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How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

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Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#111

Post by jjice »

codedokode wrote: post #18

I use gel pens, because they leave thinner and more black trace. I think ballpoint pen belongs to history.

I like a regular Bic because I never deal with bleed-through on the low quality paper I use. I just got a generic gel pen literally yesterday to give it a go and I immediately had to shelf it after I tried it due to the bleed.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#112

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #46

What's the proper name for that other, arguably even more well-recognized, BIC pen, that looks like Cristal except its main body is opaque orange, and is generally cheap garbage that breaks in your hand if you squeeze it it too hard, and doesn't even write half the time? (And yeah, I remember the taste of it, too. I've "eaten" through my share of these pens as a kid. It's the one pen you can't bite on, unless you lik…

In Spain it's just called "Bic Naranja" ("Bic Orange") and those of us over 40 or so typically remember the ad slogan which perfectly described their different functionality: "Bic Naranja escribe fino, Bic Cristal escribe normal" (Bic Orange writes thin, Bic Cristal writes normal). Rather lame but to the point and memorable :)

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#113

Post by loloquwowndueo »

mushroomba wrote: post #101
codedokode wrote: post #18

I use gel pens, because they leave thinner and more black trace. I think ballpoint pen belongs to history.

Gel pens smear when used left-handed. They are unusable for 10% of the population.

My uniball Jetstreams don't smear, I don’t even know if they are gel or not but they’ve been perfect. I’m left-handed too if it wasn’t obvious :)

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#114

Post by tshaddox »

squigz wrote: post #106
tshaddox wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting their lighters are bad? That’s certainly not my experience. I have a Bic mini that has been packed inside my camping stove kit (a small titanium pot containing an iso-propane canister, stove, and rag) for nearly 15 years. Since I use barely any of its fuel, it hasn’t run out yet, and I suspect it could continue to work as a striker whenever the fuel does run out.

Yeah, I'm a bit confused if GP is saying their lighters are bad. Every single person I know who uses a lighter many times a day generally uses a Bic[0] - if they're not, it's one of these cheap plastic ones[1], very similar to the pens GP is referring to. A few of them have Zippos, but those are relatively rare among people I know, at least for everyday use. [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/…

Those cheap transparent ones in your second picture are infamously unreliable. I swear I’ve had ones that quit after a dozen strikes.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#115

Post by beAbU »

mushroomba wrote: post #101
codedokode wrote: post #18

I use gel pens, because they leave thinner and more black trace. I think ballpoint pen belongs to history.

Gel pens smear when used left-handed. They are unusable for 10% of the population.

Not all lefties write with that weird over-rotated grip. I can write with a fountain pen without fear of smearing.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#116

Post by TeMPOraL »

tshaddox wrote: post #98
TeMPOraL wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same sense their vacuums, if they made them, wouldn't suck.

Are you suggesting their lighters are bad? That’s certainly not my experience. I have a Bic mini that has been packed inside my camping stove kit (a small titanium pot containing an iso-propane canister, stove, and rag) for nearly 15 years. Since I use barely any of its fuel, it hasn’t run out yet, and I suspect it could continue to work as a striker whenever the fuel does run out.

I don't know; a) I haven't seen a good lighter in my life (other than on TV, i.e. whatever it was that Admiral Adama carried in BSG, because that was, by definition, a good lighter); and b) in context of the whole subthread, I assumed the parent was being sarcastic.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#117

Post by TeMPOraL »

mushroomba wrote: post #101
codedokode wrote: post #18

I use gel pens, because they leave thinner and more black trace. I think ballpoint pen belongs to history.

Gel pens smear when used left-handed. They are unusable for 10% of the population.

They also smear when used in low temperature. Learned that the hard way when making notes outdoors, at sub-zero degree Celsius temps.

Other than that, gel pens are perfect to me.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#118

Post by quickthrowman »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #87
dole wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BIC lighters are more of a first resort than a last resort.

In the same sense their vacuums, if they made them, wouldn't suck.

BIC lighters are extremely reliable, when I smoked I went thru hundreds and the fuel always ran out before the flint did.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#119

Post by mushroomba »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #113
mushroomba wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gel pens smear when used left-handed. They are unusable for 10% of the population.

My uniball Jetstreams don't smear, I don’t even know if they are gel or not but they’ve been perfect. I’m left-handed too if it wasn’t obvious :)

I'll give them a try, thank you for the advice.

Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous

#120

Post by crq-yml »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #46

What's the proper name for that other, arguably even more well-recognized, BIC pen, that looks like Cristal except its main body is opaque orange, and is generally cheap garbage that breaks in your hand if you squeeze it it too hard, and doesn't even write half the time? (And yeah, I remember the taste of it, too. I've "eaten" through my share of these pens as a kid. It's the one pen you can't bite on, unless you lik…

For most pens, it's really all about the quality of the writing surface, and blame is incorrectly attributed to the pen when it's taken outside its design limits. Paper that is overly thin or rough with a hard backing(like most school desks) tends to be less forgiving and ballpoints become likely to clog more easily because the ball will roll without good contact - for those, dry media, marker or brush will do the best. But smooth, heavy papers backed by kraft board will be very sympathetic to all pens.
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