One of the things that has kept me from diving into pencils prior to now is my perception that pencil markings are easy to obliterate accidentally. I'm not talking about erasing, but rather smudging to oblivion. Of course, with my reviews that I've been doing I can see that some pencils are definitely more smudge resistant than others, but at the start of the month I decided to really put pencil to the test - I mailed my father a postcard, written in pencil.
Before mailing
I don't remember for sure which pencil I used, but I'm pretty sure that it was either a Palomino Blackwing 602 or the Palomino HB. A postcard seemed like a good test because it is really subjected to the full brunt of the abuse that USPS can throw at it. I did write the address in pen, just in case, but this is how it looked when it arrived at its destination:
After mailing
I know the angle and lighting are not ideal, but you can see that it's definitely still easy to read (especially the parts that weren't stamped over - not sure if the trouble there is because of the stamp or just glare). Would I write the address in pencil? No, probably not, because the chance of smearing is still there and why risk it? Not every tool is right for every job, and when it comes to addressing envelopes, I think pigmented pens like the Pilot Juice are the right tool. But, for writing the message itself, pencil can work just fine.