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52pencils

A pencil a week, for a year

title here

The Stabilo Othello is marketed as what seems to be an everyday run of the mill pencil. Not bottom of the line, but not top of the range I suspect.

The company

We’ve covered Schwan-Stabilo elsewhere - an old (1855) German company.

The pencil itself

The pencil is a fairly pleasing green with green stripes. Not too fancy, not too plain.

The finish is OK, but not in the league of Japanese high-end shiny smooth.

Stabilo othello

There is of course the obligatory bar code printed on the other side.

Stabilo othello barcode

One nice feature is the tail cap - quite nicely done - smooth and shiny and the red pops out quite nicely.

Stabilo othello tail

The pencil is made from some sort of hard-ish wood - not cedar, but not one of the super lightweight woods you find on quite a few pencils presently.

One interesting feature is that upon sharpening, the wood has a very spicy aroma. It is very reminiscent of the smell I get from the Caran d’Ache exotic wood pencils I have - that is a very dense Beechwood pencil afaik, which does not have the same density feel as this pencil, but it does have a very similar smell.

How does it write

I quite like it. It writes dark, and had a good amount of ‘feel’, resistance when writing. I quite like some resistance. It did wear down a little quick, and just once there was a bit of grit that came through the lead, but overall I enjoyed using this through the week.

Sourcing

They look moderately available. I see some for sale individually and as a set of 12 online. A set of 12 is about £11 - <£1 each is an OK price - much less than some premium pencils.

I don’t remember where I got mine. I think I only have one, and suspect it came from a high street book store pencil rack.

Reviews