ēnsso PIUMA fountain pen

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While I've long been a Lamy devotee (the AL-Star with a fine point nib is my go-to), I'm always looking – often in spite of myself - for the next object of devotion. While I can't recall where and/or how I happened upon ēnsso’s PIUMA pen, billed as

"...an investigation of liberating a fountain pen from all unnecessary components and ornaments. PIUMA is machined out of solid blocks of titanium, brass, and aluminum using the latest CNC technology. In order to provide an incredibly smooth writing experience, PIUMA is also equipped with the finest German-made nibs."

it's come the closest of recent efforts to evoking that devotion – and in a relatively short amount of time: despite my lacking-in-detail photo above (I'm never giving up my XR, not until it gives up on me), it's truly a beautiful pen.

A few things, though, have given me pause.

  • One, it's heavy and wears out my increasingly arthritic hands. Anything but its translated namesake.

  • Two, it's a bit scratchier than I'm used to – but then again, Lamys are notorious for being a much wetter pen; I haven't tried other inks with the PIUMA. I did, however, use one of JetPens’s best tips for getting a scratchy pen to write – making a writing a bunch of eights on a paper bag to polish the nib – and it’s definitely helped.

  • Three, that it's designed to NOT be posted throws me a bit. I have to stop and remind myself to put the cap down someplace that a.) I'll remember and b.) that Kirby won't get ahold of it - both being easier said than done.

Want to give it a few more days for acclimation and try out different inks before rendering judgement. That said, I'm optimistic as to its chances at devotional evocation.