Around August 2022 Esterbrook released three premium versions of their Camden fountain pen. I’ve reviewed Esterbrook’s Estie three times with different nibs and pens sizes. In between I also reviewed the JR Pocket Pen. The only pen model left for me to review now is the Phaeton 300! The Camden sits somewhat in between the JR Pocket Pen and the Estie.

A big thank you to Esterbrook for sending this in for review!

I’ve been eager to try the Camden for a while now. I love my flat end pens and the overall shape of this one is subtly unique. While there are some differences between this and the non-premium Camdens I like to think of this as a review of the Camden more generally as well.

These three initial Premium Camdens are from the Norther Lights series which had three colours: Alaska Purple, Icelandic Green, and Manitoba Blue (the pen in this review). All three have the same general material design with swirls of each designated colour with white. All of them have DiamondCast in the material as well (like some of the more premium Estie releases). Lastly all three have a trim that matches the colour of the pen. That is the Icelandic Green has a green nib and clip, the Alaska Purple a purple nib and clip and this Manitoba Blue has, shockingly, a blue nib and clip. All the nibs are coloured by Hinze Pen Company.

Packaging

Like the Premium Esties this Premium Camden comes with the more flamboyant packaging from Estie. These aren’t crazy fancy but are definitely just a little nicer than the normal boxes they make (which are also nice).

Inside my box is a little sticker from Esterbrook (I’m unsure if this was just included for me or it is standard), a little tiny envelope with a card inside to “Activate Your Pen”, and a pamphlet from Hinze Pen Company. And obviously the pen as well!

The QR code brings you to a warranty activation page where you need to fill out a form with some information on the pen. The Hinze Pen Company pamphlet give some important details on maintenance of the nib (more on that below).

Finally, what was included with my review pen was also an Esterbrook stamp that I wanted to show off. I want to note that this is not included with a standard purchase of the pen!

Details

The trim, on the Camden is somewhat spartan. There is metal furnishings on the cap only with the barrel only being the pen’s material. Both the finials are flat while having smooth rounded edges.

The cap has the clip, naturally, but the finial is a round metal medallion with the Esterbrook logo. Of course both of these are blue. This is also no different from the the Classic Camden however in the Classic Camden the material is Anodized Aluminum. Esterbrook has started introducing some more Limited Edition Camden with an Oktoberfest introduces in 2022. Inside the cap is a plastic threads to screw into the plastic threads on the section of the body. The clip is a fairly minimal and flat clip.

The pen is, of course, a cartridge converter pen. There’s nothing special going on there. The pen comes with a nice quality converter.

Lastly on the clip there is a painted cursive Esterbrook name withy a line the around the circumference of the cap.

This material can generally be described as a teal leaning blue with white swirls. The white is opaque but the blue is a translucent. Where some of the mix together (or probably more accurate where some of the blue is above the white) then it starts to look like a light blue opaque material mixed in there as well. Like with the other DiamondCast pens the sparkles are much prettier in person than on a photo. This is a glitzy look in person but it definitely does sparkle when you rotate the pen. What I like about the DiamondCast material compared with some other sparkly materials is you can’t see the particles but yet it still sparkles.

Nib

The pen here is, form a use perspective, a standard medium nib. It is worth noting straight away that this is where the pen differs from the Classic Camden as this has a (modified) JoWo nib where as the Classic Camden has a Schmidt German. Ultimately all of these nibs are fairly common nibs with known quality and feel that isn’t too different from each other. Substituting a Bock, Schmidt, or JoWo are not huge differences. The Hinze Pen Company is customising the JoWo nibs here by colourising them using electro-plating to get a “nano-ceramic lacquer” applied to it but there are some caveats for these coloured detailed below.

This is a very standard feel for a medium nib. It is on the finer side for a western medium which is noteworthy but probably more representative of the tolerances in manufacturing of most western nibs. Out of the box this nib was perfectly useable but it was a little dry for my preference. I did slightly open the tines to get more flow but this was still a very useable nib straight out of the box.

This is where the caveats of this this colourised pen come in. The number one thing Hinze says not to do with this nib is use Noodler’s or Private Reserve ink due to PH level issues. I know that regardless of Noodler’s claim of PH Neutral inks that they do sell inks that aren’t very neutral but also Noodler’s have some variety in terms of acidity or alkalinity. I would be very surprised if every Noodler’s ink actually did strip the coating but it is clear that Hinze believe there are enough to warrant this warning. Same with Private Reserve inks.

Secondly they recommend distilled or demonised water and not Pen Flush. This is an interesting recommendation that I don’t expect many people will actually follow

They recommend cleaning with a bulb syringe as should be the most common practical cleaning method but don’t recommend removing the whole metal nib from the housing. Removing the whole nib can be very useful for a thorough clean but clearly here it is best to stick to the blu syringe.

Handle with care is an obvious one. As it is a coating then of course the coating can be damaged by bumps or scratches. Generally you should want to avoid bumps and scratches on all of you you pens’ nibs though!

Finally Hinze recommend not using shimmering inks. Not necessarily because the particles would damage the pen but because they might require more extensive cleaning which means removing the nib. While shimmer inks aren’t my favourites types of inks this sparkly pen definitely would match nicely with a sparkly ink!

This nib has some feedback but is generally a smooth pen. The feedback is also fairly universal regardless of which direction the nib moves. As I mentioned out of the box the pen was perfectly useable and had decent flow but I increased to flow because I simply prefer my nibs to be wetter.

This JoWo Medium on this Camden is finer than the Medium nib on the Aurora Duocart, Lamy-Al-Star, Lamy 2000, and Parker Duofold International. It is fairly similar to the Sailor Standard 21 (which is a 21k gold slim-sized 1911/Profit) and slightly thinner than the TWSBI ECO

Dimensions and Comparison

The Camden isn’t a small pen and I was surprised by how tall it actually is. I expected something a little smaller than the Estie (but still larger than the Pocket JR of course). In reality the pen is quite tall when capped. The pen is a little thinner and maybe that slimmer profile makes up for the length because while the pen is tall it doesn’t look like a large pen. Once uncapped the pen because fairly normal for your average larger pen though.

The pen is also heavier than the Estie even though the Estie has more metal components. However the pen is lighter when uncapped. Overall this pen is slightly more towards the heavier side but still fairly moderately weighted. The pen feels nicely balanced so I didn’t notice the slightly higher weight.

I like to compare the pen to other colours but since a lot of my Esterbrook Pens happen to be blue as well I included them as well as the Estie Oversized as an extra comparison.

The Camden Manitoba Blue is a is a Verdigris or Tiffany Blue type colour, especially if you include the average colour from the whiter parts. The parts without white are more vibrant and have more of a Caribbean look to them. This gives the pen a light but mostly vibrant green-leaning blue colour. It is slightly greener than the Estie Aqua. It is lighter and greener than the Blue Paradise Pocket JR. It is greener and lighter than the blue parts of the Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl. It is less green than the Aquamarine Candy Lamy Safari. I have two blue Sailor Pro Gears; the Wancher Maldives (first from left to right) which is definitely more of a teal but also darker and richer in colour, and the second, the Cocktail Series’ Kure Azur is much more saturated, much bluer (even the green tinted cap). Finally the Pelican M120 Iconic Blue does not lean green at all.

Final Remarks

I’ve really enjoyed using and reviewing this Camden. I’m generally a big fan of flat ended pens and it seems I like blue pens! This is a subtly unique design for a flat ended pen shape. It’s thinner with some noticeable tapers. Strangely, I think I still prefer the Estie - I only say strange because generally lean more towards flat ends - but I do love the Estie shape. What about the coloured nibs and other furnishings? For me personally could take it or leave it. I don’t mind it but I also wouldn’t mind a simple silver trim. It certainly matched nicely but I don’t think it is necessary. I think you could easily swap a silver nib in here as well and it would still look great, even with the blue clip, partly because of the silver ‘Esterbrook’ logo.

The nib is a nice western medium that is a little finer than you might usually expect. I did adjust it very slightly but not from something that was bad just to something that more aligns with my preferences. It has the feel otherwise of what you should expect from a Jowo, Schmidt, or Bock nib. It is a bit of a shame that the nib comes with so many precautions, especially regarding shimmery inks which would match very nicely with all of the Northern Lights Camdens, but apart from knowing to avoid Noodler’s and Private Reserve and having to be more conservative when cleaning this isn’t a nuisance for me.

The Northern Lights Camdens are premium models; they come with the DiamondCast material and come with the coloured nibs. They differ from the recently released (at time of writing) Oktoberfest Limited Edition and the regular aluminium editions which are the same price and have Schmidt nibs and materials without diamond dust in them. These Premium models run for US$350 from Esterbrook (AU$555, €356, ‎‎£‎311). This isn’t a cheap pen but it is in line with the premium Estie prices. The lovely Limited Edition Okotoberfest model is the much more affordable US$185 from Esterbrook (AU$293, €188, ‎‎£‎164) which is the same price as the classic aluminium editions.

Thanks again to Esterbrook for sending this pen in for review!

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I was not compensated for this review and everything here is my own honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review. I was sent this pen for the purpose of an honest review. Esterbrook does sponsor the blog (although during the pandemic I have suspended any payments).