There are all kinds of pencils to express your every mood. The wood or alternative material which surrounds the pencil core is called the Pencil Casing. Here are a few ways to tell them apart; because, unlike people, not all pencils are created equal!
Pencils made from Incense-cedar are reddish brown with a smooth, fine grain and visible seam. When sharpened, a whiff of freshness and creativity, the familiar cedar scent, makes them unmistakable. Incense-cedar, a renewable resource, is considered the premier species for efficiently producing high quality pencils from well managed forests on a sustained-yield basis.
Today there are a growing number of substitute wood species or alternate casing materials used in pencils. Many of these result in inferior performance or are less environmentally friendly than real California Incense-cedar. In order to be absolutely certain you’re buying pencils made from genuine Incense-cedar, look for the CedarMark on the package or on the Pencils.com Store detail item description tab.
Some other common casing substitutes include:
Pencils made from plastic are pinkish in color, with no grain or seam because they’ve been extruded by machine. They bend easily, snap cleanly when broken and have no distinguishable scent. While some plastic pencils are now made from recycled material, plastic itself is a non-renewable, petroleum based product.
Pencils made from tropical rain forest wood are brownish in color with little dark brown or red flecks. It is very hard to see the grain, and bear a slight scent. Many rain forest woods are not harvested in a sustainable way leading to excessive deforestation.
Basswood (or Linden wood) is most commonly used in pencils made in China as well as exported in slat form from China to produce pencils in other regions. Most Basswood pencils are produced from wood harvested from Northeast China or the Russian Far East where forest management practices are often less stringent.
To learn more about important forest conservation issues related to pencils, Click here.
Finally, some pencils are now made in China from recycled newsprint which is wrapped tightly around the core. Sharpening of such pencils is not always good and the newsprint does not go through a de-inking process which may relate to potential health risks depending on inks that may have been used.
