disclosed herein is an improved pitch for making readily stabilizable , substantially nonmesophasic carbon fibers . the pitch has a softening point of about 250 ° c . or above and is produced from an unoxidized thermal petroleum pitch by selectively reducing or eliminating a portion of the low molecular weight materials in a very short period of time so that the tendency to produce mesophase pitch is eliminated or reduced and so that the chemical integrity of the components of the higher molecular weight fractions is preserved as much as possible . also disclosed is a method of producing carbon fibers therefrom and rovings or mats from such fibers .