Jacques Herbin Perle Noire
Ink Review #136
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
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Overview
The color:
Perle Noire is a black ink. It shades with a soft gradient in both print and cursive to a slightly darker, almost matte black where the ink pools. In terms of darkness, I don’t think it’s generally that black in writing. Especially when writing with larger nib sizes, a lot of grey can come through. You might be able to get more black out of this ink with wetter-tuned pens, but it may start to look powdery or sooty (that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation).
Ink Splat
Droplets
Performance on paper:
Perle Noire was very well-behaved. There were no traces of bleeding or feathering on any of the standard test papers, and overall, this ink should be fine in most writing conditions on fountain pen-friendly papers.
The dry times, on the other hand, were not as good as I was expecting them to be and fell slightly below average, often taking 25-30 seconds to dry with the larger nib sizes and 10-15 seconds with the fine nib sizes.
The water resistance was also not the best. The remains are clear enough to be legible, but water exposure causes heavy clouding.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Perle Noire has a dry-medium flow, and while I generally found it well-lubricated enough for a comfortable writing experience, I did find the ink to feel somewhat sandy with the finer nibs. The larger nib sizes (medium and up) felt great and smooth, though anyone who prefers a juicier writing experience may still not enjoy writing with this ink.
The ink generally performed well, but there were a few dry starts here and there while writing (mostly light skips at the beginning of some letters). It wasn’t overly frustrating, but it was noticeable. Otherwise, the flow didn’t have any issues keeping up with faster writing or longer writing sessions.
Cleaning this ink out was very easy and only required a quick soak and flush to clear the ink from the nib units, and there was no lingering color or residue left behind in the pen.
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper (white) with an Esterbrook Journaler nib (sized like an italic medium).
Written on Midori MD paper (cream) with an Esterbrook Journaler nib (sized like an italic medium).
Written on Leuchtturm1917 paper (cream) with a medium nib.
As this ink could be considered for a daily black, I thought I’d see how this ink would perform on some less-than-fountain-pen-friendly paper, so I broke out this Esterbrook Posting nib (something akin to a firm needlepoint designed to write on cheap paper). After a quick writing sample in a fresh Moleskine notebook, it’s immediately apparent there’s a lot of bleed-through there, as well as the writing generally swelling up a size. I suppose it’s usable, but certainly not ideal.
Written on Leuchtturm1917 paper (cream) with a medium nib.
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper (white) with an Esterbrook Posting nib (similar to a dry-tuned needlepoint).
Performance in a pen: 9/10
Performance on paper: 9/10
Color saturation: 7/10
Sheening: 0/10
Shading: 5/10
Dry time: 6.5/10
Water resistance: 2/10
Ease of cleaning: 10/10
Shimmer: None
My personal thoughts…
My experience with this ink went everywhere from “eh” to “oh wow.” I don’t often use black inks, and I admit that I wasn’t that impressed initially. Part of that was probably because this ink had a lot to live up to — I know it’s beloved by many and has quite a long history of being the first in Herbin’s ‘Les Perles Des Encres’ line (as I understand it) — that alone is pretty awesome. I postponed this review for months because I wanted to be as fair as I could, and I thought maybe I just needed more time with it to “get it.” There were times when I genuinely appreciated the way it looked — the slightly matte finish isn’t necessarily unique, but it’s not that common either, and it works for this ink. I can see how people could fall in love with Perle Noire, because really, there’s nothing bad to say about it. Like many of Herbin’s offerings, it’s a good ink, but I don’t think the bug ever bit me.
Sarah’s thoughts…
Since this ink entered our collection as part of my quest to find a black ink that I love, I thought I would briefly share my own impressions.
After comparing a dozen swatches of the more popular black inks, I narrowed my options down to a short list of inks to try, which included Perle Noire. For a number of reasons that Julian already covered, I didn’t choose this for my all-around everyday black ink, but I’ve still enjoyed adding it into my rotation for use in my various journals. The matte finish and black-to-dark grey shading effect keeps it interesting, and I find the flow gloriously, delightfully smooth in a medium nib. It may not have fit my personal criteria for an “everyday black,” but I’m not disappointed by it at all. It deserves the acclaim that it’s received from so many users.
Written on 68 gsm Tomoe River paper with an Esterbrook Estie Botanical Garden (Journaler nib).
More images/info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Jacques Herbin Perle Noire (Amazon)
Esterbrook Estie Botanical Garden, Journaler nib
2 Esterbrook J fountain pens, medium and posting nibs
Odyssey Notebooks 68 gsm Tomoe River notebook
Midori MD A6 lined notebook (Amazon)
Taroko Design A6 68 gsm Tomoe River notebook
Leuchtturm1917 A6 dot grid notebook (Amazon)
Molskine A6 lined notebook
Traveler’s Company brass clip (Amazon)
Tim Holtz mini bulldog clips (Amazon)
Tim Holtz card file (Amazon)
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
A Midori MD A5 Notebook
A 52gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook