My experience with the Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue began in primary school. My memory of the cartridges is inextricably linked to that of the Pelikan school fountain pen with which it was used. 

Both pen and ink were an obligatory choice imposed by my teacher at the time. As a result, Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue cartridges, in the classic six-pack, were the only cartridges available in local stationery stores. 

Once I finished primary school, I could switch to black, which, in any case, was always Pelikan 4001 in cartridges. Later, I discovered converters and inkwells, but to use my first ink, which wasn’t Pelikan and wasn’t blue or black, I had to wait until the end of high school. I suspect that what happened to me has happened more or less to all those who have passed the “ante” and started writing with a fountain pen since primary school. 

After all, Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue is the school ink par excellence: it costs little and works very well. It is the fountain pen equivalent of the Bic in ballpoint pens, it is difficult to find a fountain pen user who has not used it at least once, even if only to try a pen.

 You can find it everywhere, if you go into a stationery shop and ask for a pack of blue fountain pen cartridges, without specifying a brand, they will give you a pack of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue cartridges, most likely six. 

Purely scholastic use, excellent quality, widespread use and low price are its advantages, but they can also become its limitations, when using it is not a student but an enthusiast, who might decide to stay away from it, considering it all in all “trivial”. compared to inks of greater lineage and price accordingly, almost as if it were a disgrace to use it to fill a valuable pen. Legitimate choice, as long as, in order not to use it, blame is attributed to this ink that it does not have.

 The Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue is sold in short (6-pack TP/6 or 18-pack TP/18) and long (5-pack GTP/5) international cartridges. In inkwell it is available in the classic 30 ml format but also in 50 and 62.5 ml. 

Those with an insatiable appetite can also purchase it in a liter plastic bottle. It’s not the easiest to find, but once you’ve bought it, there’s enough to fill at least 5000 A4 pages, so it could be at least a few weeks before you need to buy another one. 

It is one of the cheapest inks on the market, the price of the pack of six cartridges varies between 1 and 2 Euros, depending on where you buy it, and that of the 30 ml inkwell ranges from 3 to 5 dollars. 

Its great diffusion has made it much imitated and in fact the standard for blue ink, Royal Blue ink cartridges from other manufacturers can easily be found on the market.

 Presentation

The cartridges are sold in a cardboard box. In the past the box was in the color of the ink: blue and white for blue ink, black and white for black ink and so on. 

For some years Pelikan has been using a colored box, identical for all the shades of the 4001 series, except for the colored band with the ink name written on it. The 30 and 62.5 inkwell has the characteristic shape, which has now become a classic, with oblique sides, which allows it to be placed on one side to catch the last traces of ink. 

The 50 ml one is cubic and has a groove that acts as a pen holder. Sometimes it is sold in a box together with the Pelikan pens of the M series. Finally, the liter “inkwell” is a plastic parallelepiped, with a spout which is used to refill the classic glass inkwell.

Performance

I confess that making an objective evaluation of this ink is far from easy. Not so much because we don’t end up knowing it, having used it in a large number of pens and occasions, but because, it is very difficult to separate the emotional aspects from the rational ones. 

There is a risk of not doing justice to an ink that has been on the market for so many years and is so widespread that it is, in practice, the reference blue ink, the one with which all the others are compared.

Flow

The best definition, in my opinion, is “adequate”. It works great on a wide range of pens, from those with lean flow to those that fall into the “hydrant” category. 

To the point that if I have a problematic pen, I test it with the 4001 to see if the fault lies with the pen or the ink. If a pen goes badly with this ink, it is either because it has some problem, or to work best it requires an ink with extreme characteristics. 

Sometimes, observing how it performs very well in pens with very different characteristics, I had the impression that the 4001 had the ability to adapt to the pen in which it is used. From a theoretical point of view, it is an ink with a medium flow, combined with a reasonable lubricating capacity. 

In practice it seems to adapt to the pen, obviously changing characteristics, in particular saturation, depending on the flow. It rarely creates problems with missed restarts or line skips and if it does, it is very likely that the problem lies in the pen and remains even when changing ink. The restart is generally very good, even after a few minutes without the cap or a few days of not using the pen. 

Adaptability is the characteristic that makes it the ink of excellence for school pens. Normally a school pen is characterized by medium or medium-low flow, a characteristic that goes very well with the Pelikan and helps to avoid leaks and smudges, considering the abuse to which pens of this type are often subjected.

Chromatic aspect

I would once again be prey to my emotions. Technically, it is a medium blue, with a slight purple tinge, which is why I don’t like it very much, having a preference for blues and dark blues without “contamination” by other colors. 

I can’t say what they had in mind at Pelikan when they decided to call it “Royal Blue”. Years later and taking into account the fact that other manufacturers have created inks with the same name, when you hear about Royal Blue you imagine an ink the color of this Pelikan and you are surprised when the shade is completely different, as happens, for example, in the case of Diamine Royal Blue, which is a medium blue, without chromatic deviations.

 I consider it the “standard blue”, against which I classify my other inks and follow my tastes. In reality it is a medium blue that knows how to do its job very well, it is not very dark or very saturated but the text still always maintains excellent readability. 

Its great diffusion and the fact that it is the school ink par excellence can make it border on banality, especially when one uses the fountain pen as a tool of distinction and pursues characteristic colors and shades. 

The shade of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, as well as that of any other ink, whether you like it or not, is a matter of personal taste. This does not mean that as a medium blue it is an excellent compromise between different needs, designed to be used in a large number of pens and situations, starting with school.

The saturation, as well as the shades, depend a lot on the nib, on a thin flow nib it is a quite washed out color. As the flow increases the shades and saturation become more evident, even if they do not reach the levels of other inks and always remain average. In the case of ink in inkwells you can count on good saturation, very constant from one inkwell to another. 

In the case of cartridges, however, a lot depends on how much time has passed between production and use. In fact, it is known that cartridges tend to concentrate over time. Due to the permeation of water vapor, the volume of ink in the cartridge is progressively reduced, leaving room for air. 

As a consequence the ink becomes more concentrated and therefore more saturated. In many cases the difference is visible but not very significant, in the case of Pelikan 4001 however the sensitivity to dilution is very evident and therefore we go from newly produced cartridges, which contain a slightly saturated ink, to cartridges that have been in storage for years.

On the shelves and whose volume has greatly reduced due to permeation, causing the ink to become much more saturated. The inkwell seems to fall somewhere in between, like a cartridge that has been on the market for some time and has lost some of its contents. 

Personally, I deliberately pursue this characteristic and in fact I am keeping a few packets of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue “maturing” in the cellar. I use them when the ink volume has reduced by about a quarter. 

On the other hand, on some pens, after a few days of non-use, the first lines of writing are darker and more saturated because the ink has concentrated in the feeder. 

The phenomenon is more evident on school pens, which have a cap with an anti-choking vent and are therefore not leakproof. It is necessary to take this characteristic into account when inking a pen for the first time, because any traces of water can dilute the ink, making it appear much duller and less saturated than it actually is, and therefore distorting the judgement.

Dilution also appears to significantly influence resistance over time. I have notes written with this ink over 20 years ago that are still perfectly legible, however when I used it in cartridges on a pen that had just been washed, the text became very discolored, to the point of becoming almost illegible after a few months. I think this is a common feature of washable blues, because I also noticed it on the Lamy Erasable Blue.

 Feathering/Bleed Through

You have to go and look for them, writing on poor-quality paper with pens with a wide stroke or abundant flow. Not being particularly fluid and saturated, they are normally absent and therefore allow this ink to be used on a large number of pens and types of paper. 

An ink that targets the school market can only be like this. In fact this is one of the reasons why I use it on a regular basis despite the blue shade not being my favourite. Even minimal dilution with water seems to accentuate the feathering phenomenon. Again, rating this ink using a cartridge on a pen that hasn’t been perfectly dried can be misleading.

Drying/Water resistance

 It is an ink based on organic pigments (not gallic iron) and not only is it not considered permanent or waterproof, but it is declared washable, to the delight of mothers who find themselves having to remove stains from their clothes of their children returning from school. 

Furthermore, it can be removed with the appropriate “eraser”, which uses a chemical reaction to make the pigment lose its characteristics. We are the antithesis of permanent ink but, as it is an ink intended for the student market, this feature is intentional. 

The possibility of being able to correct errors with the appropriate eraser, even if only once, is unquestionably an advantage, as long as you do not use it to sign checks. Normally the eraser is equipped with a blue marker for correction, which follows, more or less faithfully depending on the brand, the color of the ink. 

Personally I prefer to use it to erase and add corrections with a ballpoint pen, to avoid the feathering phenomenon when you write with the marker where you have passed the eraser.

It is also an ink that dries quite quickly. On Clairefontaine glossy paper, known for its poor ability to absorb inks, it dries completely in less than 10 seconds and can be considered “out of danger” after 5. This is an excellent value, considering that other inks require more than 20 For a student it means being able to turn the page without having to wait a very long time for the ink to dry.

Finally, the fact that it is a washable ink is an advantage when you need to de-ink a pen. From this point of view it is one of the safest inks there is, it does not leave deposits and even when it dries inside the pen, a flush with water and possibly a soak is sufficient to remove any dried residues. 

These characteristics, combined with average flow and saturation, make it the ideal ink for testing a pen and cleaning it without leaving a trace, or for use in a pen that runs the risk of remaining inked for a long time without being used. I have successfully exhumed pens that had been inked for years, to the point that the ink inside was completely dry. Also in this case, the type of use that the students make of it most likely was taken into account.

Where can you use Pelikan 400

Work environments

It’s a washable ink and what’s more erasable, period. There’s no point looking for features it doesn’t have. It cannot therefore be used for all situations in which indelibility and permanence over time are an essential requirement. 

For the rest it does very well in a wide range of situations, I use it a lot for informal notes, marginal notes and all those situations in which I don’t have particular needs and, in fact, I appreciate the possibility of being able to correct. 

Where water resistance or indelibility is not required, I appreciate the fact that it is washable, those rare times I have found myself getting my fingers dirty, I have remedied this with the eraser. Despite not being very saturated, the notes maintain good photocopiability and did not even give me problems with character recognition systems. 

Being a medium blue, it is a color that communicates sobriety and understatement, lending itself to a wide range of situations, with the exclusion of the more formal ones.

Students

If it’s not good enough for them. The ink characteristics seem to be tailor-made for school pens. Loading a school fountain pen with Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue means choosing the ideal recipe to avoid problems. 

If your pen doesn’t work with this ink, there’s almost certainly something wrong with it. The ink is available in any stationery shop, and it can be deleted and corrected. The very low price is another non-negligible advantage. 

In practice, it is the ideal ink for those who have to take notes in industrial quantities on paper that is not always of excellent quality. Clearly, the fact that it is not a water-resistant ink must be considered, so appropriate precautions must be taken to prevent the precious notes from soaking and becoming illegible.

Corrections/Annotations

To exclude. It is an ink that goes too unnoticed to allow it to be used for highlighting, annotating or correcting text. It would end up being confused with the latter. In this case, what is an advantage (sobriety and understatement) becomes a defect.

Personal

Why not? Considering that crushes are a typical phenomenon of adolescence and that it is normal to keep a diary of one’s thoughts at that age, I think this is the ink most used in history for this purpose. If it could talk, the humble 4001 Royal Blue would tell stories of good grades and failures but also of adolescent thoughts and loves that have blossomed, grown, and ended. 

These are complicated stories typical of that age, when you feel like the world is about to collapse around you just because at the party she only looked at your best friend. Of course, it is not a color for those who want to stand out, and it is not particularly suitable if you end up shedding tears over a love letter rejected by the sender, but you can change your mind and delete or correct the recipient with the eraser…

Conclusions

 If I had to define this ink with two words, I would say it is “humble” and “polite”. It costs very little for what it is worth and performs well in almost all pens, starting with the school ones. 

It is one of the most widespread and safe inks. The possibility of irreparably ruining a pen with Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue is practically nil. Its limits are in its very characteristics, starting with its washability and erasability. 

The fact that it costs little is very widespread, and available everywhere often pushes enthusiasts to underestimate it or, worse, to find excuses not to use it, which is a shame, because it is a very valid ink, and its widespread diffusion makes it proof. I use it a lot in the office. However, I often save money by buying sub-brand cartridges of the same color, almost indistinguishable from the original Pelikan ones, and I keep an inkwell available. It’s my go-to ink when I have a problematic pen. Before getting my hands on the pen, I try it with the Pelikan and rule out the problem being due to the ink. 

The shade of blue is not exactly my favorite, but the advantages of this ink are so many that I continue to use it even if it is not my favorite chromatically.

To conclude, it is the ink that I recommend to those approaching the world of fountain pens for the first time. In exchange for the almost certainty of not having problems, “learning your skills” with some inkwell or pack of Royal Blue cartridges allows you to understand what you want from an ink and direct subsequent purchases towards inks with the characteristics of hue, saturation, flow and anything else that meets your needs and tastes. 

All of this being able to return to a “safe haven” whenever you want. Ultimately the reason why, despite having tried dozens of inks over the years, I have never separated myself from Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, a good “humble” and “polite” servant.