Palomino Blackwing Pencils - Set of 12

Is a pencil just a pencil? I have to say I used to think like that but I’ve been drawing for several years and tried a variety of pencil makes – Tombow, Derwent, woodless, mechanical. Loads of types and they’re all different. I attend a life drawing session every week and on one a friend gave me a Blackwing 602. She explained that she’d had to buy a box of 12 because she couldn’t find them sold anywhere individually. I liked it so much I bought a box of 12 myself.It’s a great sketching pencil and has the ability to draw lightly (like an H or HB) yet produce dark lines (like a 2B). It’s a real hybrid pencil, smooth to use and glides well over the paper. I use 170gsm Artway Studio Cartridge paper and it’s the perfect pencil. Another excellent feature is the rubber, which can be moved out as it wears and performs like a proper rubber, not like the rubber tips on those school HB pencils. It’s well shaped and a great asset to the pencil. It also stops it rolling off an uneven platform!The pencils are quite long at 20cm compared to others (Derwent are 18) so make sure they’ll fit in your pencil case and I like the fact that they come in a robust box with a nice design. I think I’ll stick with this brand for the foreseeable future. I like it a lot and I think that even at over £2.25 per pencil it’s worth the expense. Give it a try.

King. Of. Pencils. Buttery soft with a lovely eraser. They are not cheap. They are worth it. The black ones are my favourite but they do wear down quite quickly as they are very soft. White ones are slightly harder and I love those too but the black ones have my heart. And wallet.

A real artist's quality pencil. Excellent built in eraser so convenient. The soft matte lead is smooth and a great range of values can be achieved. My essential sketching tool.

Expensive ... but really lovely pencils of good quality and wonderful softness, great for sketching/drawing and marking up sheet music. Also love the fact that these pencils have an extending and replaceable rubber on their ends. Great design.

Good price and swift delivery

Great pencil set and you can take out and replace the rubber too

Regarded by many as the finest pencil in the world - I would rate them as ok.The graphite feels a bit muddy after a couple of words. If you are a heavy pencil user and you’re looking for something “smooth” the Mitsubishi Uni Star 2B is less than 1/10th the price. The Uni or Hi-Uni are also less expensive and come in cooler boxes - with the Hi-Uni being perhaps the real finest pencil in the world, or if not that the Tombow Mono 100 - and they’re available in about 20 grades (22 grades for the Hi-Uni).What I’m saying is, you’ve got options. There are much better pencils for less money. Even the humble Mitsubishi 9000 or 9800, or Tombow 2558 will probably be a better writing experience for much less money.That said, the eraser is cool, the paint job is great if you want a metallic pencil (although the Nataraj Metallic also serves that purpose with slightly flakier graphite and much worse wood) and the box is lovely. Looks nice on your desk.I give these as gifts to people I want to impress who I view as vain and showy - these are ideal pencils for those sorts of people.For people that I respect and want to actually get some work done I give them more of a workhorse pencil. You won’t go far wrong with a Mitsubishi Uni range or Tombow Mono range.I’d love to try the original EF Blackwing 602 and see if the legend is really true - these modern reproductions are fine, perhaps even good - but when there’s so much competition available as better prices they are definitely not the finest in the world.

Great pencils I never use anything else. lovely for shorthand and general writing.

602の書き心地は別格だと思います本数が少なくなったので、注文しようと調べたら、5割増しの価格になっていたので代替えはないかと、uni HI-uni mono と試したのですが、目を瞑って書くと、何度やっても602を当てることができてしまうまだmono100を試していないので、それがだめなら・・・・・・ってところですね

I didn't wanna do it. . . I mean, seriously, who pays $24 for 12 pencils? That's two bucks a pencil. You can buy perfectly adequate pencils for $2 for a box of 12. These are TWELVE TIMES more expensive.I've always had a thing for writing implements, and am very picky about my pencils (don't get me started on the awful office pencils. I buy my own out of pocket). My perfect pencil would be one that held a point without breaking, dark lead, comfortable to hold, an eraser that lasted through most of the pencil, smooth writing. I was happy with my Dixon Ticonderoga Tri-Writes for years. They weren't perfect, but they were. . . adequate.Then I saw a review for the Palomino Blackwings, and bought them on impulse, not really believing the reviews, thinking I'd debunk them. Even when I hit "Purchase", I couldn't quite believe I'd bought them.So who pays $24 for 12 pencils? Me, that's who. I'm addicted. The writing is so smooth and easy. The lead is dark, easily readable and doesn't smudge--very important for crosswords!. The lead is probably softer than what you're used to (I think it's #1 vs. the standard #2), but I wound up liking that once I got used to it.The point doesn't break easily--you really don't need as much pressure with this. It lives up to its slogan. And since they don't break as often as my old pencils, they last longer, so you get some good value for your money that way.The eraser--the eraser alone is worth the premium. It's extendable so it'll last as long as the pencil. It's rectangular, so you can easily erase fine points or wide swaths--you can even fidget with it like a clicky pen.I honestly didn't think this pencil was all that great until I tried to go back to my Tri-Writes when I couldn't find the Palomino. It was like going from a Porsche to a Pinto. I stopped what I was working on to search for my Palominos.My one minor quibble is, although it says it's made of incense cedar, I don't notice any aroma (I love the smell of a freshly-sharpened pencil). Given what a joy they are to use, though, I'll just sniff a cedar block instead.

Exquisite pencils. Luscious thick graphite that writes so well, great erasers and a beautiful design to hold.

"They're great, the best, the very best, everyone says so." In this case, this is the truth! Worth the moolah.Warning: The package was NOT "handed to the resident" as claimed by the delivery person. It was left in the lobby of my condo building.

Tolle Bleistifte!