I picked up a box of 48 after a recommendation from a friend. As noted by another customer the box they ship in is woefully inadequate. Having said that I'm extremely pleased with the pencils. The pastel (lead) is a very substantial 5mm in diameter and most colors are smooth and go down very nicely. They're a little light on the blues and heavy on the yellows, orange and reds. There are some very nice greens and earth tones. Though not as creamy as the Caran d'Ache they are smoother than my Derwents, Cretacolors, and Carbothellos. If I need fine lines I will typically use Faber Castell Pitts, but for slightly wider or where I need a softer pencil these Conté pencils are great. They can be difficult to sharpen--I use a knife, and I think one of mine was dropped and shattered inside the wood casing before I received it. It is impossible to sharpen--it just falls out in little pieces..

I opened the shipping package which was fine. When I lifted the Conte box all of the pencils fell out breaking the lead on the black one. The box is very thin, long, and flexible. I certainly will have to find an alternate way when transporting them.

I am happy with the pastel pencils however the “box” the pencils came in is terrible! I lifted the package out of the large package carton (which was fine) and the top fell off the Conte box and most of the pencils fell out, breaking the lead on the black one. I certainly will have to find another way to store them. It seems for a complete set they should come in a better box. This one is long, thin and inadequate!