The Simple Thumb Spin

Description:
This spin involves using the thumb as a pivot for the pencil to wrap around 360 degrees and arrive in between your thumb and your index finger. In all cases, the thumb must be used as the pivot while any other finger can be used to initiate the spin and or catch the pencil. Most people use the index finger with the third finger to initiate the spin, and then catch the pencil with the thumb and the index finger. Many variations are available and will be discussed later.

Uses:
This spin is the first part of the Back Forth Thumb Spin and is also a very easy spin to learn to get used to balance and timing. This spin is also very easy to incorporate into combinations of spins as the pencil starts and stops in a simple position.

Crowd effect:
This spin being quite possibly the most common of them all usually generates very little effect. As it isn't continous and most everybody with little practice can get this spin to work for them. Later on, however, when this spin is incorporated into the Back Forth Thumb Spin, the effect it has (that spin being a continous one) becomes more apparent. Complexity isn't very high for this one.

How:
To start the spin, hold the pencil with your thumb on one side, and your index and middle fingers on the other. Use the tips of your fingers to hold the pencil. This spin is more dependant on the weight of the pencil than the last spin as you need the heaver end of the pencil to pull the rest of the pencil around your thumb. For most pencils, hold the pencil about 1/4th of the way down from the top. With the longer end pointing down your hand.

Using your middle finger, push the pencil towards you while extending your index finger. The motion for the middle finger is almost exactly the same as that for snapping your fingers, except that your middle finger should stop moving once the tip of the finger reaches the middle joint of your thumb. There it should stop as it makes catching the pencil easier see.

It is important that you do not move your thumb as doing so in a frantic manner could send your pencil (or whatever you're spinning) into the air and possibly poke an eye out). The speed that you spin the pencil at doesn't really make a difference other than the fact that it looks a bit better when faster. People learning this spin should start out slowly (just not too slow that the pencil falls before it wraps around your thumb). Also, the index finger doesn't have to be used to create the velocity in the pencil. The middle finger should be able to give it the speed needed by itself.

The longer part of the pencil should have enough velocity to keep turning around your thumb. At this moment, timing is quite important as your index finger, which should be fully extended should come back and connect with the thumb (the tips of your thumb and index finger should touch). The timing should be so that the pencil will have enough time to make a turn around the thumb and rest on your middle finger (which becomes a small temporary support for the penci) just as the the index and thumb connect together to hold the pencil in place.

Tips and tricks to make this spin a bit easier:
Finding a well balanced pencil will make your life a lot easier. A long stick is also very good for learning as it will spin slower and allow you to position your fingers and thumb a lot easier. As stated earlier, the main focus of your thumb is to act as the pivot. Very little movement on the part of the thumb is needed. The index finger should be used only to hold the pencil in place at the beginning and to catch the pencil after the spin. Basically the ONLY moving parts in the spin are the middle and index fingers. Moving your hand (in an attempt to make the pencil move better) will just cause the pencil to fall.

Variations:
Many variations to this spin exist. Here are some and their descriptions:

Single Finger Thumb Spin: This spin uses only one finger (index, middle, fourth, or pinky), along with the thumb, to hold the pencil in place in the beginning. To catch the pencil, the same finger (and only that finger) that held it in place is used again along with the thumb. The easiest finger to use for this trick is the index finger.

Thumb Spins with more than one turn: Many people claim to be able to spin the pencil so that it will turn multiple times before being caught with the index and thumb. These spins reduce control and accuracy for speed in the hope for the pencil to spin more than once and land in the same place. In the end, these variations lose so much control that the ability to perform it reliably and on cue becomes close to null. Many an eye have been lost to this one folks.