Most who know me best know that I love notebooks, sketchbooks and stationary. I carry at least one with me everywhere and have multiple books going - sometimes for paper type, sometimes for convenience of size...

Karen from Exaclair was kind enough to send me a copy of their Quo Vadis Habana notebook for review~ I just received it the other day and have been busily testing it out with my variety of fountain pens!

Read on for the review~!

I was sent the black 6x9" edition - filled with premium "Clairefontaine" 90 gr. paper. From first glance, the notebook looks very similar to a Moleskine in size and style, however, upon opening the plastic wrap, I was pleased to find the cover to be a soft leatherette - even flexible to some degree. Like a Moleskine, there is a large back pocket, an elastic belt to keep the book closed, and soft, rounded edges.

Inside, the paper is a bright white and very smooth to the touch. Very little to no tooth/texture. Line spacing is "wide" - similar to a standard composition notebook, making it a nice diary for folks with larger hand-writing or kids just getting started and want something archival~ :D

Turning to the first page, I pulled out my new Pilot Parallel pens, which are known to write quite wet.

I'm not great at calligraphy, pardon my writing practice~ ^^;

The lines are crisp, clean, with no feathering. Additionally, the ink did not pool and bleed to the second page.

I also tested out my other variety of fountain and inking pens:
- Pilot Prera - Fine Point w/ Noodler's Polar Black ink
- Sailor Artist's Pen w/ Iroshizuku Yama Budo Ink
- Kuretake Tegami Fine Point - Lettering Pen
- Sailor Artist's Pen w/ Ultra Black ink cartridge

Very minor feathering on some of the fountain pens, more notably with the Prera + Noodler's Polar Black. (Sorry my hand-held camera can't quite capture the up-close detail~~!)

As for pencils, I would stick to harder, sharper leads (HB-2B) as it will likely smudge since there is very little tooth for the graphite to stick to.

And as for permanent pens like Copics and Sharpies, the ink may bleed through to the second page, depending on how heavy a hand you write with. However, the lines stay crisp and clean.

The Habana's a great little notebook with style and longevity. Quite comparable to a Moleskine for $20 (for the large, or $15 for the small) and a luxe step up from the standard composition notebooks from small-kid-time!

Any questions or comments? Feel free to ask~!