I just noticed something odd on my Smash pencils. Some have the hardness grades 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B and 4B while others don’t have F but a blank space between 2H and 4B. So far I haven’t found a regularity. Does anybody know the reason for this difference?
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Does the ones with F also have 3H and 4H?
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No, there are only the grades I have mentioned:
Variant 1: 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B
Variant 2: 2H, H, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, [space]
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I don’t have access to any of my pencils right now to look but I’m thinking there’s probably 3 variants on the lead indicator. Maybe the one without F is the latest model. Does that line up with when Pentel discontinued some of the AIN lead grades 2 or so years ago?
Variant 1:
2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B
Variant 2:
2H, H, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B
Variant 3:
4H, 3H, 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B
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Hallo @Gunther , I just checked my two Smash (one in 0.5 and one in 0.3).
The 0.5 specimen belongs to the “Variant 3” set as defined by @Knockologist (4H to 2B, no blanks).
The 0.3 specimen belongs to a yet-different “Variant 4”: 2H, H, HB, B, 2B (more blanks along the rim).
This seems natural because 0.3mm lead cores come in a smaller range of hardness grades, but I have to check my stock to make sure I don’t have 0.3 F lead…
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I just randomly checked about 10, all with variant 3. I checked some old, some new, some store exclusives…. All the same.
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