I’ve known for years that the Mitsubishi 9850 HB Pencil was good, but maybe not necessarily great. I think I’ve been selling it short: it is great.
I guess I’m fortunate that I didn’t review it previously, as it has stood the test of time on my desk, in competition with dozens of other pencils that have passed through my hands. Good products rise to the top in this way. Usage is a good scoreboard.
In previous pencil reviews, I often grabbed the 9850 to use for comparison. Only when recently reviewing the Kitaboshi 9606 HB did I realize I had never done a proper review of the 9850. I went looking for that review because as I was testing pencils, I realized the 9850 was better than all of them. That included the Blackwing 602, a default favorite pencil.
There was no review to be found.
I found praise for it as a side note in other posts, but only against these other pencils did I finally realize how special the 9850 is. Am I going to tell you it is the best pencil on the market? No. But I’m not going to not tell you that, either.
Pencils are difficult to compare directly to one another. Graphite cores are an obvious differentiator, but sometimes they are tough to tell apart when they are the same grade. Heck, they are sometimes identical, as I discussed in the aforementioned Kitaboshi review. I like a dark core, with a balance between smoothness and some feedback, plus good point retention. That’s honestly not too difficult to find between several brands.
Freshly sharpened with the Uni KH-20 (left,) and 300 words later.
Aesthetics matter, too. The 9850 is a classic, general-use design, while other popular brands like Blackwing and Caran d’Ache have more premium fits and finishes-with prices to match.
This is all to say that when accounting for everything-quality, style, comfort, experience, price-the Mitsubishi 9850 might be the best total package on the market.
I do hedge a little bit, because there are a few pencils I prefer style-wise over the 9850-the Blackwing Eras with the Extra Firm core, and the Tombow Mono 100 HB, for example. But are they better than the 9850? I wouldn’t go that far.
The Mitsubishi 9850 has been around for decades, and is the standard by which all office pencils have been measured. It should be the standard by which all premium pencils are measured as well.
You can pick up the 9850 for $1.40 per pencil at JetPens, or grab a dozen from St. Louis Art Supply for $10.95.
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