Palomino Blackwing Wooden Pencil - Pack of 12 in Black Gift Box

THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT Palomino Blackwing pencils! This one (in matte black) is the first, which has a soft lead and writes with a dark line. Customers expecting a pencil more like the original EF Blackwing wanted the shiny not-quite-black finish, the Half the Pressure slogan, the pink eraser, and a harder lead that wouldn't dull so quickly. A year later, CalCedar issued the Palomino Blackwing 602, which is closer in appearance and performance to the 90's era EF Blackwings (40's era Blackwings reputedly had softer leads). The Palomino Blackwing 602 doesn't write as dark a line as the Palomino Blackwing, but it holds its point longer. In my opinion, both write better than the original late-era EF Blackwings I've purchased off of eBay. As penciltalk.org's admin wrote in his 7/22/09 EF Blackwing post, "...the past achievements are acknowledged and celebrated, but decades of engineering advancement just can't be overcome."