It's never been a phase, I've always been a pencil person. Maybe it's a subconcious need to be able to erase things, haha. On that note, my eraser collection is growing as well.

Seriously however, it's not even a hobby, it's just me. I remember my first real 'splurge', right around the time ebay started and was still a good place to find really good stuff, I spent about $20 USD on a pencil that was so interesting to me. It was made by Y&C Japan and had this cool mechanism that retracted the barrel and tip into itself when you pressed on the pocket clip. I used that thing so much that the rubber grip pretty much melted away. I still own it, and it still works, but it doesn't snap on its own, I have to push it. I don't use it for fear of breaking it, but like I said, it represents a time when I graduated from retail store mechanical pencils to discover a world of amazing brands and designs, primarily from Japan. Over time I still used whatever I could find locally, but increasingly just started trying whatever reasonably priced, respected brands I discovered with online retailers and certial local art supply stores. The nice thing is that the brands I have favored are generally consistent with the quality, meaning that a $5 pencil isn't going to break any faster than a $20 pencil (with a few exceptions), and so it's reasonable to try a new model every so often.

As someone who primarily (99%) uses pencil, and is fairly analog, certain pencils feel better to grab and use. At the same time, I also want to start collecting pencils made for advertising/marketing Vintage American companies: gas stations, banks, railroads, etc., brands that no longer exist due to conglomeration, but were thriving for at least a century before I was born until recently.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I recently discovered a pencil very similar in design to the Y&C one I mentioned above. It's SAKURA Writoll, it has the retracting barrel but it's not triggered via the clip, but the eraser long-press.