Review on Create Stunning Scenes With Speedball PH Coate Willow Charcoal: 12 Black Sticks For Artists by Sharon Prasad

These charcoal sticks are, overall, mostly useless. I didn't bother to try out their feel on some paper, because I knew I wouldn't be keeping them. Here are my complaints:The sticks come in two bundles, each about half the length of the box they come in. Each stick is about the length of my thumb. The problem I have with this is that these sticks are too short to be economical! There are time I will want a longer stick and time when I want a shorter stick of charcoal. But this isn't too much of a problem, to be honest, because the length is about right for most uses. I just prefer a longer charcoal stick to break off pieces from. (I think that's just a preference of habit.)But here's where the more pertinent issue comes in: the majority of the sticks in each bundle are about the thickness of a strand of hair. Ok that's exaggerating it a bit, but my point remains. Most of the sticks are too skinny to use. It's as if they used the pine needles instead of the branches to make the charcoal. I mean, you have to really try to get charcoal this skinny! The problem with skinny sticks is that they are really difficult to grip and they fall apart at the drop of a hat.Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this charcoal. You're not getting what you pay for. The pictures on the listing are misleading because they imply longer sticks and a greater population of thicker sticks.