Tinted charcoal is not a medium that you hear much about, but it is great for sketching. The palete of 24 pencils from Derwent has beautiful muted tones that work well for landscapes, figure drawing and animals.
In my first attempts to use them I was a bit unimpressed, because I was trying to use them to very detailed drawings I think. They seem to work better for drawings/sketches without a lot of detail, since it is difficult to sharpen the pencils to a precise point. I sharpen mine with an x-acto knife, with a normal pencil sharpener the pencil core will just break.
They definitely work well with other dry media, specially pastels or pastel pencils. They go over water media (watercolors, etc) very nicely as well, for more bold effects. As for paper, they seem to work best with sketch paper or pastel paper (basically paper appropriate for dry media to light washes).
The pencils smudge a bit, but not as much as a pastel. So usually when you put some lines down, even if you pass your finger over them, they'll still be visible. But the pencil colors can be layered over each other several times, to create a more smooth effect.
I would say the best way to use these is as sketching medium in a sketchbook, as they don't smudge much and lay themselves well to expressive drawings. Above are some sketches that I have done using these pencils.
It's difficult to find reviews on these, but you can check another opinion right here.
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