Pelikan has been producing various inks suited to a multitude of purposes for well over a century. The 4001 line, originally crafted and marketed as Günther Wagner’s premium writing ink, is the only one of those historic formulas to continue production into the 21st century. Widely regarded as one of Pelikan’s best inks within that line, 4001 Blue-Black has not been available in the United States since around 2011, a topic that I addressed back in 2016. Off of the US market for over a decade now, those who’ve wanted to use this ink have had to order it from overseas vendors or do without. Pelikan actually has a whole line of permanent and semi-permanent inks which include Scribtol (best reserved for dip pens) and Fount India, a more fountain pen friendly formulation that requires meticulous pen hygiene. 4001 Blue-Black, while not as permanent as the other two formulations, skews even more fountain pen friendly while still providing some relative lightfastness. Its semi-permanent nature is accomplished by a small amount of iron gall in its formulation. Oak galls or gallnuts are tumors that occur on certain oak trees in response to insects. These oak galls serve as a food source for larvae but are also rich in tannic acid which makes them well suited for use in ink when combined with iron salts. Pelikan began using iron gall in its ink products circa 1892 thanks to the emerging dominance of the steel nib. In fact, the original formula for 4001 began as a class I iron gall writing ink that flowed blue from the pen and darkened to black so you might say that today’s Blue-Black speaks to the very heart of the line. It has been presumed that 4001 Blue-Black was formulated in such a manner as to not be in compliance with the United States Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), thereby barring its importation and distribution. According to a large advertisement in the August 2023 issue of PenWorld Magazine, Blue-Black is back! After a protracted absence, this ink will once again be available for purchase in North America.
Pelikan’s advertisement indicates that 4001 Blue-Black will once again be available for purchase in the United States and Canada in 30mL and 62.5mL bottles as well as long and short international cartridges. The sudden availability of this ink after a 12 year hiatus begs one of two questions. Has the formulation of 4001 Blue-Black changed to accommodate US law or has US law changed to be more permissive of the original formulation? As it turns out, neither is the case. Bringing 4001 Blue-Black back to the North American market has been a frequent request of the regional distributor. This spurred a revisiting of the topic and, after researching the issue and consulting with chemists from Pelikan and Chartpak, it was determined that Blue-Black ultimately was in compliance with US laws and importation and distribution could resume. Most importantly, that means there have been no changes whatsoever to the ink formulation. The North American distributor has all of the available sizes in stock and shipping to retailers. It might take a minute for supply to trickle down to your favorite vendor, but you will no longer have to look abroad for your Blue-Black ink fix going forwards, a most unexpected and welcome development. Kudos to those at Chartpak and Pelikan who had a hand in bringing this well regarded ink back to the North American market.
Special thanks to Pelikanyo Paul for bringing this news to my attention.
Woo Hoo! Thanks for the follow-up Joshua…this is great news. Because of the inconsistencies I found in bottles I was getting from sources outside the USA, I stopped using my favorite ink (since the early 1980’s). Sailor Jentle Blue-Black was colorwise a good alternate, but just not the same.
Glad that you will be able to once again add this one back to your ink rotation.
Awesome news! This is probably my most used ink and always have it in at least one pen. (A 140) My last purchase (during the pandemic) required me to go across the pond to get it from Cult Pens. I bought two at the time to aid with shipping costs. Glad it will be available here again.
Certainly will make getting a hold of it a bit easier without having to wait for overseas shipping.
Do you have the “Edelstein Tanzanite”, blue black, in the US? It looks to be the nearly same color.
Yes, we have Tanzanite here in the US. It does a great job as a blue-black and has been a nice substitute while 4001 has not been readily available. I still prefer some of the properties of 4001 over Tanzanite though.
Joshua, can you expand on that? Why might I be interested in picking up a bottle of 4001 blue-black when I already have Tanzanite?
Matter of preference of course. Based on my experience, I think that 4001 skews towards a truer blue, is less prone to ghosting, and has the better water resistance of the two. Small things but enough to give 4001 a slight edge over Tanzanite in my eyes.
The Tanzanite has a very wonderful flow and is not as dry as many other Pelikan inks. Where is 4001 blue/black regarding flow, wet/dry compared to Tanzanite.
I like if the blue/black is a little more blue, than Tanzanite.
I would say that 4001 is drier in comparison, perhaps why it doesn’t ghost as much.
Joshua, now there is a rumor that Pelikan is discontinuing Edelstein Tanzanite. It’s now very hard to obtain, with dealers out of stock almost everywhere. Is there any official confirmation of this?
Rumors are indeed quick to circulate. In the last year, I have heard rumors of the Toledo being discontinued and 4001 Pink in a bottle no longer being manufactured. No evidence to support those rumors on further investigation. You are not the first to report the scarcity of Tanzanite to me but I suspect it may simply be more a supply issue rather than anything more insidious. I have not heard any official word regarding the discontinuation of Tanzanite and would suspect, of all the colors they could discontinue, they would be foolish to remove Tanzanite from the line up. I’ll keep my ears open and let you know if I hear anything more definitive.
This is excellent news, now I don’t need to stockpile it anymore so that I can get good prices from overseas.
Yes, most unexpected and welcome news!
Great News! Maybe a reason to be hopeful about the Hamelin influence? Though this was likely in the works long before the acquisition.
I actually think this one has a lot more to do with the efforts of those at Chartpak. I think this was an issue they set out to correct, independent of any other influences.
So good to hear! I’ve been getting it from overseas too.
That’s really been the only way until now.
Good news , kudos to Chartpak. Always glad to see another choice fo per manatee ink..
Having easy access to such a highly regarded ink will be good for all.
It’s both interesting and good news that it’s back. I’ve used both India black and blue-black over the years and while I found the India black to be much too rich of a black ink, the blue-black had a strange acidic smell that was both repulsive and interesting to me. Yet, I liked its color. I can’t say I was disappointed when it was gone, but I did miss it to an extent. Can anyone comment on the acidic content and the harm it (allegedly) could cause to the fountain pens? Thanks.
4001 is formulated for fountain pens so there shouldn’t be any specific risk of harm if used as directed.
Wait, wait a minute… So it’s just because of wrong interpretation 10 years ago? Nothing in terms of ink formula changes?
I found image if Chartpak is a food company, they would’ve appealed like over 9,000 times already!
A change in leadership at Chartpak is one of the things that prompted the re-evaluation. I think a lot of it has to do with the motivation to keep it on the market. Remember, Chartpak has something like 18 brands with umpteen products. Losing one product from one brand likely has zero impact on Chartpak’s bottom line so I suspect that the motivation simply wasn’t there to make this work before. This is all just an educated guess on my part of course.
I have been looking for a new blue black. Would you know if it is fast drying?
Hello. I would say yes, it is fast drying. I would estimate 4-5 seconds.
That is great that Peliakn blue-black is being made available in the US. This morning I was filling my Renaissance Brown and I noticed my Pilot Iroshizuku blue-black Shin-Kai ink bottle is getting low. I had to tilt the bottle, which I found someone difficult, to successfully fill the pen. Then I did some searching and found and ordered a neat, simple gadget that securely holds the bottle in a tilted position so the pen can be easily filled. It is called the TiltWell ink well bottle stand. Have any of you heard or used this before?
Hello Joe. I am familiar with the TiltWell though don’t own one personally. Pelikan has long been ahead of this curve with this since their 4001 ink bottles are designed specifically to be able to be positioned in this way without any accessories, allowing you to extract the last drop from them with relative ease.
Hello Joshua,
Just to advise I have found a source for the 4001 pink ink in the UK. Pelikan main dealer in UK states discontinued for last couple of years. Well I bought two bottles last week. Just a heads up if anyone looking for some.
I had not heard of any discontinuation. It was 2020 that Pelikan brought Pink to the bottle. I see Amazon and Anderson’s Pens also list stock. That is not one that is in my rotation.