Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

About a month ago I happily purchased $25.00 worth of the new MATTE finish Black Warrior pencils, unaware that they were not what I thought. I'd discovered this singularly marvelous pencil quite by accident about ten years ago, and have been an ardent devotee ever since. (I really didn't want so many, but Amazon wouldn't ship otherwise.) Anyway, when I got them I was thrilled and began to sharpen a box right away. The first two sharpened fine. However, the third pencil balked. I twisted it and twisted it in the little hand-held sharpener until it was half its length! The rest were a bit sluggish in the sharpener, too. So, jumped online and did some research, and quickly found out that the new pencils are not made in the USA, but made in Mexico an, sadly, of clearly lesser quality. They don't have the glossy black shaft anymore, and are just an "okay" pencil. They write satisfactorily, but they don't glide like the older model. They just don't have that oomph. I had an audition last week and opened my portfolio to pull out a pencil. Much to my delight, there was a lovely "old" GLOSSY Black Warrior I'd tucked inside, ready to go to work. It wrote smooth as silk and I put it away with much respect.