Shideijou inkstick ( Bluish black, Pine smoke, 紫泥錠 松煙墨 )

Shideijou — 紫 (shi, purple) 泥 (dei, mud) 錠 (jo, a thing) — takes its name from Shidei, the purple sand found in Yixing, China.

Made from pine tree oil smoke, a type of ink called ikimatsu, its soot particles are coarser than those from oil-smoke inks, giving light washes a faint, mysterious bluish tint even as full strength stays a bright, glossy black — and that blue is said to deepen with every passing year.

Matthew Gilfillan called it a superb ink stick, admitting he used too much water the first time, and found the colour and consistency unlike any ink he'd used before.

Width: 23mm, Length: 89mm, Thickness: 10mm, Weight: 30grams