I could barely hold in my excitement when Nahvalur finally announced their 2024 Halloween fountain pen. I loved the Pumpkin Marmalade Original Plus they released last year, and it felt like months of anticipation. I was beginning to think they weren’t going to do one and then suddenly, there it was! Barely in time for Halloween! I scrambled to find the nearest anywhere that I could go to make this pen mine and the next thing I knew it was on its way to me.

This year’s Halloween pen looks to be an orange version of the Lovina Graphite and Matira Quartz pens they released earlier this year (Admittedly, I had to take a really good look at the images they teased to realize what they had done).

It came in the typical Nahvalur Original/Original Plus packaging, with the exception of a very Halloween double-sided outer sleeve.

If you’re not familiar with the Nahvalur Original and Original Plus, what differentiates them is the filling mechanism; the Original is a Piston Filler, and as you can see above, the Original Plus is a vacuum filler.

Since the Original Plus is a vacuum filler, it’s important to note that when writing, you need to unscrew the blind cap until it opens the valve that seals the grip section, or the ink will quickly stop flowing.

An interesting design while the rest of the trim on the pen is gold, they chose a black nib. I wasn’t sure about this at first, but it quickly grew on me.

With the black nib, it only felt right to fill it with a black ink — I don’t usually go for black inks but I liked the idea of balancing the look of the pen out with the darker liquid sloshing around in the pen. I chose Iroshizuku Take Sumi.

I almost didn’t notice, but finial is numbered too!

I think it holds up pretty well against last year’s Pumpkin Marmalade. I have a feeling a lot of people would have preferred all of the hardware to be black like the nib, but I don’t mind it. Especially capped, I think the gold trip compliments the lighter orange sparkle better. I only wish they had put it up for sale sooner. I would have been nice to enjoy it for the whole Halloween season, rather than just the few days before it ends. But hey, at least it made it in time. Happy Halloween everyone!