2025 Baltimore/Washington International Pen Show
Hello everyone! My first pen show of the year has once again come and gone, and now it’s time for a recap!
For those new to BWIPS — the Baltimore-Washington International Pen Show is an event that takes place each year at the BWI Airport Marriott. This is my 4th year in attendance, and it’s my favorite time of the year to splurge on pens and pen-related things.
The hotel lobby at the BWI Airport Marriott where the pen show is held.
Like the previous years, I attended the show with Sarah (editor, girlfriend, Oregonian), and we chose to arrive a day early on Thursday afternoon. This gives us plenty of time to get ourselves ready for the weekend ahead instead of having to do it all on valuable show time.
For those interested in staying at the hotel, the rooms are decent. They’re a little dated, and you might not be blown away by them, but in all my stays they’ve been clean enough, and better than you might expect for a basic hotel room.
Friday
A writing sample featuring the 2025 BWIPS ink by Monteverde
We ordered our tickets ahead of time, so there wasn’t much of a wait outside of a 3 or 4-person line to get our wristbands. After that, we were handed our complimentary 2025 BWIPS Mondeverde ink, and we were free to go! I don’t have any plans on reviewing this ink, but in short, it’s a medium grey blue with silver shimmer. It’s a little feathery, but it dries incredibly fast too, and I wonder if there are any other Monteverde inks with a similarly fast dry time.
For whatever reason, Friday wasn’t nearly as busy as it was last year. That doesn’t mean it was barren — far from it. The attendance was still decent, and there were many familiar faces. Nonetheless, a room full of seemingly endless pens and stationery, and all things adjacent, can still be an overwhelming experience. Where do you even start? The good news is that we planned well ahead of time to keep ourselves focused once we hit the showroom. I was mostly on the hunt for miscellaneous supplies rather than pens, but that didn’t stop me from making an immediate beeline to see what Patrick at Relic Pens has been working on!
Patrick Ross at his Relic Pens table
Initially, we were interested in a special pen with shavings from the Campo Del Cielo meteorite inlaid into the finial, but after perusing his other offerings (showcased beautifully on a display that he crafted entirely himself!), we walked away with not the one but three different pens (and a fourth that we picked up for a friend).
Sarah picked up a cigar-shaped pen with a similar engraving to the meteorite pen (minus the shavings) but in a slightly different material. The second is a “deep space party pen” (as she calls it) in a material that’s officially called Deep Blue Flash — I like that. It’s an incredibly deep blue/purple with large pieces of glitter embedded into the material.
For myself, I picked up a pen with his cool new dragon scale engraving pattern (and a second one for a friend). I have a lot more to say about Patrick and his awesome work, but I think it’s best suited for another post.
The rest of the day went as we had planned — we browsed the show floors looking for various materials and stationery supplies.
Like most (or probably all) pen shows, you can always find various nib meisters around the show adjusting nibs and working away at custom grinds. We didn’t have any nibs that needed adjusting, but we did need nibs in general, so we stopped at the Pen Realm table (Kirk Speer) to pick out some of his available selection of custom engraved JoWo and Bock nibs.
I’ll admit, you might have some difficulties finding the nib you want in the right engraving and size, but they’re still fun to look through, and I still came out with a few fun nibs that I can work with.
Right next to Pen Realm is the Dromgoole’s table and their ink wall. Surprisingly, inks aren’t what we had our scopes on this year, but it’s still worth looking through, and we picked a couple of bottles up to ink our new pens with.
Deeper into the table we also found this very cool Nibs & Ink stamp set by The Well-Appointed Desk, and a Wearingeul Phantom of the Opera Clip that I’ve had my eye on and immediately scooped up. I have to say, the clip is nice but a lot tighter than I’d like. Maybe it would loosen up over time, but as it is, I don’t know if I would want to clip this to my notebook in fear of making a permanent impression. Hopefully it will break in with some use.
Across from the main Dromgoole’s table is Marty Henderson’s Retro51 table (that I completely, foolishly forgot to photograph. The shame), and I was overjoyed to find not only a pen that I deeply regretted not buying before it became unavailable, but an artist proof at that: the Retro51 Speakeasy Red Wine. How do I even describe this awesome thing? It has a cork finial. A cork finial! Real cork finial! (Just imagine me madly waving my hands about while I explain that).
From there, we slid on over to arguably the most important stop at the show: Jinji Chocolate. They’re a regular at both the Baltimore and DC Pen shows and are always hugely popular. So popular that they apparently needed an emergency restock for Sunday because they were almost completely bought out on Saturday. Need I say more?
A personal favorite are the chocolate dates. Hollowed out and filled with cacao nibs, they’re nothing short of wonderful, and as we discovered this year, so are the truffles that didn’t survive long enough to make it into our photos.
Our last stop on Friday was at Franklin-Christoph, not to get a pen (however tempted I may have been) but to pick up some nibs — notably a 1.9, three-tine music nib that I had completely forgotten to get at the DC show last year. This time it was mine, but at the last minute, I also decided on the double broad S.I.G. (Stub-Italic-Gradiant). This is something that I recommend doing on the first day of the show, and as early as possible, just in case the nibs need some extra adjustments.
Saturday
Saturday started out a lot different than it usually does, and it brings up an important subject that I haven’t talked much about in the past, but it’s hard to ignore this year: the parking. We had a pretty great view of the parking lot from our room this year and, more importantly, how absolutely packed and chaotic it was. People parking along the entrance driveway, at the end of rows, and other spaces not designated for parking, endlessly circling the lots until a space opened up, having to find spaces far across the street and hoping they don’t get towed — the list goes on. It was a show in itself, and unfortunately, it’s not the best situation.
We often like to go out on Saturday for food and fresh air, and perhaps a visit to Pen Boutique in nearby Columbia, which isn’t far from the show. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen this year. Show-goers were even packing into designated spaces for overnight hotel guests (which the hotel didn’t appear to be enforcing), and we weren’t about to risk losing our spot. We spent a solid portion of the day in our room waiting for the lots to clear up enough that we’d be able to find parking when we returned, and as a hotel guest, that’s a pretty big inconvenience that had a significant impact on how we spent our day.
But enough of that! As you might guess, Saturday is a lot busier. I still want to say it was busier last year, but overall, it was still the busiest day by far. It’s still not terrible by any means: there’s no great risk of getting pummeled by other people’s bags, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s fairly easy to browse the tables in peace.
Despite the increased attendance, Saturday was more of the same for us: we went around looking for our supplies, browsing the tables, and seeing our friends. We took a pair of nibs back to Franklin-Christoph for some minor adjustments, and spent some time at Federalist Pens looking through their crates — there are all sorts of things to find in there, be it inks, notebooks, pen cases, and more (Also, the only place at the show I’ve ever found Van Dieman’s inks).
I got a few Herbin inks, as well as some Lochby pocket notebooks and a Life Noble Note that I’ve been interested in for years. Long story short, I regret the Noble Note. The paper was great, but the grid is far too small to be usable or easily visible from a standard writing distance (and I admit that’s entirely my fault for not looking closer. It’s not useful for what I had in mind, but then again, I can still use it as a scratch notebook, so it’s note a total loss.
I stopped at another favorite maker, Darailpenz, and spotted this incredibly cool pen in a material that I’m going to go ahead and designate Scarlet Rot (If you know, you know). They also have a great selection of Colorverse inks to look through!
Around the corner, I made a stop at Karas Pen Co. I had originally planned to get one of the titanium nibs in medium, but they unfortunately didn’t have any on hand. A little disappointing, but I still needed a larger nib size to swap into some of the pens I have from them, and I had been interested in a Decograph as well, so a Decograph with a steel broad nib is what I chose.
While looking around, I spotted something that interested me greatly: some pens made using Fender guitar cutoffs (the wood that remains after the guitar body is cut out) by GW Pens. Being a guitarist for almost 20 years, this is something I would love to have in my pen collection. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get one myself this time around, but I think I know what I’ll be aiming for at my next pen show.
What I did get from GW Pens is this amazing Cherry Tobacco and Old Books scented candle called Philosopher’s Den that was poured for them by Radiant Angel Candle Co. It's easily one of the best tobacco candles I’ve ever smelled and actually smells like an aromatic tobacco. This is a great example of the many non-pen-related things you can find at a show that might be of interest!
On our way out for the day, we found Sugar Turle Studio! They carry an excellent selection of stickers, washi tape, stamps, giant nib pen holders, and other fun curios. They even have their own exclusive Diamine Inks!
I helped myself to a roll of Vanishing Point washi, but what immediately caught my interest were these beautiful leather covers made by his dad — There were only a few, and, well, I bought them, but I was told there would possibly be more at the upcoming DC show, and I’m very much looking forward to that, so I can do it again.
And if you love leather the fun doesn’t end there because a few tables down was Lincoln’s Leathers! They carry a large variety of cool leather goods from notebook covers and trays, to even stacked leather pens, all in fun colors and unique finishes! I decided on this hair-on goat hide A5 cover.
Sunday
Sunday is, unfortunately, a short day for us since we need to check out early and head back home, but there’s still plenty of time in the morning for us to say goodbye to friends and make a last pass around the tables.
And there’s honestly still a lot to see. Interested in some of the more pricey Pilot pens, but unsure what nib to choose? Well, you can try them all at the Pilot table — even the more obscure pens like the Justus 95! There aren’t a lot of opportunities like that outside of a pen show.
Interested in some wood or 3D-printed accessories? Evan and Julian at Penquisition have a wide variety of things to choose from! There’s always something new to see. I’m a big fan of the Pen Cups.
Have something you don’t want but someone else might be able to use? The Share The Wealth table features a variety of donated goods. Pens, inks, stationery, it’s all there, and everyone is welcome to drop something off or take home something new. It’s an excellent way to pass along something you no longer want to hold onto so it can find a new home.
And, of course, there’s a huge variety of vintage pens and accessories to sift through (pictured above is Hirsch Davis, a local pen dealer, restorer, and overall wealth of knowledge).
There’s also a variety of seminars and workshops available each day to attend — classes on improving handwriting, techniques for journaling, and talks on a variety of pen-related topics. There’s something for everyone. I’ve said it plenty of times before, but the BWI pen show isn’t just a great experience — in my opinion, it’s the perfect first pen show experience. It has an excellent variety of vendors and activities for any pen lover, new or old, and although it’s not quite as big as the D.C. Show, I’ve always found it to be more comfortable. It’s easier to take in and appreciate what you’re looking at. Even at its busiest, it’s not as crowded and hectic. Sure, we had a room at the hotel, which does make it easier to get some downtime during the show, but even if you didn’t, it’s more manageable. Say you can only get a ticket for one day: there’s a good chance you’ll get to see everything you need to on that day, versus spending a lot of time squeezing through crowded aisles and getting pummeled by other people’s bags while you wait for a table to clear up enough to have a short chance to look. If I had to choose one show to recommend, this is the one.
Monday
While the pen show might be over, there’s plenty more to do in the area if you have some spare time.
First thing on Monday, we continued our annual post-pen show tradition of visiting Bertram’s Inkwell. It’s a nice way to wind down from the hype of a pen show weekend — hanging out, chatting about the show, browsing the shelves and cases for interesting finds, and maybe taking home a few extra goodies. There’s quite a selection of writing instruments to choose from, both new and pre-owned, and a great variety of paper and inks.
I myself picked up an Esterbrook Estie Botanical that I’ve long been wanting, as well as these Yamamoto Ro-biki notebooks. They’re not quite as wide as a standard traveler’s notebook insert, but height wise they will fit, and it’s an interesting option with great fountain pen-friendly paper.
Sarah lucked out too, finding this gorgeous Pelikan M405 in Silver-White!
But the stationery fun didn’t stop there! Just a few minutes down Rockville Pike, you’ll find another store worth taking a look at: Lil’ Thingamajigs. They carry a large selection of stickers, gel pens, washi tapes, notebooks, pen cases, and more! It’s one of my favorite places to stop at as a Rockville resident, and I highly recommend taking a look. I even found this My Neighbor Totoro Life Noble note there! This one has a standard 5mm line spacing, and I’m much happier with it.
I can’t end this recap without mentioning Bert Oser, who is not only the organizer of the BWI Pen Show, but also the proprietor of Bertram’s Inkwell — a local pen store in Rockville, Maryland. Bert’s influence on the DC Metro pen community can’t be overstated, and the quality of the Baltimore Show reflects that. It wouldn’t be what it is without his oversight, but also the support of his staff, loyal customers, and the local pen crew, who come together each year to help make this the best experience that it can be for everyone. Bert’s shop means a lot to me and has played an equally influential role in the development of my passion for fine writing. So, thanks Bert (and everyone else) for everything you do to make the Baltimore Pen Show the great experience that it is!