Ensso XS Minimalist Ultem Review: A Limited Edition Pocket Fountain Pen With Character

Introduction

Pocket pens occupy a niche that not every fountain pen fan explores, but the good ones tend to earn a lasting place in a collection. The Ensso XS Minimalist in Ultem is a limited edition take on the small pen format, and it brings a few genuinely clever touches: a translucent amber body, a snap-on clip, and an eyedropper-friendly barrel. With only 150 units produced, it is a pen with some built-in exclusivity as well.

Design and Materials

Ultem is an engineered plastic known for very high strength, excellent chemical resistance, and high temperature capabilities, with a distinct amber color that has made it popular for fountain pens. It is stronger than acrylic and easier for manufacturers to work with, which helps explain why more small-batch pen makers are turning to it.

The translucent cap lets you see the nib sitting inside, and the cap comes to a slight rounded point at the top. The cap and barrel transitions are straight, with a small step down at the end of the barrel that houses an O-ring used for posting. The black accents play nicely with the amber material without standing out too much. One charming detail: the branding is printed on the interior of the section, hidden from view.

The Clip Situation

This is a clipless pen, but Ensso includes a clip in the box. The concept is similar to clips for the Kaweco Sport: it slides onto the cap and stays put once fitted, requiring a fair amount of effort to remove. The clip is flexible and works easily on materials of varying thicknesses.

On a pen this small, the clip genuinely helps with pocket control, and it works either way. Some pens lend themselves to being clipless, but this one can comfortably go in either direction.

Size and Handling

Unposted, the XS Minimalist is just barely long enough for a quick note. Most of the time, you will want to post it, and the cap snaps on securely with a bit of effort to dislodge. Posted, it comes up to around the size of a normal pen.

The section is very narrow but remains comfortable in use, largely because Ultem offers a very secure grip without needing to pinch hard. Beside the Kaweco Liliput, Schon Design Pocket Six, and Kaweco Skyline Sport, it sits at a comparable scale, and posted versions of all these small pens are fairly close in size to one another.

Nib and Filling

Under the cap sits a diminutive Bock nib, available in fine or medium, in either polished stainless steel or black stainless steel. The included clip matches your nib color choice. This is a cartridge converter pen, and while technically it can take a small converter, those tend to have mediocre performance and tiny ink capacity.

The pen is really designed to accept a standard international converter or to be used as an eyedropper. With the translucent barrel, eyedropping is the way to go. It gives you a decent ink capacity and a clear view of your ink supply.

Inking It Up: Eyedropper Conversion

Converting it is simple. Apply a little silicone grease to the threads, then fill the barrel with a syringe rather than an eye dropper, since the barrel is narrow. Try to get the ink past the threads and keep it off the section threads to avoid a mess when reassembling.

One pleasant surprise: while many eyedropper pens take several minutes for ink to reach the nib, here it happened within seconds, which speaks to good ink flow in the pen.

Writing Performance

The fine nib writes nicely for its size, with a fair amount of feedback and little line variation. With peacock blue ink from Papier Plume, the sample showed some nice shading. Ink flow sits on the light side, and reverse writing is very scratchy, but for fast everyday writing the feed keeps up well.

Buying Advice

The XS Minimalist Ultem is a limited edition of 150 units, sold on the Ensso site for $89. That is on the high end of the valuation scale for a pocket pen, but not unreasonable. A standard aluminum Kaweco Liliput runs around $60, and a more unique material justifies some premium over that.

Conclusion

If you are into smaller pens, the Ensso XS Minimalist Ultem offers something unique: attractive translucent amber material, solid everyday performance, and a clever eyedropper-friendly design. It may not convert dedicated full-size pen users, but for pocket pen fans, it is an easy recommendation.