"The refined fusion of tradition and innovation found in Taccia, a brand that bridges Japanese artistry with modern pen design. Established in the early 2000s and deeply connected to Japan’s heritage of craftsmanship, Taccia is known for combining elegant aesthetics with technically accomplished fountain pens. From urushi-inspired finishes to precise gold nibs - sourced from Sailor Pen Company - each piece reflects a balance of visual sophistication and rewarding writing performance. With a philosophy rooted in cultural respect and contemporary expression, Taccia continues to offer writing instruments, inks, stationery and accessories that celebrate the beauty of detail, color and Japanese tradition."
This is a nice upgrade to the original Aluminium body / steel section Entry. The capping experience is much more premium, and the whole pen feels premium too. The weight is exactly the same as the old one (both 24g on my scales inked and unposted) but the balance is more traditional as both body and section is Ti rather than a heavy steel section with light alu body. Also raw Ti has a slightly tacky feel so the section is grippier than the black coated steel which is helpful. I enjoy the high quality minimalist look of it a lot. The gravitas extra fine nib is also, unexpectedly, a joy. It is a little broader and wetter than I was expecting but has a touch of very pleasant feedback. I’m glad I got the EF as I think the F may have been a bit too much for my diary with normal paper.
For those looking to use this as a platform for swapping in Jowo nib units be aware that whilst the threads are the same the section is precision machined to fit the body of the gravitas/kanwrite nib unit which is a hair slimmer than most Jowos. Therefore some Jowo nib units will just about squeeze in and work fine, while others will not fit at all. So far two out of the three i’ve tried have fit with a little encouragement initially, but a third has not. I expect I can get that nib working in it by swapping it into a nib unit which does fit. So not the end of the world and I can use my other nibs but not a perfect fit for all Jowo nib units. I’m glad that the Gravitas nib is nice. Also note that I think the converter nipple is a hair thicker on the gravitas nib unit as the included converter is tight on that nib but loose on my Jowo nibs, so best to swap to a standard converter when swapping nibs, and vice versa if you put a gravitas nib in another pen, use the gravitas converter too, as my normal jowo nib converter is too tight.
So, you want a pen that’s tough enough to handle all of your emotional write-ups at 03:30 GMT, is harder than woodpecker lips, has better corrosion resistance than stainless steel, while weighing significantly less? And you want it to write really well, for a long time, and you want to be able to do your own maintenance on it without breaking the bank?
Well, the Titanium Sentry will not disappoint. The nib unit is compatible with a JoWo #6 nib unit. The Gravitas nibs are very good, with a performance indistinguishable from a #6 European made nib. The fit and finish is excellent, there is no machining residue anywhere. The pen arrived with no scratches or marks of any kind. Don’t worry, it won’t stay that way for long, because life happens. But rest assured, short of gratuitous violence directed at this pen, there’s not much that would damage this pen to the point of unrecoverability.
Dependability, reliability, user serviceability, in a virtually bulletproof titanium shell. What’s not to love?
This pen is very unapologetic about itself. This pen, to me, is what the definition of the word “gravitas” should look like. This pen is medium large, long enough for a standard cartridge converter, the #6 nib is just the perfect size for this size pen, and the girth is just right. And best of all, it’s made from stainless steel! That pen will survive long enough to allow you to write the Chronicles of the Apocalypse, using Zombie Blood. But seriously, aside from minor scuffs and scratches, this pen, with proper care and cleaning, will be perfectly serviceable in another 100 years.
The Fine nib on my pen is very smooth, and nib unit has excellent ink flow. If you find that the ink flow is too wet, try changing to a “drier” ink, like Pelikan 4001 Königsblau.
Despite the weight of the pen, I find I can write with this pen for longer periods without fatigue. To me, grip diameter, especially a thin grip diameter, causes hand fatigue much more rapidly than writing with a pen that weighs 56 grams. The all that weight is sitting on the web of my hand between thumb and forefinger, right near the center of balance of the pen.
I’m very happy with the look, feel, and performance of this pen. Would definitely buy again!
This pen is nearly perfect!
The fit and finish of my pen is perfect, there are no gaps, chips, burrs, spurs or cowboy boots anywhere on this pen; the Ultem is polished to the point of looking like amber polycarbonate.
The filling mechanism is a vacuum filler system, but it has a secondary ink chamber between the primary ink chamber and the feed, similar to the system that an Italian pen company pioneered about 28 years ago.
The nib and feed are very smooth. I have a Fine nib, and I find the line to vary from Fine to Medium, depending on which ink and paper you use. The nib is relative wet, which makes it perfect for me, because I find Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue to be “dry” enough to cause hard starts and skips with most of my pens, but Gravitas pens seem to thrive on it. So, if you think this pen is too wet, try the Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue ink.
The cap threads…okay, yes, whenever you you force two dissimilar materials together, like an Ultem/plastic cap and metal threads, the softer material is going to wear out sooner. Oftentimes, that’s intentional; you sacrifice the cheaper/easier to replace part, but prolong the life of the more expensive/more difficult to replace part. It should be cheaper to replace a cap than the body of the pen, which is an assembly of various parts, glued together. You can minimize damage from cross threading when capping the pen by rotating the the pen and cap in an uncapping rotation, gently pushing the two parts together, until you feel the threads “snap”. Some pens may require a “double snap”. Then everything should be lined up correctly to allow you to cap the pen without damaging the pen.
On the plus side, the clear material lets you see how the precisely machined lip inside the cap meets the forward edge of the grip section, preventing the nib from drying out very quickly. Had the pen inked up, sitting on my desk, untouched, for over a week, and it started writing as soon as the nib touched paper.
Would definitely buy again if I lost this pen!
A vacuum filler pen with the ink capacity of an eyedropper filler!
I like pens with large ink reservoirs, because more is better, especially if I'm away from my ink stash. Eyedropper fillers offer the highest ink capacity, but...if you don't have a way to shut off ink flow between reservoir and nib unit, you run into "burping" issues, which can get very messy, especially if you can't see if there's ink in the cap. The solution was either a vac filler, or a "Japanese eyedropper", both of which have a plug attached to a rod that can be screwed into the opening between ink chamber and nib unit, sealing it off. My Opus 88 and Visconti Homo Sapiens have a total ink capacity of around 3.5ml. The Monster G5 has an ink capacity of 7ml. That's like 10 Standard International Short cartridges! That means most casual users might fill their Monster 2-3 times per year. Using a Fine nib, one complete fill lets you write 450 A4 pages, or about 54,000 words. Hopefully, you REALLY LOVE the ink you filled it with, because you'll be looking at that ink for a long, long time!
But not only is the ink capacity huge, the pen itself is pretty amazing, as well. The Kraken filling system, a clever variety of a vac filler system (with an improved shut off valve) that prioritizes ink capacity, is virtually unparalleled in modern pens currently on the market. The Ultem (or clear Acrylic) body of the pen is polished to crystal clarity, the metal is highly corrosion resistant titanium, and the #8 steel nib is smooth as glass.
I'm cheap, and boring, so I do most of my fountain pen writing on plain copier paper, which allows the ink to spread out, letting a Fine nib make a line like a Medium nib. I also like to use Pelikan 4001 Königsblau, because I got a good deal on the 1,000ml bottle of ink from my favorite online seller. The combination of cheap(er) paper and ink pairs really well with the Monster's #8 nib and feed; my Fine nib makes a line comparable to a Japanese Medium nib, while keeping the color richly saturated. Using standard European 5mm quad ruled paper, the nib writes thin enough to be perfectly legible. I do have to write a bit slower, though, because the generous ink flow also means longer drying times, and writing too quickly can cause smearing issue. That's a me-problem, not a pen-problem.
The nib itself is stiff, but very smooth, meeting or exceeding the smoothness of all of my JoWo #6 steel nibs. In my opinion, the combination of nib and feed make this one of the best general purpose pens you can buy, because it will work reliably on a wide variety of paper, and a wide variety of inks. As with all demonstrator type pens, avoid "high maintenance" inks, like permanent/document/waterproof inks (and Baystate Blue), because unless you're a professional writer/author, that ink is going to stay in your pen for at least a month, and your pretty clear tank may become stained permanently.
