Blue Hour is Montblanc's special edition ink made to accompany their new line of Blue Hour writing instruments.
I had a hard time getting a hold of this one. I was in my local Montblanc boutique when the ink first came out and asked to be notified by email when it came in. Weeks went by and I still had not received a single email. Finally, I decided to go into the boutique again to see what was going on. Upon inquiry, I learned that they had sold every bottle of the ink after getting a large shipment. Needless to say, I was not happy that I was not notified of the shipment. Fortunately, they still had some cartridges left, so I bought a package of them (8 cartridges) for 5 dollars.
I had a hard time getting a hold of this one. I was in my local Montblanc boutique when the ink first came out and asked to be notified by email when it came in. Weeks went by and I still had not received a single email. Finally, I decided to go into the boutique again to see what was going on. Upon inquiry, I learned that they had sold every bottle of the ink after getting a large shipment. Needless to say, I was not happy that I was not notified of the shipment. Fortunately, they still had some cartridges left, so I bought a package of them (8 cartridges) for 5 dollars.
Before buying the cartridges, I had only seen pictures of this very popular ink and was very impressed by the colour and shading that I had seen. When I had first inked up my 159 with it and started to write, I was surprised at the amount of green tones in what I thought was supposed to be a blue-black ink. I can't say I was disappointed, just a little put off. To me, it really looks like more of a dark turquoise than a blue-black. That said, when the ink is still wet on the page, it looks very blue before drying to the dark turquoise I mentioned.
Unlike the standard "boot-shaped" Montblanc bottles, Blue Hour comes in a smaller bottle with the same lid and half the capacity. I am impressed with the design and heft of it and would love to display it on a desk or a shelf.
As far as performance goes, it is on the wet side of dry and flows well. I haven't experienced any issues like feathering or bleedthrough even on cheap paper. It's not water resistant so don't try to swim with your letters or notes. The shading of this ink is spectacular and very surprising. If you like shading, this will be sure to impress.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the performance and colour. Keep in mind that this ink has more green in it than you may think. This would be a particularly good option as a work/school ink due to it's dark, professional colour and its depth of shading that makes it more interesting.