RMT Basics, page 4

You Did it the Easy Way

Putting these facts together, you didn’t try to crush the pencil because you know (virtually without thinking about it) that,

first, most materials have two strengths:
(1) bending strength and (2) crushing strength, and usually crushing strength is the greater of the two; and...

Pencils with fulcrums Engineer's hand pressing on eraser end of pencil

second, and most compelling, bending has the advantage of leverage while crushing does not.

So you broke the pencil the easy way: You used leverage to bend it and break it in tension.