Faber-Castell, Castell 9000 Jumbo 8B, Drawing and Sketching, Green

This is made from great materials, and for one who has rarely gone beyond 6B (that is the softness level, in case you are wondering) I notice just what the term 'soft' means. The pencil glides over the page.The black is very black, but you would expect that from an 8B. It becomes clear why this high number pencil - granted, usually in the thinner format - is one of two pencils that illustrators cannot do without.By more control of tones, it became evident that drawing is just so much less work. My 'tool of choice' is the brush pen, the benefit of such being that you barely have to touch the paper to make a distinct line, and 8Bs are like that. Though, conversely, I am not using it for lines, and it being a jumbo pencil it isn't meant for that.There are probably structural benefits too, which in English means 'won't break as easily'. Despite taking quite - yes, I said quite - good care of pencils, the leads break somewhere down the line. This is an annoyance that breaks - no pun intended - the best creative flow, and as you probably don't own a pencil sharpener this will fit**My tutors told me not to use a pencil sharpener, as they waste more pencil - they didn't know about pencil end extenders then, apparently - using a penknife allows for more variations of tips or, as it may actually be, another 'insider tip' that is an in joke. If you have to save money on new pencils then you are really not doing well in life.

Superb pencil, ferociously sharpened!!I was a little startled that it came completely naked, just dropped into the Amazon soft bag. The first photo on the listing suggests (to me) that it comes in a box or on a card.Thankfully the point survived the bag and the bag survived the point!

When they say jumbo they mean jumbo. Still easy to use

Its Faber innit

What I needed

Feels really bulky. I thought it would help with grip, but instead just felt far too heavy and bulky great for thick dark lines. But not the finer work

Very good quality as usual from Faber Castell

Lovely pencil-cannot fault it in any way