Koh-i-noor 2.0 mm Graphite Leads for Technical Drawing and Retouching, 4190 3B

This is a trusted brand. I have used the lead-holder and sharpener for years...decades. This time I needed soft lead for marking a rented music score. Works perfectly!

I wanted a very dark/soft, very thick lead for my 2.0 mm pencil. Leads are rated according to softness, which is correlated to the darkness of the line drawn. HB is your standard #2 pencil. B is darker. 2B even darker. 3B darker still. (The scale goes up to 12B--- but 12B is so soft that it's very difficult to draw with.) I have had 2B leads from a different company that were very dark--- but that company doesn't make 2.0 mm leads. So, I figured a 3B 2.0 mm lead from Koh-I-Noor would probably be even darker than the 2B--- which is what I wanted.Nope! These 3B leads are barely darker than a standard #2 pencil.On the plus side, the leads are very strong and the do write smoothly. The quality is not at all the issue. The problem is that they are not as dark as a 3B lead should be.I shall continue on my quest for a very dark 2.0 mm lead!

I use these is in my Koh-i-noor Toison D'or 5900CL ALL Metal Lead Holders with Sharpener, with Clip. (2.0 mm). They are the correct size and write well. All of the leads arrived broken into several pieces. I don't know if this is a manufacturing or shipping problem, but once they are in the lead holder, the length doesn't matter.