Palomino Pencil

Something to bring you back to your childhood...the smell of wood pencils, the recess bells, the anxiety of a math test. No - the Palomino Blackwing is definitely not the same as your childhood school pencils. These pencils are legendary, truly a premium pencil. First made in the 1930s by Eberhard-Faber, they were discontinued after the company was acquired. After writers and artists began clamouring for that original quality, Cal Cedar began producing a new Palomino, with its eyes on that archetypal smoothness.

The matte black coat on the pencil is smooth, almost like the feel of smooth 100 gsm paper. The weight of it (while it's still long) is nice - the eraser and holder adds a balance. The pencil comes 8 inches, from end to end.

This Palomino Blackwing is soft and smooth, gliding across the paper. It's softer than the grey Blackwing 602, making it great for sketching and drawing. It gives you a dark, rich lead, and you can really get some crisp edges or gentle shading with it (not that I'm any sort of expert - that is my elephant above).

The eraser, in its classic ferrule, can be pulled out or extended as your eraser gets shorter and shorter. Extra erasers are available, but I'm sure you won't make any mistakes. The white eraser that comes with the pencil is not super. There's still a little residue left on the paper after some pretty thorough erasing.

Palomino even has its own two-step sharpener (which, evidently, I have yet to master). Don't want any of those electric sharpeners eating these up.

If you're going to go for a wooden pencil, there is nothing that beats this. It's silky, quiet, smooth and reacts to your lightest pressure.