Editing The Pen Addict 541/transcript (section)

== Discussion on pencils as gifting options ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Okay. Let's get into pencils. One of my favorite gifting categories.

'''Anna Reinert:''' All right. We'll go first.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You go first. You go first. I went first last time.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Oh, okay. Okay. Again, this is unofficially sponsored by Caran d'Ache. So, I developed a reputation years ago of handing out red-blue pencils at various events just to get people excited about them. And to this day, the Caran d'Ache 999 bicolor pencil, which is – it doesn't say – doesn't give you any idea what it is. But it is a red and blue pencil, half and half, one on each end. And for whatever reason, this particular model that Caran d'Ache does is actually water-soluble. So, it's fun if you want to add a little water brush pen to it and all of a sudden it turns into sort of like watercolor. So, it is not cheap. Oftentimes, it can be $3 to $5 for one pencil. But, again, you get two colors. It's, you know, a watercolor pencil. That's the kind of thing that I would give to somebody as like a gift, like a stocking stuffer or a secret Santa. Because I think anybody would think it was cool, even if they never realized that it was water-soluble. And then for a non-water-soluble option, the Mitsubishi red-blue pencils. And they have a hex and a round version. JetPens stocks both of them. And you can buy a whole box for a reasonable price and just sort of hand them out like Santa Claus.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I love those. They're definitely some of my favorite pencils. I like the two-color pencils here. They're fantastic.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I like to use them for sketching.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Oh, yeah. Totally. Or even just underlining and highlighting notes. Like, you know, you've taken all your meeting notes and you go back and you want to underline the tasks you need to do versus everyone else or whatever. That's where I use the red-blue. A lot. But I also put in colored pencils because I knew you guys wouldn't go there. And I put in the Tombow Erotogen. I never say that right. Please don't skewer me for it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No. So, literally one of my favorite products in the world. And I would have put this in here. And I'll explain why I didn't in a minute. But, yeah. Tell me about the color dictionary.

'''Anna Reinert:''' It's just a beautiful set of pencils. The cores are a little bit harder than things like Prismacolor, which have very soft leads. So, they're a little bit easier for people who maybe haven't used colored pencils a lot or since they were a little kid or whatever. And the colors are classically Japanese. They're just very elegant. It's not just your pack of eight rainbow pencils from Crayola. Yeah. So, and the pack of, I think it's a pack of like 36 for the color dictionary is maybe $30. It's not crazy expensive. Like, if you know somebody who kind of likes art or sketching or, you know, doing coloring or whatever, these would be a good gift. A little pricier than maybe what they would find at, you know, Hobby Lobby. But, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Seriously, my favorite color pencils. I keep them on my desk. I just have one dictionary. There's like, they make them in all different sizes, right? So, there's, you can get like three different sets of 30 pencils or you can get like the 36 pack. There's all kinds of different setups. So, I just have one of the 30 packs. And they're just, they're so cool.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah. They're gorgeous. And not to steal your thunder, but I had had several products from Musgrave on my list as well. But my favorite is the Heritage Collection because it comes in a tube that looks like a pencil. So, it is super giftable and goofy and has kind of one of each of their most popular pencils. So, that if you are trying to convince someone that pencils are awesome, Jesse, this is for you.

'''Anna Reinert:''' They get an opportunity to try a bunch of different ones. And I think they even include their carpenter's pencil and things like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, that's my list. Yeah. So, like it was a lot for me to put the Tombow Erojitin Color Dictionary on my list until I got Musgrave marketed in my email. So, they just came out with their 2022 holiday gift set. Similar to like Anna was talking about, you know, the Heritage set with all the pencils. This has a few more accessories. It's got like a little pouch, a little notebook, some stickers, some of the Tennessee Red, which is one of their, you know, most popular products. Maybe their single most popular product, at least for super pencil nerds. And it's just, you know, like a pre-made set. It's 40 bucks. It's got lots of cool stationary stuff in there. So, definitely check that out as a wonderful gift. If I was shopping for myself, I might have to go for the Pencil King. That was also in the same email that I got marketed to. It's a round purple pen with like a vintage font on there. It's just a really, you know, OG style classic pencil from like the 40s and 50s as far as style goes. Yeah, these are sweet.

'''Anna Reinert:''' I might be, yeah, this is going to cost me some money.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Shame on you. I know. Again, this is the products we like. And I saw this and like, I went like, oh, this is trouble. Yeah, that's beautiful. It's only 15 bucks for a 12 pack. And it comes in that similar tube packaging. It's not, I mean, it doesn't have the pencil artwork on there, but it's got the beautiful purple and gold.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah, it's beautiful gold foiling. It's a lovely tube.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, sorry about that. These are great. They're fantastic.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah, this is, I'm going to spend so many at Musgrave. Yeah, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, so Myke would like to go with the Rotring 600 for a favorite pencil gift. I mean, it is the best mechanical drafting pencil. It's maybe the only pencil he's ever used in his entire life, which I, you can't go wrong with the Rotring 600. That's, you know, if you have a student or, you know, someone who's into like the technical aspects of drawing or art, like the Rotring 600, you really can't go wrong with that. So I don't think Myke has ever had anything different for pencil gifts. And you know what? He's not wrong in this case.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Nope. And he, he is representing the mechanical pencil zone because neither of us did.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly, exactly. Oh, I, I, I might, I might go down that path a little bit later. We'll see. We'll see. Sounds good. We'll see. Um, so let's, uh, let's talk about ink real quick, which I think along the lines of fountain pen, I think inks actually, it could be maybe like paper. It could be like really hard to buy or really simple. Like if you don't overthink it. So I thought a little bit for ink, since you're probably buying something for someone who knows what to do with a bottle of ink, right? So this is someone who's probably got some experience with fountain pens and things like that. I looked at a couple of brands that I really enjoy that have a wide color palette. So I'm not necessarily picking out like one specific color of a specific brand, but I think both Venta inks and wearing wool inks have been some of my favorite colors this year, right? They've done some interesting, um, um, colors, some interesting ideas, some interesting packaging, just kind of a all around good quality, good writing inks. You can even, you know, get some of the shimmer inks if you want, or some sheening inks, things like that. But I think it's just a unique inky gift. I like just picking something from Venta or wearing wool inks, um, to, to have someone test out. I think they're, um, beautiful, beautiful inks.

'''Anna Reinert:''' They are. They're really good. Um, I love it when ink companies do some sort of set or gift set. I find that these are great for gift giving. Um, and the color verse new horizon set is still available. Um, I don't know how many are left cause they're usually pretty limited, but they're the kind of thing that it's a nice opportunity to try a bunch of colors. And I feel like it's the kind of thing that, um, people are sometimes hesitant to buy for themselves cause it's a bit more expensive. So it would be kind of like a, you know, a treat to get something that is like, Ooh, it's all so fancy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, no, this is like a perfect kind of gift set up for ink. Um, yeah. What do you get for four different colors all in like the same packaging? And if you're a fan of color verse, you know, they do like really cool packaging and they always do a great job. And then the inks on top of that are just spectacular. So yeah, this, uh, this actually looks like a set of colors that I would enjoy. The four colors work, uh, really, really well together. So yeah, I like that a lot.

'''Anna Reinert:''' There is a review of that set on well-appointed desk. If you want to see them all in action.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nice. Nice. So, um, Myke would like to choose, uh, for his ink gift, uh, pilot, Oro Shizuku Fuyugaki. Um, now he has long been an orange ink fan and he will tell you, he will correct me. He's yelling right now, listening, saying that no, Brad, I actually think the Robert Oster fire on fire that you make is the best orange ink, but I will never let him live down the fact that he chose Fuyugaki over Oro Shizuku Yuyaki way back in the day as the best orange ink. And, uh, even though his mind has changed, I still think that's probably his favorite ink gift because, you know, I mean, the Oro Shizuku ink bottles are cool. They're, they're well-priced. They're a good ink. And, uh, yeah, he, uh, he is a long time Fuyugaki lover and I will not let him live that down.

'''Anna Reinert:''' And he snubbed fire on fire. Shame.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Man.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Poor shame.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That was harsh.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Shameless self-promotion earlier and now dissing his bestie. This is bad. It's bad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' He wouldn't even do it. He wouldn't even do it to me. So, yep. All right. We have a few more, a few more lists to get to, but no. Next up, let's talk about our good friends over at Trade Coffee.

'''Anna Reinert:''' So this episode makes, I was going to say Trade Coffee makes a lovely gift.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Heck yeah. So this is perfect for this episode of the Pen Addict, which is brought to you by Trade Coffee. The holidays are approaching, Anna, so it's time to start thinking about what you're going to gift your loved ones. And if you're looking for something to get, even the hardest to shop for, look no further with a personalized coffee subscription from Trade Coffee. Trade Coffee is a subscription service. It makes it so simple for you to discover new coffees and make your best cup of coffee at home every day, which I do. Trade partners with the nation's top rated independent roasters to send you coffee that they know you'll love fresh to your home and on your preferred schedule. Whether you already know what you like or are new to specialty coffee and need some help, Trade makes it easy and convenient to discover new coffees. So I was thinking about this this morning as I was brewing my coffee. I forgot to write down which coffee was actually being ground this morning. So I told Myke last week that I needed to start tracking these things. Well, Trade sends me an email every week, and that's what I need to start writing down. So this week I'm getting from Greater Goods in Austin, Texas, Anna, I'm getting their Kickstart roast, which features dark chocolate and brown sugar sweetness are front and center in this easy drinking coffee with a surprising and delightful note of rose throughout. I mean, come on. Like that is my coffee.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Sounds fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If that coffee's on the board, that's the one I'm choosing. And that's what Trade does for you. That's how perfect they are matching what I look for in a coffee every day and want to drink every day. So Trade coffee is a perfect gift for loved ones, which makes them perfect for this gift guide episode. They make it easy with their digital gifting options for last minute shoppers or their coffee and equipment bundles for something under the tree. Treat yourself or the coffee lover in your life with Trade coffee. Right now, Trade is offering our listeners a total of $30 off a subscription and access to limited time holiday specials. At drinktrade.com slash penaddict. That's D-R-I-N-K-T-R-A-D-E dot com slash penaddict for $30 off. Our thanks to Trade coffee for their support of this show and all of Relay FM. All right. So let's talk about a few type of accessory type things. In this category, I'm calling storage, which can mean pretty much anything. But I think we both took it as, hey, let's look at our carry storage, our smaller storage. So what do you have for favorite storage gift?

'''Anna Reinert:''' Well, two of my favorite storage devices are the Ray May Clam pen case. So it has like a hard edge. So it's almost like those, you know, your grandma had the like handbag with the like clutch thing across the top.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like that cross, like that cross clasp kind of thing.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah, the cross clasp kind of thing. And it had that rigid edge. So the Ray May Clam cases have the same thing around the edge, but it's the whole case is sort of like a little rectangle kind of thing. So when you open it, it kind of, it stays open. It doesn't fall shut. And you have like a little reservoir in the bottom. And it's like my favorite thing to keep, you know, markers, pencils, you sort of non-fountain pen, like all my other accessories. And there's like little pouches in the top of the lid for things like extra converters, an eraser, sharpener, those types of things. And they fit into like a little mesh pouch. Um, and it doesn't look like maybe they'll be stocked forever. Um, I was looking at JetPens and they're listed as last chance. Um, so I feel like that's a really great, like go get it quick because you'll, you'll be glad you did. It's, I've tried just about every case. I think the JetPens sells and it has, it's the one that I always go back to.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it's only 14 bucks. Like this is like no brainer. Like this is, this could be part of like other giveaway. I mean, other giveaways, other gifts, other gifts. Um, you know, you put them, put them in the case and they're kind of all together. I have like a stationary kit. Yeah. These are fantastic.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yeah. And then, uh, my clap, my favorite, I carry it all the time is my three, uh, my Galen leather three slot zippered pen case. It's the one that goes with me every day. Um, it has ink stains all over it. It's in their crazy horse leather. So it, it looks bashed and beaten. And oftentimes I'll show it to people at pen shows who are looking at Galen leather products. And I'm like, this is what it looks like when it's had some abuse. And they're like, oh, that looks really good. Like, have you treated it, condition the leather or anything? I'm like, nope. So eventually I should probably treat the leather. It's, I've had it for several years, but yeah, it's perfect for just holding the couple of pens you'll need throughout the day. Um, and it keeps, it keeps me honest. Like instead of carrying like a 40 pen case to work, like really seriously, how many pens are you going to use? Like maybe two.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. So, so I kind of did a little bit along, uh, your lines. I have a, a, a fancy pants leather product, um, in superior labor. They are one of my favorite brands just in general, just their, their design and their aesthetic and their style is completely right up my alley. I've used a couple of their cases. Well, I've used one case for a while. It's the wallet case, which doesn't look like it's still currently available. And then a different, uh, pouch bag, um, that I currently use as well. So I, there's all kinds of different choices from, from these small pouches to like individual, like three pin cases or some larger pin rolls and wraps. So they're pretty expensive. Like this is like a, like a big stationary gift for someone, but I just love the design. I love the look they've held up well. Over time. So I'm a, I'm a big fan of everything that superior labor does. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the smand, which is like your, um, like your Raymay clam pen case. This is like the one case that I think is like my favorite at jet pins who has like literally all the cases. This is such a really basic looking case. It's like a little triangular shape, hard sided case, but the front end flips out. So you can like stand things on the outside. Um, it's got like this.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Please tell me that you have the one with the bunnies.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have had the ones with the bunnies and give them, given them away right now. I have like the blue and green one on my desk. Like I have, I've think I've bought literally every one of these colors on the page because there's such good giveaway items. So I give a lot of these away and I've definitely given away the bunnies and the cherry and the puppy. Uh, right now I just have the standard blue and green. It's got some nice ink stains on it from using it so much. And like the, the interior pocket hole, it's probably like 20 pins. Like I have a bunch of highlighter markers in there right now. And then like, literally I'm staring at it. My phone's like resting up on the outside of the case right now. And then there's like three pins on the little tray outside of it. So yeah, love the smand. It's a great, it's a great case. And, uh, yeah, I will, I will stand by this man forever.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Myke made up for his past egregiousness with the Fuyugaki and for storage. He went straight for the Notco Sinclair, except knowing Myke, um, he just wants the, the old school Sinclair to exist forever. But you know what? The new Rick, Rickshaw Sinclair model R he's going to, uh, he's going to learn to love that one just as much because it's really, really nice.

'''Anna Reinert:''' He's going to learn to embrace it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. He will. I haven't sent him one yet. So he doesn't have one yet to, to learn the ways of the model R, but, uh, it's been fantastic. It's been great working with, uh, Rickshaw for this. So Myke, I appreciate you, uh, making up for that, uh, that Fuyugaki take with, uh, just going straight for the Notco Sinclair, which is now the Rickshaw Sinclair model R. So he, he came correct a little bit there.

'''Anna Reinert:''' There you go. Um, I, I really like mine and if it hadn't already been on the list, I might've thrown you a bone there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, you have a, you have a sweet pink one, right?

'''Anna Reinert:''' Yes, I do. Um, there's such a, there's such a funny story about that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm.

'''Anna Reinert:''' So when all of the announcements were coming, uh, about the release of the Sinclair through Rickshaw, um, uh, Rickshaw had posted this glorious, like neon hot pink one with, uh, a chair, uh, um, like the Sakura cherry blossom, uh, insert for two pens. And I was like, I'm sorry, that's my case in the comments. And a week later it showed up in my mailbox.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep.

'''Anna Reinert:''' I was like, he's always been so good to me. And, um, like the very first time that I met, um, uh, the owner of Rickshaw.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Mark.

'''Anna Reinert:''' Mark. Thank you. Mark Dwyer. I, um, he was walking around, uh, the San Francisco pen show with a big like duffel bag full of his like single pen sleeves. Like he hadn't set up a table. He wasn't sure yet if the pen community was going to embrace him or anything. And he walked up to me, took one look and then, uh, reached in his bag and pulled out a hot pink, um, pen sleeve for me. Yep. And, you know, after the, and, and then I pulled out my Caran d'Ache 849 fountain pen and hot pink and I slid it in there and I'm like, perfect.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I put it back in my pocket. So.