Editing The Pen Addict 252/transcript (section)

== Cron d'Ache Pencil ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So the little spiral bound with the green lines and the Cron d'Ache CWPE Blackwood pencil, which is amazing. So now this other one, collaboration you've done recently with Musgrave, the Bugle 1816 pencil. Tell me about that one because this one's completely new to me. I was unaware of it until probably today. So tell us about that because it looks super interesting. It's crazy looking. Yeah.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' And I actually have a secret to share about that pencil.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We like secrets.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Well, the Bugle is one of our best-selling pencils. It's amazing because it's so simple. It's just round. It doesn't have an eraser on it. First of all, there aren't a lot of round pencils out there these days, which historically is really sad because most pencils used to come in a round shape and they're a lot more comfortable for a lot of people to hold. So the Bugle is round. It's not painted. It just has a clear varnish on it. The text is really simple, very, very nostalgic, printed in white. It has two tiny little bugles even printed on it, like the actual instrument. And they're 25 cents. They're our least expensive pencil. People buy them like 30 at a time because they're really reliable, just like really simple, amazing American pencil. They're made in Tennessee. So Musgrave, who makes them, Lynn at Musgrave, randomly, like about a month ago, sent me a package with no note in it, like nothing. And it wasn't even a package. It was just like a small bubble mailer. And I opened it and inside was just like a handful of these pencils that were round, that were half regular wood and half black. And I emailed her and was like, what are these? Where did these come from? Like, why did you send them? And she was like, oh, those were an accident.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Somehow like the black slats and the regular slats got mixed. And this is the pencil that happened. And we wanted to show them to you in case there was something you might want to do with them. And so, yeah, that's what happened. And so I told her like, okay, well, the Bugles are best-selling pencil. Like, can we just slap that branding on there, maybe in a different foil color and make it like a special edition Bugle? And she really did not like that idea. She really wanted something like a little bit more like about us and a little bit more like personalized. And yeah, but then we ended up like, I ended up fighting around that one and that's what we did. And we just put them online yesterday and they've been really popular. It's even that one's, it's a 35 cent pencil and it's kind of wacky looking. We initially, when we first saw them, we're really excited about it being like a limited edition to us because the way that it's like half black looks like those like giant black and white cookies that we have here in New York. And so we were like, oh, it's like a New York cookie pencil. And so we were very excited about that. But yeah, the whole thing was an accident and it was just a matter of us figuring out what to do with this like weird, awesome accident.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's awesome. That's how the best stuff comes about. I tell you what, that's really, really cool to hear.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Yeah, yeah. I'm grateful that I'm the one these people come to when they want to figure these things out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We have something weird.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Can you help? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, that's good because you can see the weirdness and you either get it immediately you can say this is a thing or you go, yeah, that's actually weird and no thank you.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So this next one's from Sebastian. He wants to know as someone who doesn't get pencils, I wonder how you talk to non-pencil people about pencils. He says, my thinking is with fountain pens today, a lot of people have never even considered them as an option. So using one becomes special and talking about it shows you're in some way interested in a special hobby. Pencils seem so ubiquitous and ordinary. If you wanted to get me hooked or just talk to someone who's not even into stationery, what sets a good pencil apart from a regular yellow school pencil?

'''Caroline Weaver:''' That is a question I get on an everyday basis in the shop. Yes. So there's a little bit of a problem that especially here in the US, adults don't often use pencils because they assume that they're all the same, that they're all like the garbage that you can buy at Staples, like the just like not even branded, just like really bad, broken pencils, or even Ticonderoga's, which are really hit or miss these days because ever since their production left the US, they've been a little bit off. But we're like, on a whole, we're not exposed to great pencils just like in everyday shops, in your office supply stores, even a lot of times online. Target has some decent ones. And so, yeah, when anyone's skeptical, when anyone like doesn't get it or thinks like, okay, like a pencil is a pencil.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' I mean, that's exactly why my shop exists is so that I can prove to people that a pencil is not just a pencil.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' But yeah, I would just, yeah, my advice for that is that you just need to try some other pencils. And we actually have a sampler pack for that for people who don't get it, or people who are like new and just like don't know where to start, especially that, that people just like don't know where to start because it's very overwhelming. But yeah, we get that all the time in the shop when people will come in, like families will come in and like half the family will be like really into it and like the other half will just kind of like stand against the wall, like really confused as to why everybody's like freaking out over like a measly pencil. And yeah, those people I try to keep an eye on and try to like lure them to a test station so they can try them out. And nine times out of 10, they're very surprised and end up leaving with something because they realize that like these things can be awesome. And they're so nostalgic too, like the smell of like a freshly sharpened cedar pencil is unbeatable. But yeah, I think, I think a lot of people just forget that pencils can be really pleasurable.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. I like that. You know, it's, it's why you exist. I think that's a, that's a perfect way to say that. All right. We're going to get you out on a, on a little fun one here. And this is from Trent. And he wants to know which pencils burn the best as part of a small offering to my pen collection. So Trent must not be a pencil fan and he has to, you know, they have to go to the altar of his, of his pen collection and the pencil is going to be an offering. So what pencils burn the best for Trent here?

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Jeez. We're like literally burning them?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That was wrong, wasn't it, Caroline? That was wrong, Trent.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' How did you accept this question? Well, I feel like we should

'''Myke Hurley:''' give Trent something that's going to be a problem for him, you know? Yeah. Like something that would give off a real bad smell so he'll never do it again.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Yeah. We're going to pick like a, a very old pencil with like toxic paint. Ooh,

'''Myke Hurley:''' there we go. I like that. I'll teach you, Trent.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Like an old, like World War I era indelible pencil. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Get some legit lead poisoning. in there.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' No, I think, ooh, I think there shouldn't be paint. Definitely not a ferrule and an eraser. You don't want to be burning that and that would like look crazy because it would just like start sparking. That's not good. We would need, actually, you know what would actually look really pretty? Viking in Denmark make a pencil called the Rollo that's like this mini jumbo pencil. It's like the size between a jumbo and a regular size pencil that's completely unfinished and it's like kind of chunky. Definitely not toxic. If I trust anyone, it's probably, it's probably our nice friends in Denmark. So maybe that, if you really are going to burn a pencil or maybe we should just make this about the pencil and just like go to Staples and buy those really, really bad ones.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's right.

'''Caroline Weaver:''' And burn them. But I do sometimes, if I save, if I have a bowl of pencil shavings on my kitchen counter, which I very frequently do, I have a fireplace in my living room so I just throw the shavings in the fire. They spark like the, like the bits of graphite spark and it's really, it's really kind of fun. That's a good fire starter.