I’ve wanted one of Regalia Writing Labs‘ Sequel Nibs ever since Ralph shared the first photo of one. Part of my interest was based on the uniqueness of the nib, and part was a desire to support Ralph in his continued nib tinkering and modification. I’m very interested to see where his efforts take him.
Unfortunately, he teased us all for a while before making the nibs available, and then, only at shows. They’re still (to the best of my knowledge) only available at shows or via Instagram flash sales.
The Story
As ever, I’m giving you the story behind my purchase. If you don’t want to read it, feel free to skip down to the review.
A few months back, Jim helped Ralph with some information, and, as such, they got to talking quite a bit. I’ll admit I took advantage of that and had Jim ask Ralph if he would hold a Sequel nib for me at the DC Pen Show. Ralph agreed, and I eagerly awaited the show.
On Friday of the pen show, I spoke to Ralph and was bummed out to hear that he hadn’t managed to make enough Sequels to save me one. But he promised he’d get me one soon.
On Saturday of the pen show, I stopped by Ralph’s table to have him look at Jim’s Semiflex. Once he’d adjusted the nib, Ralph pulled out a Sequel nib.
I may have misunderstood what he was telling me in my joy, but it sounded to me as though he’d somehow managed to perfect a nib in his hotel room the night before and saved it for me.
I gleefully purchased it from him and stored the nib with the intention of putting it in the custom 18111 pen I’d commissioned. Ralph was rather excited by my plan. He’d never had a nib put into an 18111.
I ended up purchasing another 18111, the Gold Sakura. Because the finishings are gold, I decided to put the Sequel in it. When I showed Ralph later that evening, he was ecstatic. I’ve never heard so much happy swearing.
Review
I’ve been using the Sequel for nearly a month now, and it’s really well suited to my needs. I’ve wanted a broad (B) nib for a while, but I write on the small side, so a pen with a B nib is pointless for me most of the time. But the Sequel gives me the option to use the double broad (BB) side when I want to. It’s great for titles and underlines, or anything I want to bring attention to.
What it Is
I’m not going to try to “reverse engineer” the Sequel for you. However, a quick look can tell you it’s two stacked nibs. The top nib is a B, and I’m guessing the bottom nib is extra fine (EF). The bottom nib is seated a little further forward on the feed than the top nib. I’m guessing that’s to enable the BB on the reverse.
The EF produces a line that is about 2 hairs wide, while the BB produces a line a full millimeter thick. You can also achieve a slight line variation when writing depending on the angle at which you hold the pen.
I particularly like that my Sequel is not susceptible to nib creep, although I don’t know if part of that is because I fill my converters separately as opposed to sucking ink up through the nib.
For those who are wondering, my Sequel is no more difficult to clean than any other nib.
Flow
My Sequel runs on the wet side. The extra-fine point has no problem keeping up with quick writing, nor does it experience any hard starts or skipping. The line width is perfectly consistent as I write.
The double broad on the reverse is nice and wet without being an ink gusher. I appreciate it being a drier nib than Ralph’s typical nibs so I don’t have to wait forever for it to dry.
Feedback
I was very pleasantly surprised with the EF side of the Sequel. It’s very smooth with almost no feedback, a first for me with EF nibs. I’m used to EF nibs being feedbacky verging on scratchy, and this EF feels like a F in its smoothness.
The BB side of the Sequel is smooth as butter. There is virtually zero feedback. I love how smooth the writing experience is.
Cleanliness of Modifications
As with the other Regalia Writing Labs nibs, the Sequel is very polished and professional. To my untrained eyes, the modifications look almost perfect. If I didn’t know what it is, I could easily believe that the Sequel is a new Jowo nib.
To be nitpicky, the original engravings on the right-hand side, when looking down the nib, were partially polished off, so it’s a bit hard to see the swirls. That’s the only thing I could say anything even remotely negative about.
Overall Thoughts
Ralph did it again with the Sequel. It’s a fabulous and versatile nib and deserves a solid 5 stars. You definitely won’t be disappointed if you buy one. I have zero regrets, and I’m curious to see what Ralph comes out with next.
