Plastic toothbrush holders make a good, sturdy holder for pencils however they will not hold much selection. The 17g case shown here has three Derwent Charcoal pencils in it but will hold up to six standard barrel width pencils. I do not find charcoal pencils suitable for the trail as drawings really require a spray fixative to stop them smudging badly

The Derwent Traveller Pouch can be fixed round a sketchbook with an adjustable elastic fastening. It is a pretty cheap and well made product. While not a favourite of mine, it does keep pencils handy and secure when in use. Here, it is shown in use on Sicily,  fastened around a 21cm x 25cm Hard back sketchbook from Khadi Papers

The 21g (when empty) Derwent Traveller Pouch is of quite small dimensions but will hold six to eight pencils or pens depending on their size. The small pouch at the bottom front is of limited use but would hold a small eraser

I used my 22g (when empty) Derwent Pocket Pencil Wrap on a recent holiday to the Mediterranean. It was used on day hikes on which it did a fine job of keeping my small selection of materials together and laid out to hand when in use. I think this is a more useful case than the Traveller version shown earlier

Nomadic PN-04 pencil case.  Each half of this 43g case has room for pencils etc inside and space for loose items in a zippered pocket. The small zippered compartment on one side will only hold small items. There is another larger zippered pouch on the other side. However, lacking a gusset, not too much can be stored in either of these or the case cannot be closed

Instead of a zip, the Nomadic PN-04 pencil case uses press studs to close it and keep the contents held. These do a pretty good job and have shown no sign of wearing so far. These poppers do mean that not too a bulky an item can be stored at the far left or far right

My Chinese made Lahit Lab Compact Pen Case is a bit of a favourite of mine. All the contents are kept secure inside by means of a double ended wraparound zip. Even in such a small case there is a wealth of little storage pockets for oddments. A small Field Notes notebook would slide into the left hand pocket but I keep a small bespoke watercolour pallet with a waterbrush in there instead

The 54g (empty) Lihit Lab Compact Pen Case is a good choice if taking a small selection of items, but is better suited for shorter trips

The Global Art Materials canvas 48 pen holder is a good looking, well made case

Global Art Materials make their canvas pencil cases to hold 24, 48 or 120 pencils. This is the mid range product. Good as it is, and it is very good, it is far too heavy (152g empty) and bulky for most lightweight set ups for taking hiking. Instead it accompanies me on family holidays abroad etc. where I want to take a wider selection of materials

Vanquest make a wide range of incredibly well made and tough pouches. This is one of their smallest and of similar dimensions to the Lihit Lab Compact Pen Case shown above but far more robust. I don’t think that my 81g  PPM-SLIM 2.0: Personal Pocket Maximizer Organiser is even suitable for day hikes, perhaps being more for crossing time zones in the harshest of conditions. What I have done is use this when travelling to hold a mobile phone, notebook, plus a couple of writing and drawing instruments

The classic pencil roll comes in various guises from many manufacturers and cottage industries. For decades mine has held a varied selection of whatever was in favour. This 112g roll (when empty) provides too large a selection for my hikes, being too generous, too bulky and too heavy. It is much more suited for en plein air sketching with a backpack. It means everything is immediately to hand yet can be rolled up and packed away swiftly if the need arises

My Derwent Pencil roll with simply the contents I found within when I unrolled it for photography. What I keep in here varies with what I am using or favouring at the time. The glasspaper is mostly used for keeping a point on softer pencils such as coloured, pastels and charcoal

A small selection of lightweight cuben zip pouches. These have the advantage of being long lasting and almost completely waterproof