I-Noor clutch pencil in the push button, it has a basic sharpener.

This is not the best mechanical pencil you can get from Koh-I-Noor. It has a more modern look but, it is not built at the same quality standards as his brothers and sisters. The knurling on the grip is very shallow. I wouldn't say it is bad, but I think it could have been better. Even so, the comfort during longer writing sessions is superior compared to the vintage styled pencils from Koh-I-Noor which tend to slip in hand due to the fine painted metal.

The jaws that hold the lead, are not perfectly aligned, at least on the model I have. One of them doesn't close all the way, leaving a gap between it and the lead. It doesn't affect the writing in any way as the lead is firmly gripped, but if you care about small details like this it will bug you a lot. I do not know if this a more common problem, or I was unlucky.

Also, the guts of the pencil don't scream confidence, as the lead tube is made out of a soft plastic. I am not saying that this will not hold well over time. I am sure it will, but I would have liked to see a bit more metal in the pencil.

Which are the best pencils?

According to the Wirecutter, the best pencils for writing and schoolwork are:

1) Palomino Golden Bear
2) Dixon Ticonderoga
3) Palomino Blackwing 602
honorable mention Faber-Castell Grip Graphite Eco pencil with eraser

I have to disagree with the author of the article right from the start. No doubt the pencils are great, and appreciated by many people, but saying the best pencil for writing and schoolwork is Palomino, Dixon or other brand is not true.

For writing, people will appreciate a no fuss approach. A pencil that needs sharpening on a regular basis, doesn't have a constant line width, makes a mess on your desk is far from being the best. In this regard any decent mechanical pencil will offer you a better experience to any of the pencils above. The lead advances at a push of a button, shake or automatic. There is no need for sharpening ever, because of this you don't have to carry a sharpener with you. Any mechanical pencil can store a multitude of leads inside, so you do not run out. You can swap the leads with different hardness ones. There are several widths available, from ultra-thin to normal tip size. In general, wooden pencils have a worse grip than their mechanical counterparts. Choose a mechanical pencil that suits you and is comfortable in your hand, and it will remain that way after writing with it, as the length of the pencil will stay the same virtually forever.

Saying that the best pencil for schoolwork and writing is a wooden pencil is the same as saying the best watch for timekeeping is a mechanical watch (insert brand name here). A $20 Casio will be a better watch in regard of timekeeping, or for that matter a cheaper no name digital watch will do a better job keeping time compared with watches that cost thousands of dollars.

I am not saying that wooden pencils or mechanical watches for that matter don't have a place in this world. Many like them, including myself, but I wouldn't go around saying that they are the best for writing or timekeeping. There are other reasons to praise these products and to appreciate them, the craftsmanship used in producing them, the quality, the feeling you get while using them. In some cases, these things are works of art.

The Loop pencil

I came across a modular pencil, called Loop, that reduces waste and extends the life of your stationary on Yanko Design.

When the pencil becomes short, instead of throwing it away and contributing to waste, pollution etc you can use one of these modular designs where you get an extension in different forms, being a cylinder, cap looking, eraser etc.

The design looks rather well. It is a good mix of cool and modern without being extra serious or goofy. I have to say that I like the presentation and the available accessories. You can get a stand for the pencil or a pencil "splitter" (I do not know how to call it)

Others do better in waste management, for example a mechanical or a clutch pencil offers all the benefits with none of the drawbacks of the conventional pencil. So solving a problem that doesn't really need solving is more like an imagination and design challenge than an actual solution. Trees still need to be cut to produce the pencil.

When I see this modular design my mind goes directly to primary school, when modular pencils (of course not of this caliber, all made of plastic, and were horrible for the environment), were in high fashion among the students. The pencils usually had a plastic transparent or translucent barrel and inside there were several very sharp leads held in plastic. And when the lead would dull, you would just pull it out and put it at the back of the pencil.

If you can't imagine it, here is a picture I managed to find online.

I am not so old that clutch or mechanical pencils didn't exist back then but for the kids it was a  novelty and an interesting pencil to dress your pencil holder with

Others have addressed this problem as well, like Faber Castell. They have a pencil extender which can be used as a cap, so you don't damage the pocket or break the lead, if you carry your pencils in this manner. And it also works as a sharpener.

I would say it brings more functionality to the table, but it doesn't have this cool looking design and color scheme. It is less friendly looking and more sober. But what it lacks in the design, it makes up in functionality.

Or you can find many pencil extender designs online

Parker Jotter and Bic in series To The Lake on Netflix

A good series, full of suspense from Netflix, To The Lake, has a few shots of the characters writing in journals or taking a few notes. The go-to ball points as always are the Parker Jotter and Bic ballpoint.

Starting with the Bic, it makes its appearance in an old Russian ambulance

Unfortunately, things end pretty badly for the crew. Not because of their ballpoint choice, I might add.

Second appearance is the Parker Jotter, used for a little bit of journaling.

It seems to be a standard version with plastic barrel, nothing fancy, but a reliable writer.

Jinhao 992 fountain pen

The third in the bunch of AliExpress fountain pen purchases bought for $2.8 is the Jinhao 992 fountain pen. I used the fountain pen for some time now, and I am going to share my experience with it.

The Jinhao 992 fountain pen has a classic and clean look to it. It resembles Sailor and Monteverde fountain pens, but I wouldn't call it a copy, maybe inspired. Also, the design is so classic that you will find parts of this in many other pens.

The Jinhao 992 fountain pen is made completely out of plastic and comes in a bunch of solid colors, translucent or transparent. So, there are a lot of options to suit everyone's taste. For me, the classic black with silver trim was the nicest and classiest looking, so I went with it. I enjoy the look of the fountain pen and the feel in hand, but this is not quite the hole story.

It comes with a fine nib, which is on the small side, as is the entire fountain pent. It has some graphics on it, and it has Jinhao and F are also present. The 992 didn't come with the smoothest nib. It doesn't scratch the paper, it just has more feedback than I would expect from a fountain pen. The flow of the ink is what you would expect from a Chinese fine nib. Fast writing is not an issue with the pen, even though it is not a wet nib. It keeps up with no problem. It is a perfect writer on regular paper, it doesn't feather or bleed trough. Upside down writing is scratchy and extremely dry. It's not a thing that this fountain pen is really able to do it, which is a bit odd for a Chinese fountain pen.

The cap is a screw on, and it takes just a hair over one revolution to take it off. It comes with a strong clip and a trim at the point where the cap screws on the barrel. The trim has the name Jinhao on it and that is about it. There is nothing fancy about it, no motifs or shapes on it. I think the reason for this trim beside the visual aspect is the longevity of the cap. The plastic from which the fountain pen is made doesn't inspire much confidence, and I think it is easy to crack it if you tighten the cap or the barrel a bit too much. Adding a metal ring I think prevents this to happen, as it offers some extra rigidity to the plastic.

  

The barrel has a small cylindrical end, nothing fancy here. 

The fountain pen is rather small, and for long writing sessions is not the most comfortable. You can post the cap securely on the back of the fountain pen to make it a more suitable writer for longer sessions. I usually write without posting the cap, but because the pen is small, thin and very light I use it with the cap posted if I take more than just a few quick jots. The cap has a good airtightness, as the fountain pen sat on my desk for a few weeks without being used and started with no skips when I picked it up to write with it.

The Jinhao 992 was supplied with a converter. And if you take into account that it cost $2.8 shipped, you will see that the shortcomings of the fountain pen are not that bad. It might not last a lifetime, but for what you pay you will get a decent writer.

The addition of a converter is nice, but mine at least is not a very good performer. The ink doesn’t flow liberally inside, and often air pockets are created due to the capillarity effect. Adding something to agitate the ink inside the converter would improve its function a lot. You can add it yourself or just swap it with an international standard cartridge. The Jinhao can't be used with long international cartridges as they do not fit inside.