I was dismayed when this pencil arrived in a simple cardboard envelope. It was tightly in there, but that doesn't stop the shipper from throwing it, piling heavy things on top of it, etc. After reading other reviews of these pencils I knew they are fragile inside. And indeed, when I attempted to sharpen the pencil, I had to resharpen it 3 times (using the Prismacolor sharpener) before I could get it to a point because the lead was broken and kept falling off. Really disappointing, but I'm sure I'll enjoy using the rest of the pencil as it is a pretty color.