Dr. Brown, I have been following you now for about 12 years and love all your videos. Not only are they informative they are also entertaining. I agree that some pen collectors can be rather snobbish, we all don't have big pen budgets. Looking forward to an other, at least 12 years of your videos.

Thank you for this video, especially your thoughts on the last two questions. "Influencers" have definitely changed a lot of niche areas since the coming of social media, and within fountain pens, I credit social media for helping me into the hobby. And everyone has a place in this hobby - those who only use Preppy's or Kakuno's or Jinhao's, and I love how you said your collection is carefully curated (and not showy). As a fellow KZfaqr (and Albertan - up in Edmonton), you are so right in that kind comments can truly make our day. So thank you for this!

Thanks for your comments on several issues. Without you neither viewers would exist! So, Sincerely, thanks.

I understand the appeal of bigger nibs, i also prefer #6 over #5 (or most nibs over Parker's IM small nib). Yet the #10 seems outrageously big and uncomfortable, since part of the hand stays on the page, yet the fingers on the section are farther from the page

Thank you for sharing. You are so right. I‘ve come acrossed people being frowned upon for using knockoffs and not having Pelikans or Montblancs (mostly in German communities). And I‘ve often seen people feeling bad for just having this or that. It’s crazy and no one should feel like that. I‘m very fortunate to be a part of a community where that doesn’t occur and I really cherish that.

I just really love your videos. I have watched them for many years. Thank you for making them ❤️

Thank you for your contributions to this community because you have a voice I respect and trust.

Thank you so very much for the content that you create. For me, it's informative as well as entertaining. You also add a special "secret ingredient - You" (as you did in this video) when you share who you are, truly and sincerely.

I enjoy these very much. Thank you! Always good, thoughtfully presented information, but also an example of an intelligent, civilized man. Ahhhh!

Thank you for another entertaining and informative video! It is always a pleasure to listen to your thoughts, giving food for own thoughts. Keep on doing your great videos! 👍

Thank you doctor. Great video. Great thoughts. I wish you lived in the neighborhood. You seem like a great guy. I appreciate your humor and directness in presentation. Cheers.

Thanks, Dr. Brown. Appreciate your sentiments about being satisfied where we are in our individual pen journeys. It is sometimes gets to be a bit much to watch unboxing after unboxing, but I also take into cosideration that some of the folks work hard to get the funds together to acquire those pricier pens. Have put myself on a pen-and-ink-buying moratorium for the time being. It's good to take a breather and enjoy what's already in the collection. Always enjoy your videos -- also the ones re: stoicism.

@6:35 Neodymium is the element used to make strong magnets that you were thinking of

To me, the appeal of a bigger nib is that I don't have to squish my hand down as much to get the nib to touch the paper. You can of course grab the pen further up the barrel, but that does things to upset the balance in my experience. Conversely, with a nib like the MAG 1000's, I would drag the tipping across the paper between words when I'm actually trying to lift off, so that's also a no-go at the other extreme end of the spectrum.

Totally agree with your answer to the last question. Looking down upon someone for using inexpensive pens is not cool at all in my opinion. I've been collecting since 2006 and gone through several phases in the hobby. At one point I used to think that one should move over to using expensive gold nib pens eventually. Then I met a very accomplished gentleman with no obvious financial constraints whose policy it was to collect and use pens that are less than $100. He won't buy a pen over $100, it was just his thing. That made me pause and think about why anyone would use a certain pen at a certain budget in a very different way and not judge anyone. Pen enthusiasts come in all sorts of types and flavors, we may agree to disagree and be happy about it because it is each one's uniqueness that keeps things interesting, isn't it?

Thank you for this. There has been a bit of a backlash against some of the KZfaqrs that are into fountain pens more as an extension of a general interest in journaling and stationery than any desire to be professional pen reviewers. A bunch of us did the 8 pen questions hashtag for fun and to allow some people to have a bit of a script to create their first KZfaq video which seems to have angered a few people. I am thinking of putting a trigger warning at the beginning of my videos explaining that I am not claiming to be a pro.

Thank you for your videos. I always enjoy them. Also, I completely agree about influencers. I think the whole concept of influencers is essentially bunch of bunk. I also agree with you about buy and enjoy the pens one has. It does not matter what pens a person owns. If those are pens they enjoy and can afford, that's all that counts. I can appreciate some of those very expensive, beautiful pens but that's not why I use fountain pens. I use them because I enjoy how they write, the wide variety of nibs, and all those bottles of beautiful ink that I have collected and try to match pen and ink. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for excellent videos. BTW, I agree about unboxing videos. :)

Thank you. This new interest has been a lifeline for the past two months, working a job that trades mental health for sustenance, and you are one of the people to have enriched that very interest, given nuance to it and, of course, entertained in the process.

sbrebrown...You are appreciated for you--your personality, information, creativity, enthusiasm, delivery style, and more! Thank You!

Nice to see you again, I don't know why your videos haven't been coming forth because I am subscribed. I always like your content, thanks.

Thank you Dr Brown I really enjoy your videos they always make me laugh and think thoughts

Yeah, size does not matter.

Informative and enjoyable as always. Thank you.

I do enjoy your videos A LOT, your honesty, sense of humor and objectivity keep me coming back. Yes the "hype" surrounding the latest fads is strong, and thankfully through the years I have learned that I do not have to jump on every bandwagon that comes along, but then this is part of the process. Keep doing what you are doing👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Just given my girlfriends daughter her 1st fountain pen. It's only a Parker 25 but she loves it.

Great video as always

I always enjoy your videos. Thank you!

I always learn a lot from your Doctor Brown videos. Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Also with explaining your doubts. Moltes gràcies desde Mallorca.

I love your videos. Thank you for doing all you do! As a new KZfaqr, I agree. Kind comments are SOOO appreciated.

I have a couple of the Jinhao Dadao pens with size 8 nibs and they write extremely well, but otherwise I prefer the look of #6 nibs, which look better proportion wise.

My Monteverde Ritma magnet lost its grip, it was promptly replaced by Monteverde. I have had two of almost 100 bottles developed the Ick stuff you speak of, first a bottle of Monteverde Mercury Noir and about a year later a bottle of Van Dieman’s Mondrian Duck Brest. Van Dieman’s quickly issued a refund. Just now realized I never reached out to Monteverde. Because of the time between the events so do not and because I use a syringe to fill pens I don’t think the problem was a contamination from something being inserted into the bottle.

Anytime I do a Mail time vlog where I get something in the mail and I know what it is I will unbox it and clean it and ink it up and show people all the things in one video I also get very excited when people do purely unboxing videos cause usually what comes next is a video about the product unboxed which is kind of excitng :)

What am I missing about the Schon DSGN Monoc nib? Isn't it a titanium nail for $400?

Great Video! Really love your content! I've been admiring the painting on the wall behind you for many recent videos, and now I see most all of it. The one with colored shapes on a white ground. Can you post a picture of the whole thing? and who is it by?

Mijn leerlingen zouden zeggen: "Kappertje gepakt, meneer?" 😂

As a fellow academic, I wonder what is your discipline? Philosophy? I also enjoy your videos, especially this series. I agree with not getting unboxing videos that are based on no experience with writing and end up encouraging fancy packaging (not very green)… and waste time talking about the knife they are using to open the box, and what they ate for lunch or other trivialities. Have a good summer break.

Hi Stephen. Greetings from the UK. What's your opinion on glass dip pens?

こんにちは ♪ ・Hello, there are people in Japan who collect large pen nibs.Many of them are foreigners.Melt the pen tip to make gold nuggets. This is very unfortunate.Asian people don't know how good fountain pens are.ヴィスコンティ大好きな日本人より。

In my humble opinion big nibs are not good for continuous everyday writing. You have to put a lot more energy into your writing to get big nib pens to write well compared to smaller nibbed pens. Ive owned many big nib pens over the years -- Parker Duofold, Yard O Led Grand Retro, Pilot 845, Pelikan M1000, Sailor King of Pen, etc. All large pens with correspondingly large nibs. I perservered for many years with all of these pens thinking these larger pens were as good as it gets in fountain pens. They weren't. Time and time again I would reach for a pen in the pen tray which had medium sized nibs like the Pelikan M800, Pilot Custom 742, Sailor 1911, Platinum President. My big pens sat unused. I've now sold all my big nib pens including my Pilot 823 which seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment, so many people on youtube rave about. Ilove Pilot pens, nibs -- but hated this model with its extra large #15 nib. I tried so hard to love it I even brought a second one years later after I had sold the first one. People should try a pen the Pilot Custom 742 with its smaller #10 nib. A truly wonderful pen so much nicer to write with than a 823. So my message is don't fall for all this big nib, big pen 'hype' being pushed by so many pen aficionados, especially I must say many newly intoxicated fountain pen owners who gush over these big expensive top of the line pens. The most important thing in selecting / buying a pen -- should be whether you actually like writing with it -- not how it looks. So many people seem to over look this very important point.