Tombow MONO Drawing Pencil, 3H, Graphite 12-Pack

This is a really nice pencil. I write a lot of charts for recording sessions in Nashville and was looking for something to replace the Card O Score pencils I used for years but are no longer made. This pencil writes very soft and dark so it's easy to make darker copies for the other players on the sessions. Just get some Pentel Hi-Polymer Eraser Caps Non-Abrasive eraser caps and you are all set!!

These pencils are outstanding & they write as smooth as room temperature butter. I love these pencils so much that I'm never going back to my Palomino, actually, because in my opinion the quality exceeds that of the Palomino.If you're a person that has hand pain flare ups, you may want to give these a try. They're slightly less dark than a standard 2B pencil (but still a high quality grade 2B!), they write super smoothly, the grip is easy, and the pencil is very light. Feels like writing with air and the pencil screams fancy, if you care about that kind of thing.This particular pencil is the reason why I journal more often these days.**Note: Although, the Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencil also writes smooth and is light, it has slightly more resistance to the page than my Tombow 2B and it's way more expensive ($25 for a 12 pack compared to about $12 for 2B Tombow Mono 12 pack). The Test Scoring 100 pencil is a cheaper alternative to these Tombow Mono pencils ($17 for 35), but it writes a little darker and the hexagon shape is a little more pronounced.

As an art teacher, I have purchased many different brands of 6B drawing pencils over the years. At the end of the school year, the student can keep whatever is left of their pencil. At the end of CLASS TWO, half of the students were down to a third of a pencil !!! There were constant complaints of the lead breaking while hand sharpening and pulling out of the wood, like off-brand school pencils. Ug! These are by far the worst drawing pencils ever!!!! Do not be swayed by the brand-name hype.While I admit that the graphite is soft, smooth, and blends nicely, , these are NOT economical from any standpoint! I can’t believe I’m already having to replace them. Grrr... DO NOT purchase these if you are on any sort of budget! Booo, disappointed!

These pencils do not come sharpened, but they are easy to sharpen. They don't wear very quickly as they are hard (as they should be). I use them for planning out drawings that will ultimately be done with a dip pen. It is very easy to create those light lines you want for an underdrawing, and it's easy to erase any undesired marks using a vinyl or kneaded eraser. I've used these pencils in my Clairefontaine sketchbook as well as Bristol paper. Great results on both. Best on BristolI recommend them for drafting and whenever light lines are desired.

I received the pencils assembled in Taiwan, and have not used them when they were assembled in Japan. Using the KUM Meisterwek, blackwing and a generic manual sharpener, the wood would crack and break. When placing it in an x-acto electric sharpener, I noticed that the wood would go almost all of the way to the tip. For comparison, none of my other high quality wood pencils are like this (eg, Mitsu-bishi 9859, Hi-uni, MARS Lumograph, derwent or blackwing 605). This pencil seems to have the same craftsmanship as a bulk yellow pencil.With that said, it's undeniable that this pencil has high quality materials, just poorly assembled. The graphite is smooth and wears well, and the wood is smooth, except where it is joined together, where there is a noticeable separation (likely what is causing the breaking of the wood when sharpening).It is possible that these pencils were once very nice, but after being moved from Japan to Taiwan, they lost their craftsmanship.

These are made in Vietnam now, not Japan, but the quality has stayed the same (at least in my batch). I can't tell a difference between these and the old Mono pencils or the Mono 100s that I have (both made in Japan). The pencil itself is great, really nice finish and smooth lead. I also got these at a great price for a dozen, so I couldn't pass them up.

If you're particularly tuned to quality and price via the product's country of origin, then this is a let down.As seen in the pics, the older (sharpened) Tombow High-Pres pencils were Made in Japan. The new (unsharpened) one is Made in Vietnam.Tombow even knows this could turn people away from their product, hence the "Made in Vietnam" is discreetly stamped into the pencil rather than a painted prominently in gold leaf like the old "Made in Japan" ones.What the hell, Tombow?

I ordered $180.00 worth at once due to not understanding the "buy with one click option". The pencils are excellent but I have too many.Anyone want to buy some 4B drawing pencils?