I have never seen so much written about a pencil.

We got Sam’s list o’ school supplies from his teacher, and it included pencils — specifically, Dixon Ticonderogas. It wasn’t a recommendation, it was a requirementIt was pretty clear; don’t show up with some store-brand crap.

They look like fine pencils, but I didn’t understand the absolute requirement for them. So I turned to Google, the Source of All Knowledge.

Wow.

I have never seen so many reviews — glowing reviews — of a pencil. There are entire blog posts (long ones) dedicated to the Ticonderoga. One blog post has 51 comments, almost all of them also heaping praise on the pencil.

There are product-review sites where even more people talk about how much they love these pencils.

“It sets the standard for the everyday writing utensil,” writes one person. But the definitive review goes to Sara Halm who wrote 1,600 words on the Dixon Ticonderoga for Epinions.

Incredible.

The standard-setter is the Ticonderoga 1388-2 HB pencil, but Dixon has a whole line of them. There’s the Original Ticonderoga, the new “Tri-Conderoga” that’s designed to be more comfortable to hold, “Ticonderoga Beginners” for kids (it’s a little larger), and, for younger kids, there’s “My First Ticonderoga.”

It’s even available in black and woodgrain. I mean, seriously.