Let’s take a look at four inks from PenBBS Season 27. I purchased my inks from Vanness Pens, but they are no longer carrying the brand.

Swabs:

Left to right: Cold Dews, Hoar-frost Begins, Winter Begins and Light Snow.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 15-40 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: Winter Begins had low bleeding.

Other properties: Low shading

On Walmart Pen + Gear copy paper there was some feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Light Snow is a little more orangey than Hoar-Frost Begins.

Winter Begins is more grey than these other blue blacks.

Cold Dews is similar to PenBBS 154 Zhu Ziqing.

All had average flows.

Overall, Winter Begins is my favorite out of the four, but I’m not wowed by any of them. They are good standard inks with a little bit of shading.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.