Graphite had to be smuggled out for appliance in pencils. Because graphite is soft, it requires some figure of case. Graphite sticks were at first wrapped in string or in sheepskin for stability. The announcement of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and wide, attracting the attentions of artists all over the "known world."

• English and German pencils were not possible to the French during the Napoleonic wars

• It took the efforts of an officer in Napoleon's battery to change this
• In 1795 Nicholas Jacques Conté discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with clay and ingredient the combine into rods that were then fired in a kiln
• By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied
• This method Personalized Pencils of manufacture which had been earlier discovered by the Austrian Joseph Hardtmuth of Koh-I-Noor in 1790 remains in use.