Private Reserve Black Cherry: Ink Review

Private Reserve Black Cherry, is a gorgeous fountain pen ink in the burgundy family. It isan all around great ink to write with. What makes this special? Read our review and decide for yourself!

Supplies Used:

• LAMY AL-star with medium steel nib (also EF and B nib)
• Rhodia No. 16 dotpad, 80g white paper
• Tomoé River white paper
• Moleskine notebook

Smear Test (Dry Time):

• Slow– It takes 30+ seconds on Rhodia paper for this ink to dry. This may be one you set aside to dry before turning the page
• This is definitely a slow drier. It can smear if you don't give it enough time to dry, so if you are a fast writer this may not be the ink for you.

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

• Low– This one would be really difficult to read if you got a page of writing wet. On the plus side, it looks great when used as an ink wash

Saturation:

• High– this is a highly pigmented ink but it does give some excellent shading

Ease of Cleaning:

• Easy– Since this ink isn't water resistant at all, it washes away quickly

Shading:

• High– this ink gives lovely shades from a dusty pink to a deep burgundy. Yum!

Flow:

• Medium– It has a consistent flow that tends would trend toward wet if used with a stub or flex nib

Packaging and Aesthetics:

• 66ml bottle
• Utilitarian box and bottle, nothing fancy
• Wide necked bottle, very easy to fill

Inks similar in color:

Summary:

Private Reserve Black Cherry is a unique ink in the Private Reserve line. If you want a great shading ink for writing or for art, this would make a great addition to your collection. It is cheerful with depths making it pleasant for long writing sessions.