Incense-cedar forests are found primarily in southern Oregon and in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Incense-cedar has been the wood of choice for many pencil manufacturers since the early 1900s. The smooth, fine grain and soft wood of the Incense-cedar tree is ideal for pencil casings, enabling easy sharpening, and providing excellent protection for the pencil's fragile graphite and cosmetic cores.

Ranked as one of the most dimensionally stable wood species, Incense-cedar stands up to wide fluctuations in temperature and humidity without warping, checking or shrinking away from fasteners. It can be hand-tooled or machine-tooled to exact tolerances, and provides a smoother, more uniform surface than pine and other softwoods. Such properties make Incense-cedar an ideal material for the precision milling and machining processes of pencil-making.

The Incense-cedar cased pencil is one of the most ecologically sound writing products on the market today. Incense-cedar is an abundant, renewable resource that is grown, managed, and harvested on a sustained-yield basis in accordance with the strictest forestry regulations in the world. The annual volume growth of Incense-cedar exceeds the annual harvest by a factor of two-to-one, ensuring an ample supply of the species well into the future.

Incense-cedar trees are not harvested solely for the production of pencils. Only a portion of the log is used for pencil casings. The remainder becomes siding, decking, moulding, interior paneling, and landscape material. Even the bark is used as fuel for electric cogeneration facilities.