One of my favorite commercials of all time is Anthony Hopkins doing the big boy thing for Barclays Bank.
If the copywriter had decided to include a line about signing a big contract with a big pen, and if the big client did not insist on a big English pen (in which case this entry would have to be about a Conway Stewart Churchill), I would vote for the Pelikan M1000.
It’s not the biggest pen I have, but no one would call it shy and retiring. Call me a size queen: the Oldwin, Danitrios in the Takumi size, and now this. My fingers tend to cramp around thin pens, especially if I use them over a long stretch. Thicker barrels mean a looser, more relaxed grip for me.
![Pelikan M1000 Pelikan M1000, or are you just happy to see me?](http://www.leighreyes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pelikanm1000-1.jpg)
Such a big tank deserves a big nib, so I chose the widest available – a 3B, or triple broad.
![Pelikan M1000, 3B nib Pelikan M1000, 3B nib](http://www.leighreyes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pelikanm1000-2.jpg)
It’s neck and neck versus the Oldwin nib. What do you think?
![Pelikan M1000 vs Oldwin Pelikan M1000 vs Oldwin](http://www.leighreyes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pelikanm1000-41.jpg)
It wasn’t perfect out of the box. Every once in a while, the flow hesitates when I bear down on the nib. It’s possible the flow can’t keep up with the sheer amount of ink this nib lays down. But when it’s working, which is 80% of the time, it’s impressive. The 3B flexes slightly, so I can manipulate the line width just a little more. It’s more of a stub than a round nib, so it’s not as if I bought a piston-filled Sharpie. And no Sharpie shades like Pilot Iroshizuku kon-peki.
![Pelikan M1000, nib close-up Pelikan M1000, nib close-up](http://www.leighreyes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pelikanm1000-5.jpg)
This is a big entry, and it has a big writing sample.
![Pelikan M1000, 3B nib writing sample Pelikan M1000, 3B nib writing sample](http://www.leighreyes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pelikanm1000-6-427x640.jpg)