Review: this pen I waited nine months to open

it looks like string cheese for a xenomorph

My book is published! In e-book/paperback/hardcover/Kindle Unlimited! You can buy it now! (More on that at the bottom, including an effusive thank you!)

Pen-wise, this means it’s time to finally open this pen I bought from Truphae at Black Friday back in November.

I told myself I wasn’t allowed to open it until I actually published my book, as I knew I’d be tempted to bail out during editing and proofing and all the admin stuff you do to actually get it out there. This was some external motivation to keep going.

I’m pretty sure it was a final sale. But even if not, it’s been nearly nine months so I’m very positive we’re out of any return window.

So was it worth the wait? Let’s find out in this super-sized post!

First, let’s open it up.

Inside that hilariously large box was a Pineider Back To The Future pen and also a book. (That’s it. No additional parts or ink with this one. It’s a maximal/minimal approach to packaging.) So I don’t have to keep typing “Back To The Future,” for the rest of this post I’m going to call it the Marty McFly.

The Marty McFly is a limited-edition, piston-filling fountain pen with a MSRP of just under $1,000. I definitely did not pay that and you won’t have to either, as Truphae now has it for $500, but keep that original price in mind. I got the all-black version, of which they made 88 in total (the minimum number for time travel). Remember that, too.

Here’s a glamour shot and current pricing from Truphae.

from Truphae as of Aug 2025

The accompanying book is entirely in Italian and is about Pineider’s history and postwar something something. I don’t know. I speak enough Italian that I could figure it out, but I’ve instead been spending all my time trying to get this pen to work. (THIS IS CALLED FORESHADOWING, BUY MY BOOK FOR MORE LITERARY INSIGHTS.)

It’s a very nice coffee table book, anyway.

Let’s move on to the pen.

First impression: it looks like a cyberpunk bamboo rod. It looks like string cheese for a xenomorph. It looks like a magic wand designed for a Harry Potter/Robocop crossover fan fiction.

It’s a weird pen. Weird enough that I found a Pen Chalet unboxing video from January 2022 and you can still buy it new in August 2025 because in three years they haven’t found 88 people who want one.

The pen’s silhouette is my favorite kind of shape: confusing. The likelihood that it will be comfortable for you to hold is pretty low. It’s pointy and angular and covered in some kind of carbon fiber armor.

Sorry, it’s not carbon fiber; it’s carboiridium. What is that? Let’s ask:

Got it. Basically it’s like Makrolon but for Pineider, which is to say, no one knows because they made it up. It’s like how this blog is made of Worderinium, which is an innovative approach to writing that combines the strength of carbon fiber and the elegance of yelling.

The takeaway is that the pen is really lightweight and has a cool shimmer effect when you move it back and forth in the light. This is rad.

The clip is spring-loaded and relatively strong. It also has a biomechanical, Giger feel.

Functionally, I don’t like it as much as the clip on my (dramatically less expensive) Pineider Avatar (reviewed here, I love it). It doesn’t feel as sturdy, and using it can make the cap rock back and forth due to how the cap/body joint is angled.

To summarize: the pen looks insane and I love that.

Now, let’s talk about how the pen works. (THIS IS WHERE THE FORESHADOWING PAYS OFF. WRITING!)

Pineider is known for its embrace of an experimental approach to pen design, and the Marty McFly is no exception. This pen boldly challenges one of the most fundamental assumptions of fountain pen engineering: that the ink should stay in the barrel until it is needed, in line with the common belief that fountain pens basically function as a controlled leak.

The Marty McFly hears that and responds: yeah, but what if it wasn’t?

What if every time you tried to write, the feed filled up with ink? And then, when you put the pen right-side up, the ink went back in the barrel? Wouldn’t that be cool?

this is the best i could do in GIF format

And, I mean: kinda!

As of this writing, I’m not really sure if the pen is supposed to work this way or if there’s an air leak. I do know that I own about 100 fountain pens and this is the only one that has ever done this, with internet consensus being “it has a leak.”

It doesn’t actually drip on the page—the pressure seems to equalize when the feed is full—and the end result is the most ridiculously wet pen I’ve ever used. Like, writing with a dip pen. It’s nuts. It can spatter if you write with enough passion, which, sono italiano quindi si. But if you like a super saturated line, the kind where you can see the ink sit on the page and then absorb, this is it.

If there’s a leak, it’s coming from the piston; I went through basically every iteration of silicone grease and swapping out compatible parts/nibs to confirm that it’s not the nib unit. Which is super great since I have no idea how you could take this thing apart to grease/fix the piston. My local pen show is next month and I’ll probably bring it in for one of the repair guys to take a look if it’s still doing it and causing problems—right now I’m on the fence.

Of course, if it’s a leak then it’s pretty understandable. Pineider made 88 of these things! That’s so many! You can’t check them all, you know? Especially if the MSRP was only like $1,000. Obviously you’re going to have to compromise somewhere.

For example, how the parts fit together. You could compromise there.

See this?

The cap doesn’t line up with the body. It’s slight but noticeable when the pen is closed. ENHANCE.

It’s more noticeable when you post the cap.

As far as I can tell this isn’t a problem with how the pen was cut; if you line it up manually, the cut seems to be pretty solid. The problem is that it’s also a magnetic cap, and the magnet is so strong (good! secure!) that it yanks the cap a little further than flush (bad!). I can believe that the other issues could have come from the pen just sitting unsold for so long, but this is a design thing.

It’s also a small thing. Who cares? No big deal, as long as you don’t do something silly like try to market the pen based on how precisely the parts fit together—

—oh okay nevermind.

Speaking of that marketing blurb: let’s talk about the piston.

The piston is half-obscured by the carboiridium sheath, which makes it really important that it functions smoothly as you have to spin it with your thumb—you can’t easily grab it with your thumb and fingers like basically every other piston-filling pen.

You know where this is going. The one I have is jerky. It was totally stuck out of the box and when it first started moving I thought I broke it, which is always a fun experience. This could have been caused by it sitting unsold/unused for nearly four years and is honestly a super easy fix that I could do myself if Pineider included any instructions or tools on how to take the pen apart, which, you know, they don’t. If anyone comes across any videos where someone disassembles one, please post it in the comments—I haven’t been able to find any for this pen.

Also: Since this is a piston filler, you submerge the nib in ink to fill the pen. The Marty McFly adds a fun extra step to this process: using the edge of a paper towel to clean out the ink that gets in this gap between the section and the pointy sheath thing.

Moving on to the nib: The nib is a 14k gold “Quill” nib. It’s ridiculous. Good ridiculous. It’s like a Sailor 21k nib (reviewed here) in terms of feedback, but with a bit more flex than that nib. I got a “soft extra fine,” which due to the ink flow writes like a wet fine, but still. It’s a terrific and beautiful nib.

in the background: visconti iopenna, the gentleman’s desk pen

So: was it worth the wait?

The easy answer is no. I should have opened it right away to inspect it and test it, or used a pen from a different brand as my wait-until-it’s-published pen. This is not the first Pineider I’ve had with issues (like when they coated nibs with some matte black stuff which looked cool but also made the nibs not work).

But also: I really like this pen, man. It’s just so weird and (by sheer luck) it’s a solid size and shape for my hand to use comfortably. I just took it on a plane and somehow it didn’t leak. It looks like nothing else and the nib is so expressive and satisfying to use. The issues are frustrating, but I bought it for the bizarre design and that, plus the exceptional nib, means I’m happy with it (he said, hoping no other issues would arise). I keep buying Pineiders for a reason.

OTHER STUFF

THE MOST THANKS: You guys, I am so grateful for how many of you read and reviewed the book through the advance reader thing. (The reviews are now migrating to Amazon (here’s the link), so you all can read them—thank you 2x to those of you who’ve already reposted yours there! If you haven’t yet, please do!)

The estimated reading time for my book is something like six or seven hours. Unlike with videos and podcasts, reading requires all of your attention. Writing a review—which I’ve been told only 1% of readers do—requires even more time. And a lot of reviews on Amazon are kind of insane.

Your reviews, by contrast, were extremely thoughtful and thorough. They were fair and honest and constructive. I am so excited for them to be out there in the world so everyone can see them. I am so grateful so many of you did that. Thank you again.

PEN MAINTENANCE TIP: Do you have a pen that you struggle to keep clean? Maybe the nib is in there so tight you’ve never been able to remove it for a deep clean?

Have you tried dropping it in the toilet?

For example, when running to the bathroom to grab a tissue to clean the cap, thinking to yourself “I don’t need to put the pen down on the counter, I’m just leaning over to grab a Kleenex, there’s no way I’m going to just randomly drop the pen in the AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.”

Nibmeisters agree: there’s no better way to make sure your pen is fully clean than dropping it in the toilet, panicking, and then dismantling it in a fugue state so you can wash every part individually. Try it out: It will be the cleanest pen you own!

SEATTLE RECOMMENDATIONS: I’m writing from Seattle, where they have nice weather in August! What a great idea! If you have recommendations, I’m all ears. Did the Ballard Farmer’s Market yesterday and was thrilled with it.