Enso Japanese Ebonite Pocket Pen Review: Small Body, Full-Size Writing

Introduction

Pocket fountain pens usually force a compromise: they are easy to carry, but awkward to actually write with. The Enso Japanese Ebonite Pocket Pen takes a different approach. Screw the cap onto the back of the barrel and it posts into a normally sized, comfortable pen, then unscrews back down to something small enough to forget in a jacket pocket. It is made of Japanese ebonite, which keeps the weight low and gives the material an interesting texture that is cool to the touch. Here is what it is like to live with, what it does well, and where it falls short.

Who This Pen Is For

This is a pen for people who genuinely want a pocket pen. If you like carrying a fountain pen daily, want something that disappears into a pocket, but do not want to write with a stubby barrel all day, the posted form factor is the whole appeal. It also suits anyone drawn to very light pens and to ebonite as a material. The eyedropper capability will appeal in particular to artists and urban sketchers who want more ink capacity than a cartridge can offer.

What the Enso Japanese Ebonite Pocket Pen Is

The pen arrives in a simple cardboard box with a small ziploc bag around the pen itself. Next to a standard pen like a Pilot Metropolitan, the pocket model is clearly smaller, which is rather the point. The cap top is a solid piece of ebonite with nothing special going on in the finial, and there is no clip, nor is one available. The cap tapers down nicely, and the barrel ends in threads for posting.

The idea is that you do not use it unposted. Instead you screw the cap onto the back of the barrel, and you end up with a normally sized pen. Interestingly, posted it is actually a little bit bigger than a regular-sized pen uncapped, and that regular pen does not really post itself. The section tapers down and then flares out a bit, and inside there is a plastic feed, likely ABS. The barrel comes pre-treated with silicone grease and a rubber o-ring, so you can eyedropper-fill it if you want, which holds notably more ink than a cartridge. Fitting a converter is not easy; squeeze-type converters exist but are fairly useless, so if you want capacity, eyedropper is the way. Just be careful not to accidentally unscrew the section from the barrel while handling it filled.

Nib and Writing Performance

The pen uses a Bock steel nib with a black coating, available in extra fine, fine, medium, and broad, and there is a titanium nib upgrade for $40. In fine, the sample unit ran quite dry when writing with no pressure: the tines slit was too tight, so the ink flow stayed stingy until you added pressure, at which point it immediately wrote wetter. Reverse writing was possible but the nib ran dry very quickly.

Worth noting: the same black fine Bock nib on the full-size ebonite model from the same maker wrote fine without pressure, so the dryness appears specific to this particular pen rather than the nib model in general. A small amount of leakage was also noticed when unscrewing the barrel, nothing dramatic, but a small reminder to check things over when it arrives. The included cartridge ink was some sort of black-grey.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The price is the main sticking point. The cheapest way to get the pen was $79 through its Kickstarter campaign, and that is not cheap for a small pen with a steel nib. You do get a good amount of functionality for it: eyedropper capability with a pre-installed o-ring, multiple nib options, and the titanium upgrade path. One compatibility note if you are considering both sizes: the caps and threads of the pocket pen and the full-size pen are not interchangeable in either direction, so do not count on mixing parts. Also note the posting is secure and comfortable, but if you strongly prefer writing unposted, this pen is not designed for that.

Buying Advice

If you want a genuinely pocketable ebonite pen that becomes a proper full-size writer when posted, this delivers exactly that, and the very light weight and pleasant texture make it easy to enjoy. posted, the number six nib looks good and writes comfortably, and the triple filling options (cartridge, small converter, eyedropper) add real flexibility. If you are sensitive to dry nibs, be prepared to have the flow adjusted, and weigh whether $79 feels reasonable to you for this format. The titanium nib upgrade at $40 is a cool option if you want to step up the writing feel.

Conclusion

The Enso Japanese Ebonite Pocket Pen is a charming, super-light ebonite pocket pen that posts securely into a comfortable full-size writer, with eyedropper capability and a big-for-its-class number six nib. Its main caveats are a dry nib on the sample unit, no clip, and a $79 price that is not cheap for a steel-nibbed pocket pen. If the pocket format and ebonite appeal to you, it is easy to recommend with those trade-offs in mind.