Absurd Intellectual

The legendary Eberhard Blackwing (the top pencil, above) commands a devotion among artists and writers that, frankly, seems unmatched.

It had the slogan “half the pressure, twice the speed” which, if true, would make a great deal of difference to people who use a lot of pencils. But even still, it’s just a pencil.

At any rate, in 1998, production on the famous pencil was discontinued.

Until now, when Palomino Blackwings are about to hit the market.

Pencil loving Mark Frauenfelder, of Boing Boing, got his hands on a pre-production model, and he broke out an original Eberhard to test-drive them side by side. (That’s his picture, above.) This is no mean feat — the originals go for as high as $40 apiece on eBay, that’s how much they are loved.

Frauenfelder’s impressions? The new Palomino Blackwing isn’t bad — but it is different:

• (New Blackwing) is softer and darker than (Original Blackwing).

• (New Blackwing) is quieter on the paper.

• (Original Blackwing) holds a point longer than (New Blackwing).

If the new version is cheap enough — under $2, he says — he’ll use it. Otherwise, no dice.

Interestingly, he also picked up a cheapie pencil that he found in his daughter’s desk — and found that it was pretty good, too.

My take is that people form attachments to things for all kinds of reasons. The original Eberhard Blackwings are distinctive for a number of reasons — their writing ease just one of them — and I could see myself getting sentimentally attached to them. Then, when they were suddenly unavailable, I could see myself rationalizing why I needed them — for real, actual reasons.

But watch me poke the pencilati here — I don’t think the Eberhard Blackwings are, really, that much better than other top-quality pencils. They’re certainly not $40 better.

But of course, I’ve never used one.