Apica Premium C.D. Notebook: Paper Review

[syngent]

Apica Premium C.D. Notebooks
"Choose the paper like you would a good pen"


Binding: Stiched
Page Count: 92 Sheets
Paper Weight: 86g
Colour: White (Not bleach white, slight off colour)

Part 1: The Notebook



With a Heavy weight, and a thick dense book you can feel premium in this notebook right off the bat. The notebook cover is not stiff so in a messenger bag you will risk folded damaged pages if note packed properly.



It may be printed on but the detail on the cover is nice to look at, and the raised lettering looks quite nice as well, the kind of notebook you probably will get comments on if sitting in a cafe with it laying out. The texture to the cover feels nice as well, but I wouldnt leave a cup of anything that may condensate liquid upon it, as, although untested, I dont think it would offer much protection from water damage.



The 96 Pages are grouped into several stitched sections very tightly, allowing the book to lay fairly flat, and with just the weight of your hand on the page it was no trouble writing into the centre area with comfort. the page spacing on the A5 book was perfect for its size but IIRC the larger A4 notebook offers a larger. the smallest of the group offers the same as the A5 here. The pages are not Midori MD mind blowing thin, but they are thinner then that of G. Lale or Clairfontaine, but still have a very premium feel to it. The pages have no perforation to them, and will not come out without cutting them, its a shame as these would be nice to send as a letter.



The page after openning the book offers an index page if you have a system you like to work in the book. the first page (Like a lot of notebooks, which I would like to know why they do this) is partially glued to the Index page making the front side of the first lined page a little awkward to use, but beyond that page everything else lays perfectly in its place


So how does it behave when writing on it ?
Stay tuned for Part 2

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[syngent]

Part 2: The Writing Experience



The white pages are what I could call a natural white page, just shy of that super bleached white look. Colours from brighter inks shin bright here on the page and due the inks their proper justice as they look fantastic. The pens I used glided across the page like silk, just a hint of feedback to let you know you are in contact, but there is absolutely nothing to get in the way of your great feeling nibs out there. I had one of my pens writing way to wet, in that pen, which was laying way to much ink (This is a pen that has ruined one of my shirts recently after I uncapped it and it spit ink everywhere), that pen feathered a bit as it was not a quick drying ink and the bubble that was the line fell flat and spread out... no other ink or pen showed any sort of feathering on the page.



Even with the ink dump from the bad pen, there is only a few minor spots of bleed through showing, I didnt even notice them until I posted this picture and had to go back and re-examine, They are at major ink intersections of some very wet nibs the ones you can kind of see here were cause by flexing across flexing with my FA nib. You can also see here there is some ghosting to be had, It is very slight and only noticeable when the page is pressing flat to the page before it, both sides of the page are useable though giving you 192 pages of writing

Final Thoughts

At $21.00 a book, this is expensive paper in a high quality notebook. Compared to CF Clothbound ($13.00), Midori MD ($15.00), the paper is on the higher side, Rhodia is up in that range as well but also has a hardcover. The book is fantastic for a writing experience to me, but then what works for me may not work for you, I don't love (But do very much like) CF, its a bit to glassy for me, but I would imagine I can find other books that will work as nice, at a cheaper price in the future.... But im glad I picked this one up I mean really it may be expensive for a notebook, but its still only 20 bucks and I love how it feels,... this book for the record was bought for my calligraphy and writing practice,.. and it will work out fantastic for that purpose.

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[Lando]

nice write up on a nice looking notebook, but i'm not keen on the cover design.

 

[nemo]

Nice review, James. I'm also a big fan of Japanese papers, I use the heck out of my little notebooks, although I'm unsure if the paper is the same as what you reviewed. Great paper quality.

Can't beat the price I found on the CD-5, "Most advanced quality Gives best writing features". 36 sheets of white super-smooth ruled paper and reinforced stitched binding. Durable little guys.



Shown with a Pelikan M400

 

[nemo]

I wonder if [MENTION=51698]syngent[/MENTION] has finished his notebook yet?

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

I foresee a few purchases in the near future.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

The lack of bleed-through is quite impressive.

 

[Runnin_Ute]

I'm on my 3rd CD5N - perfect size for a shirt pocket notebook. I have used EF to 1.1 stubs and while there is a little show through I can still easily use both sides of the page.

 

[musicman1951]

Nice review. I've recently started an APCD journal and it's pretty nice. My choices are limited as I like an A4 size with blank pages that lies flat. I've been using the Quo Vadis, but they were out of stock everywhere when I was shopping and I ended up with the AP.

It doesn't seem quite as flat as the Quo Vadis, but I like the paper color better.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

Well, I need another notebook like I need a hole in the head, but... I just ordered an A4 APCD.