and I had to waste about an inch of pencil to get the pencil to sharpen without splintering

I lost about an inch off of 2 pencils during the initial sharpening process

The Verithin had 50% broken lead every inch or so.

I probably lost about an inch of lead

Furthermore, I lost 2-2 inches off some of them just from sharpening them when they arrived

The first box I sent back because the first 4 pencils out of the box just kept breaking as I sharpened and the wood wasn't smooth as I sharpened.