Mitsubishi 9800 HB
First pencil?, will be a Mitsubishi 9800 HB.
Why? Well, no actual specific reason. I have quite a few pencils I could have chosen from - some scrappy ones and some really nice ones. So, why this one? It just happened to be one of the three or so I have been cycling though on my desk, and one of the last batch I picked up, which were some not so common (in the U.K.) Japanese pencils.
Mitsubishi
The Mitsubishi Pencil Company, probably now more generally known for the Uni-Ball brand, are a Japanese company formed in 1887. These pencils are branded Mitsubishi, not Uni-Ball.
The 9800 HB
This is a nice pencil. I like it. Good finish, cedar wood, good feel. I also happen to like the British racing green paint finish, and the gold embossed print.
Rather than me find and recite details, I’ll post some links to other sources of information:
How does it write
I quite like it. It has a nice dark line, and the point lasts a fair while. It is not the smoothest (not like the waxy Blackwings for instance), and has a slight scratch, but relatively speaking, this is a nice pencil to use. I find I come back to using it quite often.
Sourcing
Although you are probably not going to find these in your local shops, they are relatively easy to find via specialist suppliers or on the internet. I got mine via Amazon