Review on Pacon PAC4809 Drawing Heavyweight Sheets by Morgan Gilmore

My school has been ordering this paper for preschool art for two years. Although better suited to dry media, this paper was very versatile and gave excellent results when working with watercolors and tempera paints. Working with a new batch of paper (4809) has been so disappointing lately. The paper is very smooth, absorbs too much water, but does not stain. When using watercolor paints, the result is pale, faded. Another coat of paint doesn't help because the paper gets too wet. It sucks when younger kids struggle with water and color imbalances. I wonder if the manufacturer changed the quality of the paper. It's a shame, it used to be great paper at a great price.