Pen Review - Laban Kaiser

Let's review the Laban Kaiser for a bit.

I was attracted to the pen for its size and looks - off-white pseudo antique ivory looking cap, body and section with clean, simple chrome trimmings. I believe the overall pen is made of resin. The dual tone stainless steel nib with iridium tip complements the overall look of the pen. For looks 5/5.

The Kaiser is slightly larger and fatter than most fountain pens but it is not a heavy pen. It also feels good in your hand if you like larger pens. As I hate using the tape measure to give you dimensions, I've taken some shots of the Kaiser and compared it to other familiar pens of different sizes i.e. the Lamy Safari and Stipula Vedo. For size and weight, I give this pen 5/5.

The dual tone stainless steel nib though nice with its engravings, does not perform as well as expected. The initial ink used in the pen was Waterman Black, which I was told has good "cleaning" agents. However, the ink did not flow as smoothly and the pen was a slow starter. It also tended to skip. I had the nib tweaked and cleaned before the pen performed. Even then, it's not butter smooth writing. But what bugs me more is that the ink tends to "leak" at the tip of the nib and collects, despite cleaning. So for nib performance, 1/5.

The picture below is a sample of writing with the Kaiser, inked with Sherwood Green Private Reserve Ink. By the way, the Kaiser uses catridge and converter. Writing with the Kaiser is fun as it does give me a feeling of writing with an "old" larger pen. Not perfect but pleasant and comfortable. Writing comfort 3/5.

So the Laban Kaiser scores an overall rating of 14/20 from me (20 would be the perfect pen). As the pen is relatively affordable (about USD 80), it is good value for money as long as you're not as unlucky as I was with the nib. I wonder if I changed the nib to a gold one would improve the Kaiser's ratings...? :)