Every two weeks, I rotate four pens into my daily carry, and one of them inevitably demands to be written about rather than just written with

Something about it catches the light differently, or the ink does something unexpected, or I simply find myself reaching for it more than the others

When that happens, I pay attention

I have more pens than I do hands (significantly more) and I want to write about them. These aren’t reviews; more pensive thoughts, or inky meditations

If you’re looking for nib measurements and posting lengths, you’ll want to look elsewhere

If you want to know why a grown adult gets unreasonably excited about a £9 Chinese demonstrator pen the size of a small thermos, then you’re in the right place

But first, let me tell you about coming back

Full writing sample

I stepped away from fountain pens for a while. Not dramatically; I didn’t sell everything or declare myself “done.” I just reached a kind of equilibrium where I had the pens I needed, and buying more felt less like discovery and more like accumulation

Life happened. Attention shifted

After I graduated my Master’s and I went into the big wide world of adult work (what a scam), I didn’t really know how to use my pens; I wasn’t sure where they fit

Then, last year, it came back

Not gradually. All at once. That specific itch where you start researching pens like you’re planning a heist, falling down rabbit holes at 2am, mentally calculating how many you can justify buying and whether you need another bottle of pink ink

(Yes; you do)

As it turns out, I’d been away long enough that the landscape had shifted. The pens I remembered from “my day” (Christ, I sound old) weren’t the only game in town anymore. TWSBI was still doing their thing, sure. Kaweco. Lamy. The usual suspects bringing out the same models dressed in different colours

But the Chinese pens? The Jinhaos, Majohns, Asvine… and all those brands I remembered as “decent budget options if you’re curious”?

They’d leveled up

Significantly

I was seeing pens with custom-sized converters that screw into the section, #8 nibs, demonstrators that used to cost you Opus 88 money and quality control that doesn’t feel like a gamble anymore

A friend lent me a handful of oversized Chinese pens last summer. If you handed these to me five years ago, there’s no way I would have believed these were from the same brands

I have made a list of these pens and I’ll pick them up eventually, but there was one that stuck in my mind and I knew it was going to be the first in the basket

Let me tell you all about it…

The Jinhao 9019 is large

Not “oh, this is a bit bigger than I expected” large. Proper large. The kind of large where people notice it on your desk and ask questions

(and not in the way of when they see a TWSBI Eco on your desk and ask if it’s a vape.. We’ve all been there)

Jinhao Pen Comp

The model I was lent was a solid red that honestly made it look like a urushi Namiki Emperor (a fraction of the cost but 100% of the size). I liked this, but a pen of this grandeur I kinda wanted in a full demonstrator barrel

And that’s what I went for

I used to hate seeing converters in demonstrator pens. Preferred piston fillers exclusively; the converter felt like it interrupted the clean lines, like seeing the scaffolding behind a magic trick

But there’s an industrial quality to it now that I appreciate. Mechanical visibility. A bit steampunk, maybe? Watching the converter do its thing, seeing the innards of this gigantic pen just there in full view.

The only colour comes from the gold trim (I prefer the gaudiness of the gold on these sorts of pens) and whatever ink you’ve loaded into that oversized converter sitting proudly in the middle of the barrel

The converter is the other star of the show. It’s not your standard international converter, which is what all these Chinese brands used to ship with, but it’s custom size and screws into the section rather than just press-fitting in

Like.. Dude.. What the fuck? Are you sure this is a Jinhao?

There’s something deeply satisfying about that level of specificity in a pen that costs less than a decent lunch

But wait! There’s more!

The nib on some of these pens is also unique, with many being fond of the 9019 for its “heartbeat nib”. Unfortunately it seemed to be a tradeoff - either have a demonstrator or the heartbeat nib

I wanted both. I chose the demo

(Clearly.. ha)

It’s marked as an EF. It writes more like a Western F or M; fairly thick, generous ink flow. I prefer finer nibs generally, but I don’t mind this. The writing experience is pleasant. Smooth. Good flow. The pen feels balanced in hand despite (or perhaps because of?) its size

Jinhao Nib Pic First

Despite the girth, there’s not much heft to it. It’s surprisingly light for something this substantial-looking. Neither good nor bad; just notable. I imagine it would be excellent for someone who struggles with hand fatigue or arthritis, though that’s not (touch wood) a concern of mine

I inked it with J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen

A bright, unapologetic pink. It was the second ink I ever bought (alongside Diamine Grape, which is currently in the Majohn V60, the other new pen I picked up) and this combination felt fitting for a “coming back” moment

Jinhao Nib Pic Second

Of the four pens in my current rotation, two have dark inks and one has a muted blurple. This vibrant pink stands out and it demands attention

Less than ten quid for a pen the size of a small thermos with a custom converter and a #8 nib.

It’s a bit absurd, honestly

It’s also exactly the kind of thing that makes me remember why I got into this hobby in the first place. Not the careful curation or the end-game acquisitions or the perfectly sensible rotation of dependable workhorses

The sheer delight of discovering something that shouldn’t work as well as it does. Of being surprised. Of going “wait, this costs how much?” and immediately wanting to tell everyone you know about it

I’ve been listening to The Pen Addict podcast catching up on recent episodes, and there’s been a lot of discussion about 2026 shaping up to be the year of “use what you have” as price increases seem to be making us reassess what’s worth spending money on

Fair enough

But these Chinese pens are worth exploring. Some of my favourite pens are from brands like Wingsung (notably the 618) and I already have a list of others that I plan on buying at some point. Not immediately, but sometime during the year for sure

Jinhao V60 Comp 2