in case there is confusion, for those outside the USA that's an HB pencil...
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Thanks for the clarification Steve. It could also be a 2B I think.
There doesn't appear to be an accepted cross-over between the 2 standards. See Here
well there are the odd exceptions granted but its the general rule, some manufacturers are now putting both eg #2HB
also one manufacturer's 'HB' is not guaranteed to be exactly the same as another's - no standardisation in that respect - bit like bitmaps :D
EDIT: quote from wiki as referenced by Egg:
[some pencils are now made synthetically too of course]