BilletSPIN Titanium Dragon’s Breath Soul Pen Review

The BilletSPIN Titanium Dragon’s Breath Soul Pen in the “Dragon’s Breath” finish is a well-built and attractive pen! Read on for more pics and thoughts!

Official Specs and Features

Here’s the BilletSPIN Titanium Dragon’s Breath Soul Pen product page.

Versions

There are many versions of this pen. The Dragon’s Breath is full titanium (“full” except for some internal bits, of course), and the “Dragon’s Breath” specifies a finish on the titanium. Prices vary by metal specialty.

Price

This pen goes for $215 when available, and should be available on April 8, 2020, here.

Short Review

This pen is very well built, and the swappable parts are easy to swap. It’s a touch long, especially compared to what I most often use (a modified Bic Clic Stic), but it handles well. The fitment of a Parker ink refill is nice because of the standard size and the massive amount of options in that format.

Long Review

What’s Included

BilletSpin Titanium Soul Pen (Dragon’s Breath, in this case)
Slip-in carry case

Package

The package isn’t really more than the “What’s Included.”

Build Quality and Disassembly

The build of this pen is absolutely exceptional. I do appreciate that it sounds hyperbolic to say it, but it’s really true. The craftsmanship on this pen is just exquisite.

The pen itself in hand feels excellent, too. The titanium tube is more or less glossy (unlike the Thunderstorm), and the teardrops around the grip area mostly just signify where to grasp the pen; they don’t provide much extra grip. That’s not all that unusual in this type of pen. The tip has a couple of rings, but that’s well below where I hold the pen, so they’re not providing grip, either.

The tip retracts fully, of course, just to where it’s ready for clicking out to use.

The teardrop is a design seen quite a bit in custom machining like this. The first instance I can think of (but surely not the actual first instance) is the Hanko ex11.2.

The travel on the plunger is almost a full centimeter. The click is quiet but audible. I think the titanium action is just a little less smooth than the stainless clicky.

As stated, the Soul Pen disassembles completely and easily. These are pieces that might get upgraded, so replacing them is just a matter of unscrewing them and swapping them out. The threads are long, and there’s absolutely zero chance these will come off on their own. The o-ring helps with that. Below is the tail end, including the pocket clip and clicky.

The tip also has an o-ring, which also unscrews readily, and is also replaceable by many other metals and finishes.

Both ends of the body are threaded as follows

I’m no machinist, so I don’t know how hard these individual steps are. I do consider it a good measure that BilletSPIN is able to sell all these other parts individually and know they’re going to be perfect fits. That’s a sign of quality work. Below is the brass tip from my other BilletSPIN pen, fitting perfectly on this titanium.

In fact, all the parts are fully interchangeable. The fit is exceptional, too – no issues at all. (Including a couple of shots of the Thunderstorm.)

As you’ve seen on the product page, individual plungers can also be purchased. Once the pocked clip/tail is removed, the plunger may be removed and swapped easily. Here is that page.

Size

I forgot to take a shot of the pen long ways – but that’s available in previous Soul Pen reviews.

Retention

A big update to this (and part of the name in fact) is the updated clip.

The clip holds on a pocket quite well, and allows deep (enough) carry. Since the pen is long and pretty heavy, the weight keeps it in a pocket very well. The pocket clip is not removable (except in the sense that it’s completely unscrewable).

The new clip is very nice, and I’d consider it an improvement over the previous/first version. I won’t say it works better, but it seems to match the aesthetic better.

For reference, here’s the original version (middle) side by side:

Also included is this pouch, which looks more like a sleeping bag for the pen. Very comfy.

Writing

Included with this pen was a Monteverde USA Ceramic Gel – Broad – P44 ink. A refill accessory kit is available for $7, which includes this ink, a spring, and the two o-rings mentioned above.

All the other Soul Pens I’ve had included the gel ink below, by Parker. I’m not sure which you’ll get, but I’m sure a quick message to BilletSPIN would get it sorted if you have a preference. I find the Monteverde to be a bit more bold and thick than the Parker seen below. The Parker is 0.7mm.

The ink is replaceable easily, of course, and there are quite a few ink options in this Parker format. To wit, you can get this to be almost whatever you want it to be.

The product page does state that the pen will ship with a Parker, so I’d expect that.
Still, you’d like some writing samples? Write?!?!

As you can see, this Monteverde is very bold and also a bit slow to dry.

Spots still wet at the top of this page, long after I’d moved on to the bottom.

Handwriting’s straight up not my strong suit. Bible verses might not be yours. But BUT… I’m writing some verses daily (or attempting to do so) that aim to help deal with anxiety. That’s what these are. These are the times we’re in!!!

Conclusion

What I like

Impeccable construction
Parker refill format gives plenty of options
All the accessory parts, for tricking out the pen in tons of ways
The teardrop design fits right in with many of the custom flashlights

What I don’t like

I would love the pen to be about 1cm shorter

Parting Shot

I have at least one other BilletSPIN item, but I couldn’t turn it up for this photo.

Notes

This light was provided by BilletSpin for review. I was not paid to write this review.
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