Sailor Kobe #3 Sepia
Pen: Kaweco AL-Sport (F)
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm
Shading: low to moderate
Saturation: high
Flow: wet
Dry Time: 11 seconds

I've not had the privilege of using any Sailor inks up to this point. When I discovered Ink by the Ml, that opened up an easy avenue to try some without spending on a full bottle that I wasn't sure I would like. I was drawn to the Kobe line from Sailor in all honesty by the name. Kobe, Japan is a place I've always wanted to visit, so the Kobe inks were the first ones I checked out.

Kobe #3 Sepia is a nice reddish-brown ink that flows exceptionally well. When I first inked it up and wrote with it, I had a tiny bit of water in my feed from a cleaning, and the ink came out a tad bit diluted. The diluted color matched my Anthracite AL-Sport perfectly, so I was a little sad when I realized that the ink was actually a much darker chocolate brown. I still love the color, but I think I might mess around with diluting it just to see if I can reproduce a shade that matches my pen.

#3 Sepia is a highly saturated ink, so there's not much in the way of shading, but it makes up for it in its smoothness and wet flow. Dry time isn't bad at around 11 seconds for a fairly wet-writing F nib. I didn't see any feathering or bleedthrough, though there was a little bit of spread.

Chromatography shows the ink to have some black, pink yellow and red in it. Very neat combo. The color is unlike any other I have currently, but it's lighter than El Lawrence, and browner than Green Gold. It shows up as a chocolate-brown in swab form.

I'm very impressed with Kobe so far. I can't wait to try more colors. I think I might go ahead and pick up a bottle of #3 Sepia just so I can play around with diluting. If you're interested in a bottle for yourself, Vanness Pens sells Kobe, or you can get a sample from Ink by the Ml.

Thanks for reading!
Lori