A reader named Steve commented on my “Dissecting a Moleskine” post with a link to a fascinating inquiry of his own: what is the actual weight of Moleskine paper? Steve points out that many notebook brands make a selling point of their paper weight, expressed in grams per square meter (GSM):
• Calepino, 90
• Clairefontaine, 90
• Fabriano, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100
• Mossery, 120
• Rhodia (Clairefontaine paper), 80, 90
But Moleskine never specifies paper weight. So Steve did some measuring and calculation– seriously in-depth measuring and calculation! You can read all about his methods and results, including nifty graphs like this:
You may not understand it all. I sure didn’t! But it’s pretty cool nonetheless. The bottom line is that he accounts for a lot of variables that could throw things off and still concludes the paper in a regular Moleskine (not the heavier sketchbooks, storyboard notebooks or Japanese albums) is 71 GSM. No wonder they don’t brag about it!
Read more at Weighing in on Moleskine Paper.
Well, it depends. I prefer paper of lesser weight. When one has to road a bag full of notebooks from here to there walking or by bus, the weight is a very essential thing.