Ink Review: J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil

Another ink name I truly cannot pronounce. :) Today I'll be reviewing J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil. I'll be honest when I say that this is an ink I am not too excited about.

Nonetheless, review it I shall. I'll do my best to keep the review accurate, even though I don't like the ink.

Read on to find out more:



Now most of you know that I like really vibrant ink colors. Still, in the last few months, a friend has shown me the light, and I've grown to appreciate the occasional subdued ink. But subdued has it's limits.

If you were to take some pond water, and toss in a little brown dirt, I think you'd end up with J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil. :) The texture really is like water, and the color is one that holds no appeal for me.

My personal rating for this ink is just 65/100...

Now I suppose if you just LOVED the color, you might overlook some of the flaws of this ink. But since I don't like the color at all, it's hard for me to forgive this ink for it's flaws.

The good:

• Ink is very watery, so you'll have no trouble with staining or clinging.

The bad:

• Very watery. It does not feel smooth to me like other inks.
• And those blasted J. Herbin ink bottles are no good. :)

The ugly:

• To start, the color of the ink.
• And don't forget the color of the ink...

Let's hit the details:

Ink Review: J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil.

Pen and nib: Edison Pearl LEE - M nib.

Color: Ugh... Brown and gray?

Dry time: 5-7 seconds. Not too bad.

Smear when dry: NO.

Shading: Very slightly, but not normally noticeable.

Lubrication: Low to moderate. Feels very watery.

Bleedthrough: Yes. Not terrible but not good either.

Feathering: Just a little bit.hh

NOTE: THIS SCAN IS NOT COLOR ACCURATE. See the photos below for a proper depiction of the ink! :)

And this is what we're dealing with... Grey? Not quite. Brown? No... What is it!?

A little feathering, a bit of bleedthrough do not make a good case for this ink being a keeper.

I am rather looking forward to putting something else in my Edison.

Alright, I already know it - a few of you who read my blog will surely comment and tell me how you love this ink for (x) reason(s). If you are one of those folks, then I encourage you to go ahead and comment. I honestly want to know why you like this ink.

for me personally, the performance is mediocre, and the color doesn't suit me at all. It's far to dull looking, and when I'm writing with it, I honestly feel like I filled my pen with dirty water. When I first write with it, I kept dripping ink out of my pen to make sure it wasn't accidentally diluted.

So there you have it. That's all I have to say about this ink. Definitely not for me. But, it is certainly not a horrible ink, if you love the color. So if you are one of those people who totally dig this color, drop me a comment and let me know what you're seeing in it that I might be missing. Or is this another rare case of me potentially getting a bad batch of ink, like Noodlers BSB?

If anyone agrees with me, I'd also appreciate hearing from you.

End review. :) Have a great day everybody!