Editing The Pen Addict 356/transcript (section)

== Topic Shift - Pencil Discussion ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Next pen is not a pen. Myke, it's a pencil. Sort of. I bought the Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil. We'll just cut right to the chase.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Didn't you buy this in Toronto?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, but that's when, like, the lust for this actually really ramped up. Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I remember looking at it with you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' At CW, right? So, at CW Pencils, they had Faber-Castell.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, we were also looking at it in Leywines, too, if my memory serves.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, because they had a big Faber-Castell display there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's Graf von Faber-Castell.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's a special range. So, that is the luxury range of the Faber-Castell lineup. And to just kind of rewind this a little bit, this is a, I guess, essentially a pencil cap with a built-in sharpener for, you know, just the short version of what this product is. And it's been around for a while, a little over 25 years in various forms. It comes in your very basic, you know, they have a junior model and a basic model that run, you know, $3 for the junior model, $10 for the regular plastic model. Comes with the Faber-Castell pen. They have an aluminum model that's $40. But none of those caught my eye. I wasn't interested in those. Like, I was interested in the ridiculously priced $260 version. And I don't fully know why, like, my brain worked this way.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, boy, that's why.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This, this, this, this, I will not disagree with that. This pen, this pen, pencil cap does not elicit big fancy boy feelings. This elicits words I can't say feelings. Like, it's not good terms for, you know, bro type of guys. And it starts with a D and ends with a bag kind of feelings. Like, it seems a little bit more pretentious than even I imagine. But I wanted it. I really wanted this product. And I, I still don't know why. Like, I wanted it really badly. I think it was just kind of the vintage-y look at it, look. And I also wanted to understand why. Why does this $260, and this is the, for the, the Graf Vaughn series, this is the low-end one, right? They make, you know, rose gold ones and black plated ones. Anthracite. Anthracite ones. So, this is the cheap one of the expensive ones, if that makes sense. Um, and I wanted to know why. Like, this pencil has fascinated me for a while. And I knew I would eventually buy one. And I happened to stumble on, um, CW Pencils. They did a baseball kit. So, I was going to, I went to buy that at CW Pencils. I was like, you know what? I'm making this order. Let's bite the bullet and go for the perfect pencil. So, you'll hear, we'll be talking about this a lot because I've only had it about a week or so. To cut completely to the chase, I don't see any way this product will be worth it, right? You know, the quote, is it worth it question? I don't see any way. And right now, I say that because I think the sharpener is poor. And for a product that's expensive, I at least want it to be, like, a spectacularly good sharpener. And it's not. So, but to be determined, I still have a long ways to go. Like, this is a product that's going to take some time. For the utility of it and the style of it and the build of it, it's really great. Like, it's really, really nice. I don't regret buying it one bit. But this is a product I don't see me ever recommending. And the funny thing is, I don't ever see me recommending the low-end ones either. Because I think for, like, a $10 price point, you have options. Like, just get a tin cap and a nicer sharpener, right? You know, to carry it if you want to have a portable pencil. For $40, I think the aluminum one's pretty ugly. And you could get something like the Cron D'Ache Fixed Pencil as an option for that price point. So, with a built-in sharpener and different things. So, the most, to use one of my favorite words, Myke, egregious part of this entire Perfect Pencil package. Which I'm going to give a lot of time with. And I really am efforting to love this. And, you know, it may come around to be one of my favorite products ever. Right now, it's not. But the most egregious part, Myke, are the pencil refills that they sell for these. At about $10 a pop for a pencil.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now, this does look like a pretty serious pencil to me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They actually have one of the best design features of this entire package is the screw-on eraser cap. Is my favorite feature of this entire thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because it's like, you've taken a pencil and made it, like, it is not as easily a disposable thing anymore. It has a piece of hardware, like a serious piece of hardware on it.