So I was in a gadget store and saw they sell an assortment of the Noodler Inks. The sales clerk handed me a new Ahab Flex fountain pen that Noodler is making. He said they couldn’t keep them in stock because people love them. It was less than $20 so I bought it. I bought some “Periwinkle” blue ink too as it had a piston ink system.

So he wasn’t kidding, I’ve read a ton of favorable information on this pen. However, you have to set it up. I found this out after I had already put ink in it, but, despite my best efforts, it would not write. After some more research, I found its important to disassemble and clean the pen initial before putting ink it.

They come apart easily. I cleaned the ebonite feed and the steel nib thoroughly. After a little trial and error, I was able adjust the nib so I could see light through it and reassembled the pen paying attention as to how many of the feeds ribs showed. I ended up filling the pen with Noodler’s Heart of Darkness black ink.

I’ve been using a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen with Pilot ink cartridges for some time. It worked from the get go right our of the box. It has a medium nib where the Ahab is listed as fine/medium. Above are some writing samples. Both write well, but I plan on putting the Ahab through it’s paces. I think it was worth the small investment to give a try.