Lamy Safari, My All Time Favourite Fountain Pen

If I have to name one pen as my all time favourite, I will name Lamy as the one without a second’s hesitation. There are close competition from the likes of Pelikan M200, TWSBI Diamond530 & 540, Sheaffer Targa, Polit Namiki VP, etc. but it is Lamy that I go back again and again to. Also, I have lost the maximum number of Lamy Safaris to friends and strangers stealing them or simply taking them away. I have also gifted a number of Lamy, mostly Safaris to young students and those whom I motivate to use fountain pens.

My first Lamy was a red Safari with a converter. I first got a chance to try out a Lamy Safari when I saw Mr. Arun Shourie the redoubtable investigative  journalist while on his visit to Guwahatti, Assam, where I was posted during the turbulent days of Assam Agitation. I was simply floored by the smoothness of the nib and the smug way the section fitted into my grip. I decided then and there I must have one of these. During the early Eighties, pens or for that matter any foreign item was not easy to come by in India. My desire had to be suppressed, at least for the time being.

That was till I was introduced to the Vandana Book Shop in Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi. This small book shop is a remarkable place if you are a pen aficionado. I know of no place in Delhi where you can get almost any international brand pens. If they are not readily available, it shall be produced on order, God knows from where! Have you an antique pen that needs restoration with TLC? This is the place for that too. As I walked into the store once I saw a red Lamy Safari being put back into the case. Obviously, someone had just seen it and did not buy. I jumped at it and almost snatched it from the gentleman’s hands. Thus I came to possess my first Lamy Safari, one among the many that I was to own over the next three decades.

This pen I lost to a visiting family whose son took an immediate fancy for it and chose to put it in his pocket without even so much as asking! Currently, I have only one Safari with me. A dull gray affair compared to all the other flamboyant colours like yellow, blue, red and metallic charcoal. It has a medium nib and is fitted with a converter.

I also had a set of White Safari and Ball pen, but the pen is gone and I am left with the Ballpen. I was gifted a Vista Clear Roller ball Pen, which is with me resting in a large pen holder cup  and under frequent use.  My red Lamy Safari 0.5 mm Mechanical pencil is also among my favourites. My search for a 0.9 mm pencil has still not yielded results. Another Lamy in my arsenal is a gray Tipo roller ball pen.

I do not need to comment on the legendary writing qualities of Lamy Safari. On a personal note, what makes Lamy my favourite pen is the perfect grip that I get from the peculiar shape of the section. I find the ink flow of the Fine and Medium perfect, though I have never used a Broad or Italic nib of Lamy. I also love the smoothness of the nib, the way it glides over even poor quality paper. Government of India and the State Government of Haryana use very rough quality noting sheets for official file works. I have used Lamy pens in office work for nearly 30 years. Even those papers could not take away the sheer pleasure of writing with a Lamy Safari.

Lamy Safari is also a very tough pen, capable of withstanding quite a bit of rough handling. I have carried Safaris in my shirt pockets on wildlife photo tours, travel to Khardung La, the highest motorable road on earth and even had them lying around in closed automobiles left in the summer sun of India with outside temperature in the regions of 45 Degree Centigrade! Not that I would recommend such unkind treatment as a routine affair to anyone, but it just happened once. I am glad to say, at the end of the day, Lamy continued to perform as if nothing happened!

The less expensive Safari shares crucial mechanisms like nib, feeder and converter with its more expensive brethren. So in the final count, whether you stick to Safari or opt for the more costly version of Lamy writing instrument is simply a matter of style, not substance.

The toughness and the quality of writing are the reasons why I always recommend Lamy Safari as the first pen for anyone newly wanting to join the fountain pen users ’club. Except for just one person, all to whom I have recommended Lamy Safari have loved the pen.

Rotring Freeway Fountain Pen

Most of us know Rotring as the manufacturers of technical pens and mechanical pencils, mostly used by draughtsman and designers. The German company are indeed the makers of the finest such drawing and sketching instruments since 1928. I remember owning a 0.5mm technical pen during my cartooning days way back in the Sixties.

While looking around for a sturdier replacement for the Camlin clutch pencil, which I had got addicted to from my school days, I ran into the familiar Rotring logo on a clutch pencil. Needless to say, I grabbed it straight away and this has been on my desk since then, except when it is in my pocket or bag.

I also have the famous Rotring Tikky mechanical pencil. Mine is a bright yellow with the mandatory red ring and takes 0.5 mm lead.

I however prefer the Clutch pencils to the mechanical version. Firstly, it allows me any width from needlepoint to 2mm or even more if I can use it sideways! Secondly, it is stronger than the 0.5 or the 0.7 mm lead, which tend to break off under pressure. They also demand to be extended in small precise increments and at frequent intervals.

Compared to classic wooden pencils, the clutch pencil helps me do my small thing to save trees and also makes carrying sharpeners unnecessary. Another gripe I have about wooden pencils is that as the length shortens due to sharpening, the balance changes affecting my output. The shorter they get, the more difficult for me to use.

I had not seriously considered buying a Rotring fountain pen though I was aware of their existence.  The other day, my wife dropped me at Ansal Plaza Mall in New Delhi and went off to meet her doctor. I was left with two hours to kill. After finishing my small little errands at the Mall I had to loiter there for more than an hour. That is when I spotted this small little Stationary shop, T-zone. Mr. Tiwari the shop owner is knowledgeable about pens and himself is a dedicated fountain pen user. He has a decent collection of fountain pens on display. I later discovered he had many more tucked away in boxes.

I was attracted to the Rotring pen more by its unusual colour and finish. The pen has a matte finish Burgandy Red Aluminium body with brushed steel trimmings. A very handsome pen indeed.

You hold the pen in your hand and immediately it speaks to you. At least it did to me and asked me to buy it. Who am I to resist such an invitation. Of course the fact that it cost me only INR 500 (under US $ 10, compared to the ebay price of $29.97!) helped.

The Aluminium body and cap are heavy giving a feel of solid and expensive pen. The section and nib are stainless steel, in shining contrast with the rest of the pen’s matte finish. The only choice of nib was ‘F’ in this colour. Another thing you notice is the top of the nib is plain devoid of any writing to accentuate the shining steel effect. The word Rotring is printed unobtrusively in fine letters on the left hand side and the letter f on the right hand. Very clever indeed!

Pen comes with one Standard International short cartridge filled with blue ink. The cartridge does not have any marking on it to identify the manufacturer. The colour of the ink is a deep blue, probably looking a shade lighter due to the fine nib.

The design of the clip is also different from the run-of-the-mill under $20 pens. It grips the fabric of the shirt pocket quite nicely without too much of pressure, just enough to hold it firmly.

 As for the writing, it is a glider. As smooth as it can be. The ink flow is decent for a fine nib, not too wet but never dry. I have tried with the ink that came with it, but will soon refill the cart with my favourite test ink, the Waterman Florida Blue. BTW, waterman who makes such well crafted fine pens and arguably the best ink in the world should pay more attention to the quality of the package in which the ink is sold. To my mind, Waterman ink bottle cover is one of the cheapest looking, flimsiest and badly printed covers of all Inks including the really cheap Indian counterparts.

And would I buy it again? As of today, Rotring has stopped production of this line of pens. This pen should be a good addition to one’s collection, not merely for the quality of wrting, but also from a collector’s point of view. The Rotring 600, another model discontinued an year or two back commands premium price on ebay!