They call it, “click bait.”

It’s when you come across something online that sounds amazing, so you click on it to learn more.

Click bait is something that turns out to be nothing as good as it sounded. Bait and switch. You think you’re get something that you’re not.

But in this case, what I thought was click bait turned out to be a good catch. Actually, a great catch.

Pencils.

I love pencils. Love is a light word. If I wrote out the word “love” in regard to my affinity for pencils, I’d write it by pressing hard on the paper, write it again, and then underline it.

In pencil, of course.

There are three things I always have in my work areas: A typewriter, yellow legal pads, and pencils. Really good pencils.

Composing on a typewriter isn’t something I regularly do, but having one around is important. A manual typewriter doesn’t need electricity. If the grid fails, a manual typewriter does not.

Same is true for paper and pencils.

It used to be that just about any pencil you bought was good. Not true anymore.

A lot of the pencils you find now are cheaply made. The wood isn’t good. Often, it isn’t even wood. It’s some composite substance. And the lead isn’t graphite.

Good pencils are made of cedar wood. Specifically, a type of California cedar. The United Kingdom is known for making the best pencils. They typically use California cedar.

Back to the click bait.

In a feed on social media, an article came up from the Wall Street Journal discussing a thirty-dollar pencil.

That’s right. One pencil for $30. It’s called a Blackwing.

My curiosity was piqued.

When I was growing up in Ashdown, Arkansas, all kids used pencils. Big, fat pencils. They were called Husky.

Why they put big pencils in little hands, I never understood. But they  worked and were the instrument that I first used to write my name, write the alphabet, and tell my momma I loved her.

I loved going to the pencil sharpener and smelling the cedar as I ground my pencil to a point. And the feel of the lead was like writing with butter.

That’s how you know if the lead is good. It feels like butter. But it’s not butter. Nor is it lead.

Pencils have never had lead in them. It’s graphite. I guess saying, “Look at this. Sonja Yates broke off pencil graphite in my arm,” doesn’t sound as good.

Knowing a good pencil came early for me. So when I saw an article in a respectable newspaper that touted a revived brand of pencil, I had to click on it. And I was glad that I did.

The Blackwing Palomino pencil had been a favorite of writer John Steinbeck, composer John Williams, Looney Toons animator Chuck Jones, and Walt Disney.

One of Disney’s animators even requested to be buried with a Blackwing. He was.

In 1998, sales for the Blackwing had diminished, and the company that made them just stopped. This caused demand for the remaining Blackwings to skyrocket.

In 2010, a company called Heritage brought them back. Quality cedar and Japanese waxed interiors are used to make them. They’re fantastic.

Yes, I ordered one. Actually, I ordered a box of them. It wasn’t $30 per pencil, but they weren’t cheap. I got a small box for $35.

And they write like butter.

They’re strategically located around the house and at the office. There’s one by my chair in the living room for crossword puzzles. One by the bed near a writing pad for ideas. And of course one near the typewriter so that I can make notes before and after writing a newspaper column.

I love Blackwing Pencils a lot, but I don’t plan to be buried with them. But if my wife sees what I paid for them, I might be.

 

©2025 John Moore

John’s books, Puns for Groan People and Write of Passage: A Southerner’s View of Then and Now Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, are available on his website TheCountryWriter.com, where you can also send him a message.