LAMY AL-star petrol vulpen - speciale editie 2023

What can I say? I love my Lamy AL stars and I just love all kinds of teals! I know the grip section is not for everyone but I'm right-handed and hold my pens fairly normally, so they work for me.
This petrol color is absolutely divine! I wasn't into fountain pens yet when the popular Lamy Safari Petrol came out and I'd always been a little sad I had missed out on that colour. Not anymore! Now I think I like the Lamy ALstar version looks even better! I've got it inked up with Monteverde Iced Cookie and it's a great match.

I am a huge fan of the Lamy Al-Star line of fountain pens and I look forward to the release of new special editions with different colours to add alongside with inks to pair them with.

In previous years there have been many "new" releases that were disappointing because existing colours were far too similar to the point of being identical. The Cosmic is an almost imperceptible hint of pink away from the Pearl. The Turmaline is a tinge greener than the Pacific Blue. The Azure is very hard to distinguish from the Charcoal Grey and under most light conditions almost the same as the Silverblue. The recently released Lilac is just a smidge redder than the Vibrant Pink. The Whitesilver is exactly the original Al-Star Aluminium with a silver clip instead of the original black one, something you can do as a simple modification if you have an extra cap around.

In short, colours in the past years have been disappointing.

The Al-Star Petrol just makes up for it in a huge way. I know the colour has existed in the Safari line, where truly new colours are released on a regular basis. But finally seeing in the Al-Star line makes it really outstanding.

The Al-Star pens are quite reliable and the selection of nibs is as wide as you could hope for, including stub or calligraphy nibs, left-handed and oblique nibs, black ones if you want the different contrast, the Lx nibs (Z52) if you like the white accent, and even the gold nibs if you want a smoother writing with the fancier looking gold accents. Given how much I like the colour of the Petrol Al-Star I am considering splurging in a gold nib (Z55).

The pen is a very deep dark teal and I would say that in person it looks darker and greener than most photos I have seen online. It is "serious" enough to fit well in a formal professional environment but at the same time unique enough to draw attention and stand out.

I have it currently with a Z50 B-nib inked with the Lamy Peridot from the Crystal line (a bit boring), but I am considering switching to a stub (1.1 or 1.5) and a shimmer ink like J. Herbin's Vert Atlantide to have more fun with the pen as my handwriting lends itself to the wider nibs.