Pocket Size Review 41: Stipula Passaporto Baltimore Blue Harbor, Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue
The Baltimore Washington International Penshow, BWIPS for short (pronounced bee-whips), is one of the most important times of my stationery year. It’s almost like a “New Years of the Pens” for me as it was my first pen show back in 2017, just a couple of weeks after I bought my first fountain pen (although I’d been a fan of good rollerballs and mechanical pencils for many years prior.)
The pen we are looking at today came from a BWIPS years before I ever attended. Bert Oser, the man behind Bertram’s Inkwell (which just so happens to be the pen shop I grew up going to) had four runs done of limited edition Stipula Passaportos in 2010 and 2011; one for The Miami Pen show in 2010, and then one each for the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Miami pen shows in 2011. Each edition was limited to 100 pieces. This pen is number 5/100 of the Baltimore Blue Harbor model, with a beautiful translucent blue barrel, and a nice stub nib. It is a very small pen, comparable in size when capped to roughly that if the Schon DSGN Pocket 6.
The pen is designed as an eyedropper, and comes with an actual eyedropper to fill it. It is long enough to take an international short cartridge, though, so I decided to go that route to avoid the mess. Keeping with the pen show theme, I have a cartridge of Private Reserve’s DC Super Show Blue installed, which is almost as vibrant as the barrel of the pen itself.
Bringing everything together, I’m using Field Note’s Coastal: East book for today’s review. In fact, the book I’m using features the Chesapeake Bay on its cover. I’ve done my best to draw local Baltimore celebrity Mr. Trashwheel, as well. The Field Notes Coastal books are nice, but even though I’m normally a fan of reticle grids, I’m finding the strong gradient reticles in this book to be a little distracting. Maybe my tastes are changing, or maybe the book will grow on me over time. We shall see.
