The Pablo colored pencil is on of the best that you will ever use. All components are made in the same factory in Geneva with rigorous quality controls at every step of production inluding: Greatest number of pure pigments ensures batch-to-batch consistency and clean color blending. Excellent lightfastness is due to the high concentration of Swiss and German made pigments. The surface coverage is by far the best of any permanent color pencil, making Pablo extremely economical to use. Wood is FSC straight grain California cedar, it won't torque or warp when wet. This prevents the cores from cracking inside of pencil. The cores are tested to ensure there are no soft or weak spots which could cause the core to break when dropped or during sharpening. For ages 10 and up. WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD - Small Parts. Not for children under 3yrs.