Zu den beliebtesten Druckbleistiften in Japan gehört der 19871 eingeführte Pentel Smash2.
Das großartige Video „Pentel Smash: From R&D to Rare Finds“ aus dem sehr empfehlenswerten Kanal „Great Mechanical Pencils“ stellt diesen besonderen Druckbleistift, dessen Produktion beinahe eingestellt worden wäre, ausführlich vor und präsentiert zahlreiche spannende Details, darunter ein überraschend unbekanntes. Aber Vorsicht: Wenn man noch keinen Smash hat, kann das Video dazu führen, dass man unbedingt einen haben möchte, und wenn man bereits einen hat, besteht die Gefahr, dass man einen weiteren kauft.
- Genauer: 1987 kam der Smash in 0,5/0,7/0,9 mm und 1988 in 0,3 mm. – Quelle: Pentel Pencils Identification Book, V2025.04, Seite 360..↩
- Warum Pentel Deutschland ihn nicht im Sortiment hat, ist mir ein Rätsel.↩
I feel in love with the Smash after I saw a detail photo of this pencil on Alex Hammond and Mike Tinney’s wonderful “The Secret Life of the Pencil” book. It is indeed quite a unique and well designed mechanical pencil.
Thanks for sharing this video!
The photo of the Smash in the “The Scret Life of the Pencil“ is really great! May I ask which version(s) of Smash you’re using?
I only own one, a black 0.5mm version that still has the old 4H-2B grades on it. After watching the video am debating on getting another one with the newer lead grades as I often use this pencil with 4B lead -which I usually represent as 4H.
Honestly, am beyond color-collecting. Did it with the Lamy Safari and found that to be highly unsatisfying. Specially when you pay exhorbitant amounts of money for something that is only a shade of grey different.
It’s great to hear that you have such an old Smash!
Your approach to collecting colour variants is sensible. If the variants differ only slightly and are also very expensive, it really isn’t much fun. Fortunately, I was able to get most of my Smash variants relatively cheaply, and the colours are very attractive. And on top of that, you can mix and match the parts yourself ;-)
Unfortunately I live in a country (or resemblance of it), that makes importing anything from Japan or Korea an impossible mission. Taxes, shipping rates and waiting times all conspire together to make that something unattainable.
So we have to make do with Amazon iterations, and I haven’t been in love with any of them. I went for a few Rotring 600 colors, but stopped at 4.
I’m sorry to hear that the options for importing are so limited.
Do you also have the yellow Rotring 600 which was offered by the Loft retail chain? I think it’s quite appealing, but I’ve read several times now that the barrel cracks, even when not in use (I simply cannot understand how something like that can happen).
No, I quit the color collecting bug on Rotring 600 after the initial 3 colors (green, red, blue). I already had a silver and black one. The yellow seems very nice indeed!
I read somewhere about those cracks too which is a real shame. Maybe that is why its price is not as outrageous as other limited edition versions.
So you’ve already got quite a few different versions of this classic mechanical pencil! Do you use the Rotring 600 often?
Yes, it’s indeed a shame that the yellow variant cracks even in storage, and I wonder what’s causing it. I like yellow writing implements but this problem (which centainly reduces the collector’s value) keeps me from buying this pencil.
I try to used it often. But honestly, I’ve got way too many writing instruments (about a tenth of what you have almost certainly). And that if the mood for fountain pens, or lead holders or wood pencils doesn’t strike first.
Right now am on my fountain pen mood, so I decided to use every single one on my collection. Been 3 months into it, and haven’t been able to reach 50%. Hell, I have pens I’ve never used and many which I didn’t recalled ever purchasing!
But I do really enjoy drawing with my 600 pencils. They are quite special and I’m very fond of them. Guess they remind me of the days when German engineering meant something.
I think I can relate to the problem of having too many writing implements ;-) A while ago, I started to downsize my collection (albeit with very modest success so far), and I’ve almost completely stopped buying new items. But there are still too many left to make good use of them …
But just like you, I too have pencils and pens that I keep coming back to. I’m also a fan of the Rotring 600, and I can still remember when it first came onto the market and a local retailer showed it to me. Shortly before that, I’d bought the STAEDTLER MARS MICROGRAPH F in three lead sizes and a few accessories for technical drawing from this very same retailer, and who knows what I would have chosen if I’d had to decide between this one and the Rotring 600!
Back to the Pentel Smash: As explained in the linked video, the Smash was initially aimed at technical draughtsmen and available in four lead sizes. And it was also launched in 1987 :-) (By the way, I have no doubt that there will be several limited-edition versions of the Smash to mark its 40th anniversary next year.)
I can barely imagine what it was like to buy stationery supplies in Germany in those days. Must have been paradise.
Interesting that the Smash was aimed at draftmen in 1987, just as AutoCAD was being introduced to market and also considering that -according to some draftmen I’ve chatted with recently, they preferred lead holders to mechanical pencils as their sleeves introduced unwanted distortions. Still, I find it quite sad that drafting is no longer taught to architects for example. I’ve seen my fair share of young people pretty much unable to represent their ideas visually without the use of a computer.
Just ten years ago, browsing and shopping for stationery in Germany was a real experience but now most of the old shops in my area have closed down (which I also see as a cultural loss). But I’m glad I got to experience that!
Wasn’t AutoCAD introduced earlier than that? Anyway – back in 1987, I was still learning technical drawing with a pencil and it wasn’t until some time later that I was introduced to software such as Hewlett-Packard’s ME10. But I’m not a mechanical engineer, so I never got that deeply involved in technical drawing.
The details about the unwanted distortions caused by the lead sleeves are interesting! I’ve never given that any thought before, but I can imagine that a sharp point on a lead in a lead holder allows for much greater precision.
I have always seen drawing as a way of learning to see, and despite the many impressive tools available I still believe it is very important to be able to express the one or other idea in this way. Many people may lose this skill (or never acquire it in the first place), but I think that, with the growing popularity of analogue tools, this skill is also regaining popularity.
You are right, AutoCAD came to market in 1982 not 1987.
I was also taken off-guard regarding the distortions of mechanical pencils. I would have assumed that they were far more precise. BTW none of the guys I spoke to would prefer to revert back to their drafting days, they all prefer to keep working with CAD software, thou they all collect lead holders. I never got the chance to visit a drafting studio but I went to an illustration workshop (for an editorial company) in the early 2000’s and I remember that pretty much all the folks there used lead holders to draw and animate. There’s when I learned of their existence but my very first lead holder came until 2013.
I agree with your view on drawing and sketching skills and the growing popularity of analog tools. Guess fountain pens, pencils and mechanical pencils are experimenting the same situation as analog photography. Younger generations seem more interested in the analog ways than older ones.
I think it’s also a matter of getting used to it and of experience – anyone who learnt technical drawing using leadholders back then and practised it for many years will not have been too keen to switch to mechanical pencils. However, anyone who has experienced just how much of a relief CAD software is for productive use and day-to-day design work would certainly not want to go back. Of course that doesn’t rule out the possibility of still using the old tools for initial drafts and sketches, and things are certainly quite different in the artistic field.
May I ask what your first leadholder was?
I think that interest in analogue things spans generations – the older generation remembers them from the past and appreciates their familiarity, whilst for the younger generation they might even have a certain exotic appeal.
My first lead holder was a Koh-I-Noor Versatil with a plastic body and metal clip -don’t have it at hand, so am not sure about the model. A friend of mine send it along in a stash exchange. Unfortunately, my daughter took it to school (elementary then) and returned home without the tip cone. I still have all other pieces, thou.
She was so much of a fan of lead holders that we went to shop for another one. We both returned home with Staedtler’s Mars Technico 780 and a pack of HB and 2B leads. A hundred lead holders later and am still standing!
Thank you for the details! And it’s great to hear that your daughter likes lead holders too. Of course the Mars Technico 780 is a very good choice :-) A hundred lead holders? That really is very impressive!