Are There Number 1 Pencils?
According to Mental Floss, yes:
Almost every syllabus, teacher and standardized test points to the ubiquitous No. 2 pencil, but are there other choices out there? Of course.
Pencil makers manufacture No. 1, 2, 2½, 3, and 4 pencils—and sometimes other intermediate numbers. The higher the number, the harder the lead and lighter the markings. (No. 1 pencils produce darker markings, which are sometimes preferred by people working in publishing.)
The current style of production is profiled after pencils developed in 1794 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté. Before Conté, pencil hardness varied from location to location and maker to maker. Earliest pencils were made by filling a wood shaft with raw graphite, leading to the need for a trade-wide recognized method of production.