Mystery pen

February 27, 2005 10:44 AM

My wife got a free pen from a drug rep a few months ago, and she has completely and utterly fallen in love with it. Help me figure how I can buy her more. Does anyone recognize the model of this pen?
posted by Plutor to Writing & Language (22 answers total)

I don't know exactly what sort of pen that is, but folks who like those gel-grip pens often like Sensa pens.

I personally find they're extremely fatiguing, but I know some folks who swear by them.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:47 AM on February 27, 2005

Although not a match, it looks similar to a Dr. Grip.
posted by Scottk at 10:47 AM on February 27, 2005

Looks like a Dr. Grip to me.
posted by yoga at 10:49 AM on February 27, 2005

Response by poster: The grip part on this pen isn't very flexible. The Sensa pens (and it looks like, the Dr. Grip pens) are extremely flexible, almost gooey. I like that a lot, but my wife is more interested in the overall weight and ink-flow of this pen, not just the grip.
posted by Plutor at 10:52 AM on February 27, 2005

Not sure if it's exactly the same, but Pens.com (of course) has a pen that looks pretty similar.

Also, eBay has a surprising amount of promotional swag from drug reps for sale.
posted by tregoweth at 10:55 AM on February 27, 2005

If the pen was sent out by a Pharm. company, then it was most likely purchased from a business that manufactures for the ad specialty industry (give-aways with logos printed on them).

Unfortunately you can't buy from them, as you need to be a member of their distribution network. If you know someone who works for an Ad Agency, they likely have contacts.

Your best bet would be to see if the original giver has more, or can tell you the name of their supplier (a distributor) who can then tell you the manufacturing company.

In a few cases, the pens used for giveaways are name brand, such as Bic, Mont Blanc, etc, but this looks like a normal Chinese, or Taiwanese pen made just for this industry (ad specialty).

Here is an example of a company that makes these kinds of pens and sells them through distribution only.
posted by qwip at 11:09 AM on February 27, 2005

tregoweth - Nope, that wouldn't be it.

Plutor, if she's more focused on the ink flow than anything else ... open up the pen by unscrewing the tip, and find out who made the fill. Pen manufacturers rarely make the ink cartrdige itself, and the ink might be something you could buy mass amounts of and fit into different pen bodies.

Even if you do find the same pen body, it's no guarantee that the body has the same ink in it.
posted by SpecialK at 11:09 AM on February 27, 2005

I'm sorry, meant to say that promotional pen makers rarely make the fills themselves.
posted by SpecialK at 11:15 AM on February 27, 2005

I have a pen that looks quite similar to that which was corporate schwag from my employer. We get our stuff from Corporate Express Promotional Marketing. If you drop me an email so I remember, I'll take a look for it on Monday and see if it is a match.

If it is, then, well, I'm not sure where you go from there. Corporate Express doesn't sell retail. They might tell you what kind of pens they are so you can get them elsewhere.

But really, what specialK said. The actual ink portion of that pen is probably just a generic refill. If you take it apart and take it to Office Depot or the like, they may be able to hook you up.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:28 AM on February 27, 2005

Best answer: There are some of the pens available right now on Ebay, although none of the people selling it mention the name of the company that manufactures it.
posted by iconomy at 11:31 AM on February 27, 2005

Yeah, the links that iconomy supplied look like the same model.
posted by fionab at 11:35 AM on February 27, 2005

If you're looking for weight, handmade pens might also be worth investigating. I have a couple in resin, and I love their heft.
posted by gnomeloaf at 11:39 AM on February 27, 2005

Funny enough, it looks almost exactly like the pen in my hand, which I love.
Pilot Q7
posted by patrickje at 11:58 AM on February 27, 2005

Almost all promotional products are bought and sold through ASI (the Advertising Specialty Institute).

You can browse their catalog online at www.promomall.com.
posted by mosch at 12:26 PM on February 27, 2005

My dad's actually the Corporate Vice President for Leed's, the Ad Speciality firm linked by qwip above.

I've sent him a link to this thread, so perhaps he'll have some insights into the make/model of the pen. If he does, I'll post them here.
posted by esd at 12:51 PM on February 27, 2005

I've seen a few pens similar to this one, but they were all promotional.
posted by neckro23 at 3:03 PM on February 27, 2005

Stanford PhD.,

Papermate has since bought Stanford, and the pens are similar, but not identical, to what they used to be.
posted by curtm at 3:30 PM on February 27, 2005

patrickje's pen uses gel ink. Perhaps that is the desired feature. I have a set of gel pens that write with a "feel" quite different from ordinary ball points.
posted by Cranberry at 3:32 PM on February 27, 2005

Plutor, it might help if you mention the brand and details of the refil inside, at worse that will help you find more refils for this particular pen body.
posted by riffola at 6:08 PM on February 27, 2005

Looks like this type of pen is getting to be more common; it's somewhat similar in style to the pen I have on my desk at the moment, the Xenon, or it's more ergonomic cousin, the Gripper M.D.

If the eBay supply dwindles down, you could probably find a good substitute at your local office supply store.
posted by lychee at 10:53 PM on February 27, 2005

This was actually my last week working at a peds clinic. We get tons of those exact pens every week. In fact, I just gave my wife 2 of those in wrappers.

Concerta isn't the only one to use that pen, but they seem to be the most frequent. They use different colors, orange being my favorite, but the one in your photo is the latest I've seen.

If I were staying at the job, I might could have helped. Sorry.
posted by justgary at 12:20 AM on February 28, 2005

Response by poster: riffola: that was my first instinct, too, and it might have saved a little time if I had mentioned that neither the pen (including the broken-off clip) nor the ink insert had any brand name or writing or embossed anything on it whatsoever, with the obvious exception of "Concerta".

iconomy's links are probably the best lead. Those are quite obviously the same pens in a different color. I wonder if I could call up ALZA and get them to send me a promotional package, including a box of pens.
posted by Plutor at 4:29 AM on February 28, 2005