The Cretacolour Monolith pencil is woodless - just 7mm of graphite with a thin lacquer coating - which allows you to use a huge range of strokes and techniques. You can create everything from broad strokes to tiny details using the same pencil, and it's easily sharpened, just like a conventional pencil. This is the 9B version - the softest variety, which produces very black, easily smudged and blended marks. Cretacolour Monoliths come in a range of hardnesses.