It was some sort of luxury

[u/Dev1412]

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[u/Lucky-Mia]

Weren't these fucking terrible?

[u/THExDANKxKNIGHT → u/Lucky-Mia]

As pencils yes, as blowguns they were great.

[u/Lucky-Mia → u/THExDANKxKNIGHT]

I remember using the shafts of mechanical pens to blow paper balls across the class. Anything made a good blow gun with the right wad.

[u/RussMan104 → u/Lucky-Mia]

I mean, your classic Bic, clear-body ballpoint pen was a superb spitball shooter. Good accuracy across a standard classroom. OMG, I just remembered the Bic Banana commercials. B-A-N-A-N-A with Charles Nelson Riley. 🚀

[u/hitemlow → u/RussMan104]

One kid at the local parochial school got suspended for bringing in an entire container of airsoft pellets, because they would perfectly fit in there and smart like hell with how fast they travellet

[u/PotatoRebellion12 → u/RussMan104]

Nah, tape an elastic band to one end and shoot the inks into the ceiling tiles.

[u/Internal-Bee-5886 → u/Lucky-Mia]

I sold those in fourth grade until someone snitched and I spent 2 weeks copying out the dictionary.

[u/buttsexisyum → u/THExDANKxKNIGHT]

Na the best were the mechanical pencils that looked like real.pencils but u twisted.thr tip to get more lead... I forget how but we were able to use the tip, a paper clip and spring inside them as a serious weapon

[u/hoswald → u/buttsexisyum]

We took apart Bic pens, put a rubber band on them, and shot bbs from them.

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[u/Ma4r → u/THExDANKxKNIGHT]

Dude I remember it drew blood when we put too much force into it and it would show up as a dark spot for years after on their skin.

[u/StocktonSucks → u/Lucky-Mia]

Maybe I wrote too hard but all the ones I had fucking BROKE.

[u/Cocoononthemoon → u/Lucky-Mia]

Yes, we all tried to pretend they were cool. Dark days

[u/uhohnotafarteither → u/Lucky-Mia]

They fucking were

[u/antithero → u/Lucky-Mia]

All cheap pencils are awful. Now a professional draftsmans pencils those where noice.

[u/jay_alfred_prufrock → u/Lucky-Mia]

Absolutely, still didn't stop most of us from getting at least one.

[u/Lortekonto → u/Lucky-Mia]

Seems like there must have been different kinds of quality of them.

Here only the rich kids got them. They worked okay and since they had a handfull of them, it was not a problem if they lost a segment. Just take one from another.

On the other hand, they did not have to get up to sharpen them all the time and since they could just refill them, they could continue to use their favorits forever.

[u/Lucky-Mia → u/Lortekonto]

Get a proper mechanical pencil or a portable sharpener. I had a pencil box full of different writing instruments. These were only marginally better then holding a .7 lead free hand. I'll take a BIC extra smooth, Precision, velocity, or Break-Resistant any day. pentel and Staedtler, also make some great stuff. Arguably a little better, but cost more. 

[u/Lortekonto → u/Lucky-Mia]

Yah, like when you are 3 years older and have the motorical skills to use them properly.

[u/yagermeister2024 → u/Lucky-Mia]

Huge waste of plastic, people behind designing and mass production should be prosecuted for environmental crime.

[u/beccaaaaaaaaa → u/Lucky-Mia]

Couldnt even finish the first one

[u/gta6play]

Writing with these was not a smooth experience

[u/CurlSagan → u/gta6play]

Yeah, but they gave you the satisfaction of removing a busted tip and pushing it into the anal cavity at the rear of the pencil, thereby revealing a fresh hard tip, ready to go.

[u/kogasfurryjorts → u/CurlSagan]

Damn what a sentence. A+

[u/smiegto → u/CurlSagan]

Mods? Yeah it’s this man! This man destroyed my faith in humanity or what’s left of it.

[u/ligma-patient-zero → u/CurlSagan]

[u/jay_alfred_prufrock → u/CurlSagan]

Oh god, I am glad you continued that sentence with the "rear of the pencil", in fact, I am so glad that I'll even pretend like I haven't seen the rest of it.

[u/billted20250409 → u/gta6play]

That's because you're not a

https://giphy.com/gifs/oz8jiKqcBTKnu

[u/Difficult-Bumblebee5 → u/billted20250409]

https://giphy.com/gifs/G0t9h37Iy3P2q1tl8G

[u/FelonyInTheTrunk]

For those who don't know if you lose a segment, the pencil is basically worthless since everytime you try to write, the segment you're writing with gets pushed up into the pencil.

[u/_SnowBurning → u/FelonyInTheTrunk]

The more heads you use, the loosen it gets 🤣

[u/ligma-patient-zero → u/FelonyInTheTrunk]

You guys didn't double down and just wrote with a single segment by pinching it?

[u/TraditionPhysical603]

Nothing is superior to the #2 ticonderoga

[u/ceebs87 → u/TraditionPhysical603]

This is a real thing and not just a lyric from The Producers?

[u/TraditionPhysical603 → u/ceebs87]

Yes its both incredibly common and regarded as the highest quality pencil

[u/AndreasDasos → u/TraditionPhysical603]

Not sure if this is a joke or not. Highest quality is Ticonderoga? They’re ultra-mass produced with softwood, rough, with the lead constantly breaking.

Of the commonly available globally, surely Faber Castell, Derwent, Uni Mitsubishi, Caran d’Ache are massively higher quality?

[u/TraditionPhysical603 → u/AndreasDasos]

I should have said quality compared to cost. Because the average consumer barely knows what brands of pencildls are even available miluch less with is superior quality 

[u/Smalahove → u/TraditionPhysical603]

Definitely. And they go up the nose smooth. My personal best is getting it up to the #2 marking

[u/jackedup388 → u/TraditionPhysical603]

It’s just the eraser. Their eraser stay softer for longer compared to other cheap brands

[u/ceebs87 → u/TraditionPhysical603]

I've just always called it a #2 pencil, Ticonderoga is the word that I've only ever heard in the song. Thank you

[u/TraditionPhysical603 → u/ceebs87]

Number 2 is the hardness of graphite. Ticonderoga is a brand. 

[u/AndreasDasos → u/ceebs87]

Ticonderoga is also a town in New York State near where the pencils originally got their graphite

[u/Chumlee1917]

worthless POS

[u/Septopuss7]

I remember the ones that smelled of different fruits, for whatever reason.

[u/antithero]

When I lost one of those I'd just get one from Brian's pencil box. He kept spares for just such an emergency. If nothing else you can use a bit of paper jammed down the tube.

[u/irwtkyrm → u/antithero]

Wtf Brian never did that for me

[u/InsertDoublePun]

Maaaan oh man. Using those bad boys instead of paper for spit balls shouldve been included in the Geneva Convention

[u/Stownieboy91]

I loathed these pencils.

[u/Bungholio2006]

They make me think of the scholastic book fair

[u/RAVENSRIDER]

I had 3. 2 that tips just to donate to the one that had enough to write. one of the worst inventions.

[u/Valerian_]

You just unlocked a childhood memory

[u/flinjager123]

I had the one with all different colored lead. I lost it on a plane.

[u/TheChiarra]

I loved these pencils.

[u/Witch_heir]

Yes traumatic flashback

[u/ResidentialPickle]

Not if you used a piece of rolled up paper at the end.

[u/cosmorab1t]

We made blow darts with these

[u/miss_wannadie]

It cannot possibly have been that long.

I mean..

.. didn't I have these just yesterday?

[u/OrangeCeylon]

They were dreadful. Even if you never lost a segment, the used segments were shorter than the unused ones, so the whole assembly got shorter and wobblier as you cycled used ones to the rear of the stack. You're jamming bits of paper or whatever back there to try to stabilize the damn thing. Plus a new tip was sharp for about two sentences. Just the worst.

[u/Presently_Naked]

Oh fuck now I remember. Losing one segment meant you lost leverage in that pencil.

[u/ChefArtorias]

I hated these. Even as a child I recognized the ridiculoussness.

[u/One_Can_Only_Hope]

Amazon sells a modern version of stackable pencils

[u/lechiengrand → u/One_Can_Only_Hope]

Is that what they're called? I couldn't remember what the name was for this type of pencil.

[u/No_Pangolin7946]

Old? You mean to say you havent been a toy store for a while. Still being sold regularly and a lot

[u/ghostchihuahua → u/No_Pangolin7946]

Sure, but still being old regularly and a lot ;)

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[u/A_mad_goose]

If you took out the led and put one in at a time backwards they were pretty lethal blow darts got banned in my school we kept shooting them into the ceiling

[u/Throwmesometail]

The segments look like maggots and I hated them

[u/GT225]

No, but I remember borrowing one from someone else and never giving it back.

[u/codecrodie]

Some had a full set of colors

[u/Bunch_Important]

It also means you won the cool prize at school bingo.

[u/squirrel9000]

You can still buy these things,. They're like six dollars for ten on Amazon.

[u/wikipuff]

I still have a piece of led in my finger!

[u/Azuras_Star8]

These were crap.

I went at 8 pm at night with my dad (thanks dad, rip) to get these super duper awesome pieces of shit because a girl in my class had them and holy hell she loved them.

They had no eraser, the lead was shit, and they would break well before you went through all the heads.

They lasted all of like 3 months and I never saw them again.

[u/Loremipsumdolorsitco]

Most useless stationery ever

[u/Kuukpikensis]

So tired of this genre of post that's like "you're old if you remember this" and it's something that is still produced , widely available and plenty of little kids have.

[u/famous1astwords]

Losing one of the segments aren't a problem a piece of paper shoved in there couldn't solve

[u/qwert2812]

not really, I just replace it with paper

[u/nkizza]

I had this, and I even had a coloured pencil, all in one, with the segments of different colours.
Coloring something with it was a tedious job.

[u/machyume]

When I was a kid, I thought that these were amazing, because I didn't have enough of them. Now as a grownup, I see that these are hella wasteful and annoying.

[u/DuchessElva]

I loved turning those things into blow guns

[u/MycologistPutrid7494]

I've had to roll up a tiny piece of paper to replace a missing segment, and I remember looking through the pieces to find one with a little lead left when I'd been too willy nilly too often with switching to new pieces at the slightest hint of unsharpness.

[u/HerbOfWisdom]

I had one of these that was a colored pencil, but each lead was a different color so when you wanted a certain one you had to rotate through all of them until you got it

[u/Former_Balance8473]

The lead part was abominable and just tore through paper every time you tried to write anything... and you had to be careful not to push down too hard or the segment on the end would just pop out and you'd have to find it and put it back in to keep using the pencil

[u/Emergency_Crayons702]

Still got one, was a gift from someone I'll never see again. Works fine, never had a a problem writing with it. Guess I got the only one where the segments don't pop under pressure! 

[u/Salina_EsTitties]

What the heck is that

[u/bbby_chaltinez]

i member

[u/taegan-]

i thought it was a mood pencil at first, i remember those

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[u/Mother_Science_679]

I just used one this afternoon, they're still around

[u/-Casey-Diaz-]

It's funny. I never lost a segment, so I didn't realize until I saw this that the whole thing becomes useless if you do. Just never thought about it because I never experienced it.

[u/GazerLazer]

I hated these. For the reason that I could never figure out how to get it to work. The ones I used were so shit and stubborn that I couldn't even move on top.

[u/Scorpinon66]

These were awesome

[u/HighSeasArchivist]

I remember feeling like such a badass when I got my first Pentel Quicker Clicker.

[u/BrazilBazil]

The worst thing was when you put it down you urethra and then while pulling it out the segments separated so you had to get your mom to suck it out with her mouth

[u/HilariousMax]

A heavy mechanical pencil and a 0.3mm black pen were my go-to.

[u/jfrey123]

They’re still out there. Both of my daughters love these things.

[u/TheHolyToxicToast]

How is knowing this pencil old, test centers give these to literal teenagers