Pentel Stein Enhanced Silica Pencil Lead - 0.5 mm - 4H

Ok, it's a 4H. So if you bought this lead expecting to get a discount at the next county fair, you will be disappointed:)

Seriously, though this is a hard lead that is remarkably strong. One common complaint against hard leads is that once they wear to a chisel point, the sharp point can grab the paper and cause lead breakage.

Well, this stuff is strong enough that it's more likely to tear the paper than to break. Newsprint or similarly cheap paper is a bad idea, as this lead isn't the right tool for that.

It's not very dark (which is why you buy this lead), but it is remarkably less scratchy than I expected. Heretofore, the hardest lead I had regularly used was a Mars 2H in 2mm.

I would say this lead is about as smooth as the Mars 2H--not nearly as scratchy as a 4H has a right to be.

Also, it is a 4H, so it wears like iron. This one tube will probably be willed to my kids.

All in all, pretty impressive for an uber-hard 0.5mm lead.

In my career I have been spoiled by a set of 4H pencils that were probably made in 50s or 60s. They are supper smooth and lay down a line that is probably a lot fainter then what a 4H lead should. I loved them but I only have a few left so I have been on a quest to find replacements. Because I favor the mechanical pencil I tried this as one of my alternatives and I’m quite pleased. It is defiantly darker then what I was hoping for and it doesn’t glide across the paper like my old set of 4H pencils but unlike almost all other alternatives I have used it doesn’t tare the paper at all. It’s one of the best alternatives I have used so far and probably the one I’m going to end up using.

This is the HB lead I've been looking for all my life. Smooth, very little smear if any, and strong! I just ordered the HB Soft and B as well. I annotate in the margins as I read, and prefer to use pencil on the books that have thin paper (my scriptures). This lead is the best for that purpose that I have found.

Personally, this lead suits me perfectly. It has never broken on me except for when I've accidentally dropped the pencil and it landed at an awkward angle. I'm a little heavy handed when it comes to drawing but it's still held up strong for me as long as the lead isn't way too far out.

While it claims that it doesn't smudge, it does, but far, far less than any other lead I've ever used does. Normally I'm covered in graphite, but this lead reduces it by at least 90%, making my paper much cleaner when I draw.

You get 15 leads per tube which is 3 more than you'll get with other leads from Pentel.

Also, the case these come in is perfect. You twist the cap, not pop it open, making accidentally spilling and losing all of your lead much harder to do. As I wrote this, I popped open a case of the o.7mm leads to compare them to this lead, and they spilled everywhere.

Well I don't agree with the whole "smear resistant" deal, I'm an artist primarily and this lead seams to smear just as much as any though it does smear "lighter" in terms of color. Regardless I still swear by this lead its become the only lead brand I use now, highly recommended.