They Sharpen Pencils, Don't They?

The pencil is no childish adornment of civilization, but rather its very foundation. Any artist or engineer will tell you that few are so foolish as to undertake any important enterprise without a good pencil at hand; it remains the most direct connection between the human intellect and material action. Even today, with a surfeit of darn fool electric brain contraptions clogging up America's laps, preventing sex, a pure smooth shaft of hard grey graphite seamlessly encased in even-grained, fragrant cedar wood and delicate, yielding paper becomes the soft, white marble and skillfully wielded, driving chisel of creation itself.

Not to suggest anything.

Recently at the Daniel Smith Art Store to requisition pencils of high quality for particular purposes, I woke up the Laird - a noted world class amateur pencil expert -by telephonic signal to receive the highest quality pencil information. It would simply not do to purchase such an important instrument without the very best advice, in that, due to certain deficiencies, one was faced with pencil choices other than the oft-lauded De Staedtler and the secret velvety asian mystery of the Tombow.

The Undersecretary was in great need of pencils, and we dared not fail him. After some consultation, the Laird advised the (high end) Faber-Castle HB. I found out moments later the wisdom of this choice, as an artist friend at the counter informed me that whilst inferior pencils are assembled (shamelessly) with three miserly drops of glue to hold the wood segments together, Faber Castles are glued seamlessly along the length, producing superior stress resistance and smoother sharpening.

I tell this as a humble plea for the Laird - favor us, sir, with your pencilly expertise, so that it may inform the very world.

TOPIC A - Is my love for the common Bic Disposable Mechanical 0.7mm (NEVER 0.5mm - I am no Lord Popinjay Stripeypants, Esq., sir) pencil with the eraser-top clicking mechanism sadly misplaced?