Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

World's Best Pencil? NOT ANY MORE! I used to swear by the quality of these pencils. They truly were the best. But something's happened! This year (2012), I purchased both the yellow-barreled and the black-barreled HB pencils at the usual PREMIUM price and got ordinary to poor quality pencils! I checked the newer Ticonderoga pencils against an older one and a Staples brand pencil. The newer Ticonderoga were no better than the Staples. In fact, the new black-barreled pencil was not even as good as the Staples. The newer pencils aren't as soft or as dark as they use to be. They drag on the paper instead of moving smoothly. I was going to attach a photo of the comparison I made but regrettably, I don't know how. My advice: Don't pay the higher price for pencils that are no better than a "supermarket brand".