My friend Emma introduced me to the Blackwing pencil. Blackwings are her go-pencil. Emma was so enthusiastic about her Blackwings that when I saw some on a visit to a local stationery store, I had to buy one to try out.
Why did I do that? My yellow Ticonderoga number 2 pencils couldn’t hold a candle to the Blackwing. From the sharpening, it sharpened to a fine point, to the smooth, dark writing it produced the Blackwing 602 was just a better pencil. The Blackwing even had a pleasant weight in my hand. The lead erased cleanly with no smudging.
Needless to say, I loved this pencil. The sticking point for me was the price. A single Blackwing 602 costs $3.50, and a box of them would have cost me $35.00. I’m not about that life.
I set out to find a pencil that would give me the writing experience I loved at a price I could afford. Check out my pencil tournament bracket below to find out which one became my budget-friendly Blackwing 602 dupe(ish).
And the winner is: the Mitsubishi Uni 4B! I love the smooth writing experience. The line is dark and bold. For me, the writing experience is comparable to the Blackwing 602. The main difference, I noticed, was that the Mitsubishi Uni 4B doesn’t have the same weight in the hand.
As for the budget, my Mitsubishi Uni 4B comes in a three pack that costs $5.75. I think I’ve found my budget-friendly Blackwing dupe.
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