Quo Vadis Habana notebook

The 9.5" by 6.25" Habana along with a nifty
Quo Vadis bookmark that I picked up from Goulet Pens.

This is a review of a well-constructed, fountain pen friendly notebook called the "Habana", by Quo Vadis.  The Habana notebook hasn't always looked the same.  There have been at least three different iterations of the Habana notebook through somewhat recent history, and I'm lucky enough to have examples of the latest two versions.  In this review, I'll focus on the current version, which uses 85g ivory-colored Clairefontaine paper.  Clairefontaine paper is widely considered some of the best in the world (although opinions may vary) and in my experience it is an absolute pleasure to use with a fountain pen.  In the current version of the Habana, configurations are available with two ruling options (none or tight), three sizes (A4, A5, A6), and a variety of several rainbow-like cover colors.  The Habana is a direct competitor to products such as the Rhodia Webnotebook and Leuchtterm 1917, but I have not used either of those so I can't offer any comparisons.

I found a smoking hot online deal for this notebook [deal long dead now] for the 6.25" by 9.25", red, lined version of the current Habana.  It must have been a pricing mistake, or maybe it had something to do with slow sales because of the ultra-tight ruling (more on that later), but regardless, I took full advantage of the sale, and picked up a couple dozen of these at about one-third of normal retail price.  I already had a few of the previous Habana version with the 8mm ruling and white paper, so even though I didn't like the new line spacing, I still found it too good of a deal to pass up, so right now I'm stocked to the gills with these.  Turned out to be a purchase that I haven't regretted.

I like the red leatherette cover because it makes
 it easier to find where I've misplaced it.

I personally place a high value on function.  I like to use my stuff, not baby it, and I try to avoid buying anything that is too fragile to properly use, regardless of how aesthetically pleasing, collectible, or currently popular it might be.  Same with notebooks--I buy notebooks that will hold up well under heavy use and abuse.  I don't purchase notebooks to sit on my desk and be paperweights.  I go places with them and use the heck out of them.  Having used Habanas for at least four years now, I have no complaints about how well they've held up for me.  The covers protect well and don't come apart, the sewn binding remains intact despite me often bending the cover back on itself, and I've really had no problems from these books that I can recall.  I've carried these notebooks through at least six countries, all three US coasts, many church services, and several visits to grandmother's house with nary an issue.

As expected, the Clairefontaine paper used in the notebook is outstanding.  I like the ivory color, it's a little less contrasty than the pure white Clairefontaine paper that you often see, and that's a good thing in my opinion.  It is some of the smoothest paper I've used, and there is very little ghosting and no bleed-through that I've experienced, just as you would expect from an 85g paper.  I do mostly use fine nibs in this notebook, though, so your mileage may vary with that if you use wetter nibs, but I wouldn't expect any significant ghosting or bleed problems from this excellent paper in any case.  Ink drying time is worth testing out and keeping an eye on--don't turn the page in the notebook unless you're sure it's all the way dry or you will blot ink onto the other side of the page.  The slower dry time is because of the paper, one of the tradeoffs to using paper of this quality is that it takes ink longer to dry.  No big deal to compensate for, really.

There are 80 sheets/160 pages in the notebook, which is a great size for me because it makes the notebook not too thick, not to thin, it won't last too long, but still holds enough to be useful for a good while.  The notebook's binding is sewn and the signatures are fairly small, there are five of them so they must each hold 16 sheets/32 pages.  The pages lay flat with very little fuss, if you happen to get a stubborn page in the front or back of the book just flatten it with your hand and you won't have any more trouble out of it.  This journal is among the best I've seen in the "lay flat" category, which I'm happy about because I cannot stand books that don't stay open by themselves.  The rounded page corners, lines that don't go all the way to the edges, and the sewn-in placemarker are nice touches that together add a lot to the quality feel of these notebooks.

The newest Habana version with 5.5mm ruling and
ivory paper, with a Lamy Studio for scale

Although these notebooks are good, they are not perfect.  My main gripe is that the line spacing in the ruled version of the current Habana is... ahh... very tight to say the least.  5.5 millimeters tight.  That's really tight.  5.5mm is smaller than college (9/32 in / 7.1 mm) and narrow rule (1/4 in / 6.35mm) paper in the US.  Why?  Why would they make the ruling so tight?  Do they expect Smurfs to be writing in their notebooks?  Smurfs with tiny fountain pens?  I can't write in this notebook with any pen broader than a western Fine.  Even a Japanese M looks a little sloppy in this book.  The funny thing is, older versions of the Habana were not made with this absurdly tight ruling.  The older generation examples that I own have 8.0mm ruling which is closer to wide rule but just fine for me to write on with broad, juicy nibs.  I've included a picture of it for comparison.  Unfortunately, this version of the Habana isn't available any more but if somebody has a stash I think they could fetch a fine price for them.  Quo Vadis, if you're reading, please please change to 6.5 or 7mm ruling.  That's the sweet spot.

The older version of the Habana with 8mm ruling, white paper, and lines extending
all the way to the edges.  Text on top is written with a fat, juicy music nib.  There's
no possible way I could have fit that into the lines with the newer 5.5mm ruling.
There is minimal showthrough from the other side.  Unfortunately this ruling isn't
available any more.  This notebook is the Holy Grail.

So, all things considered, the Quo Vadis Habana is a great notebook that's completely worth purchasing (especially at a heavily discounted price) for its great paper, perfect size, friendly characteristics, and durability.  It's not perfect, but hey, if everything were perfect then life wouldn't be interesting, would it?

Back cover page with pocket on right side

The back cover of the Habana has a small pocket to hold scraps of paper, receipts, or business cards.

Another photo of the older Habana version with
8mm ruling and white paper.  Beautiful.  I miss it.

The Habana pages after manual flattening lay almost perfectly flat.  I had no problems at all in this regard.

The Habana after just flopping it open to one of the back pages.  You can see that the pages lay open by themselves, there's no tendency for the book to close up on itself.

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