Tombow Mono 100 Pencil 5b Pack of 12

Extremely unpleasant to write with. Feels like scraping a twig against paper. Leaves a very light line.You should only buy this if:1. You want a pencil that you will BARELY need to sharpen, because it takes forever to wear down, and2. You are either okay with, or want, a pencil that cannot be erased.Personally, I'd rather use a pen to satisfy those criteria.

REview for B Grade.so far so good - like literally, really impressed - i learned to draw using a mechanical pencil so therefor emy lines were quite stiff to beign with and i got a few lead breakages - but after adjusting my grip and drawing profiles for maybe an hour the lead breakages stopped.These pencils are striaght, evenly cored (suprisingly a major problem in many well known brands, staedtler being one of them) and the wood seems to be of superoir quality - often taking a shiny "glittering" effect when shapened in a long point sharpener.strong and resiliant, they maintain a point for aobut 20 minutes or so for detialed or an hour until it starts to become "thick" and pretty much useless if your doing detailed workI havent used a uni-hi pencil so i dont ... MoreREview for B Grade.so far so good - like literally, really impressed - i learned to draw using a mechanical pencil so therefor emy lines were quite stiff to beign with and i got a few lead breakages - but after adjusting my grip and drawing profiles for maybe an hour the lead breakages stopped.These pencils are striaght, evenly cored (suprisingly a major problem in many well known brands, staedtler being one of them) and the wood seems to be of superoir quality - often taking a shiny "glittering" effect when shapened in a long point sharpener.strong and resiliant, they maintain a point for aobut 20 minutes or so for detialed or an hour until it starts to become "thick" and pretty much useless if your doing detailed workI havent used a uni-hi pencil so i dont know the coparison - but i can say thes ebeat any other pencils ive used hand' down - mainly the staedtler lumo mar's pencils as they have too much "grit" and connection with the paper.As for the lead well it is smooth enough to feel smooth, but ther eis a definate "fff" sound as you draw - the sound youd expect to hear in an animation studio really. its not so annoying really, but it depends- if you want a "buttery" lead as you draw using your should or hld the end of the pencil for long flowing lines - its not so good for that as say, palomino - but given this, it allows for a better variety of control.the end piece past the metal clips appears to be amde out of a polymer plastic - for what purposes i dont know - but ti does seem to add a better weighting to the pencil - and really makes it stand out. this means you lose approximately 1.5cm of available pencil use - but im sure you arnet going to moan about that when you feel the smooth, but grippy texture these pencils offer.for those who argue that you cant tell the difference in pencils- well, if you go high enough quality your sort of right- a staedtler will get the job done nicely - but these are a darker lead, producing better controlled lines , and as such i can see why theyre favoured by animators and some illustrators.sow hoy SHOULD you buy this pencil? - if your lookign for good strong linework , with decent flow, flexibility (in a b or HB grade) then the mono 100 HB/B are good , storng, well made and superoir pencils to getting the job done - but they wont make you a miracle worker -try practicsing with a cheaper pencil first, then move to these - i can gurantee you will appreciate the difference that much more.peace out~

My only, slight, problem with these Mono 100 pencils is that the lead seems softer than that of the HB grade of my previous Mono pencils, which weren't not the same model. Apparently grade can vary not just between manufacturers, but between one maker's different lines. Next time I'll order the next harder grade. That all said, I bought Mono again because they are so good. I briefly tried US-made General pencils, but their lead was noticeably grittier, and also kept breaking in the sharpener. Mono leads are smooth, dark, and don't break. A pencil is not just a pencil.

Definitely one of the best pencils I've tried so far, right up there with the classic Mitsubishi Hi-Uni which I'm obsessed with. It writes somewhat lighter than the Hi-Uni but still head and shoulders above other HB pencils using the same amount of pressure. The lead writes smoothly with minimal grip (which is good or bad depending on how much friction you want). The glossy black finish with gold embossing across 4" of the pencil's surface make it an easy eye catcher. Looks fantastic with a nickel cap on it.

This might be my favorite pencil. The point is incredibly durable and gets super sharp with a KUM Stenographer's Long Point sharpener. It stays almost unchanged for far longer writing than I would expect from a pencil. It almost reminds me of a spear or harpoon. Obviously I've lost my marbles a little but the pencil is great. I only wish it were a bit darker, but that's the tradeoff. It's about as dark as a Western HB but much better in every other respect.

This is one of my three favorite pencils overall, and by far my favorite for general writing and note taking. Its surprisingly dark, darker than you would expect a hard-grade pencil to be. It holds its point for a fairly long time, and has a surprising amount of versitlity in graphite applications (the levels of shading it can achieve). Great pencil for general usage, and even art!

Not that special

I bought the 3 piece-set thinking using them for my sketching . I have used different brands of pencils over the years since I was little, from very expensive ones like the blue Staedtler Mars Lumogragh ones to cheap school pencils. My perspective is that these Tombow Mono Pro pencils are not worth the praise and price of what they are listed . Although saying that , these are decent and a little above school pencils giving its wood quality and smell ( other wood pencils have stronger smell which I slightly don't like) . There's also an important thing to point out is that these Tombow pencils themselves are NOT actually made in Japan .Although on the carton package says" Made in Japan", on the pencils , it says "Made in Vietnam" . It's not a big deal to me , but I ... MoreI bought the 3 piece-set thinking using them for my sketching . I have used different brands of pencils over the years since I was little, from very expensive ones like the blue Staedtler Mars Lumogragh ones to cheap school pencils. My perspective is that these Tombow Mono Pro pencils are not worth the praise and price of what they are listed . Although saying that , these are decent and a little above school pencils giving its wood quality and smell ( other wood pencils have stronger smell which I slightly don't like) . There's also an important thing to point out is that these Tombow pencils themselves are NOT actually made in Japan .Although on the carton package says" Made in Japan", on the pencils , it says "Made in Vietnam" . It's not a big deal to me , but I feel a little tricked .My favorite pencils so far are the ones that are not too expensive but have good quality like Staedtler Tradition ( they have great paint job ,great wood quality ,sufficient bonding that doesn't use much glue, and superb graphite lead.) , another will be Koh-I-Nor Hardtmuth 1500 ( They are smooth , but not easily wear out , great for cross-hatching). I prefer soft lead pencils , so another brand I am using is Colleen for sketching on print paper ( Colleen is a Japenese brand , these pencils have terrible wood barrel but soft lead, they were very cheap when I bought them) .Sometimes for light sketching I use Staedtler Minerva B pencil which I almost run of ( it is harder , dark enough, does not wear out much) .DickBlick does not carry any of those brands. I wish you did because overall I am satisfied every time I shop at DickBlick online. You guys are always fast and careful at packaging .So my final thoughts on Tombow Mono Professionals are:Pros:- Good wood quality ( slightly lighter and softer than other cedar wood pencils)- Great appearance ( gold letterpress , glossy coating )- Decent graphite lead . It seems that Japanese pencils tend to have softer leadCons:-Expensive considering they do not have any outstanding quality to offset the price

an expressive but dark pencil

The feel of these pencils as they lay down graphite is definitely a five-star experience, but the hardness range is definitely just three. I bought the 2H, HB, and 2B.Like others have said, the Tombow pencils are much darker. The HB pencil is as dark as 4B in other brands. There is also little difference between the base values of darkness that the HB and 2B pencils make, just that the 2B is a slightly softer lead that releases graphite more readily. The 2H pencil has the same base value as HB pencils in other brands. However, the lead is harder, so it doesn't produce as wide a range of values as other HB pencils, when you use more pressure.One thing I felt was exceptional about the Tombow pencils was their reponsiveness to variations in pressure. Even though ... MoreThe feel of these pencils as they lay down graphite is definitely a five-star experience, but the hardness range is definitely just three. I bought the 2H, HB, and 2B.Like others have said, the Tombow pencils are much darker. The HB pencil is as dark as 4B in other brands. There is also little difference between the base values of darkness that the HB and 2B pencils make, just that the 2B is a slightly softer lead that releases graphite more readily. The 2H pencil has the same base value as HB pencils in other brands. However, the lead is harder, so it doesn't produce as wide a range of values as other HB pencils, when you use more pressure.One thing I felt was exceptional about the Tombow pencils was their reponsiveness to variations in pressure. Even though the HB pencil's "base" value is more like a 4B in other brands, with much lighter pressure you can make much lighter values, smoothly, than regular 4B pencils. The range of value that I could get from a single Tombow HB pencil was incredible, I've never had a pencil behave that expressively. If I had to choose just one pencil to take with me for general drawing, the Tombow HB would be it. The 2B is also a very good choice, soft, but holds a point much better than comparable 4B pencils in other brands.However, I would not choose the Tombow pencils for tightly rendered graphite work that required multiple pencil grades in the same drawing. Perhaps I need a to get a Tombow H and B to test, but the difference in texture between the 2H and HB is too much for me. The 2H is smooth, but it doesn't get as dark as the equivalent HB I would normally use in another brand. I could use the Tombow HB with light pressure, to bridge the gap in value, but the HB graphite is too much more textured. It's much easier to use another brand that has more sensible and even separation between their pencil hardness grades.