Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I decided a while back, that regardless of whether I LOVED an amazon product or not---I wasn't going to write a review, because my reviews kept getting flagged for their "colorful" language. And it irritated me--a lot. However, after getting this product and also reading the feedback from other buyers saying this product is fake..I got my --- behind --- on here to write a review. I'm sorry, but I had a hearty chuckle at everyone purporting this Palo Santo to be fake. "It smokes black...."----soooo, that's what happens to wood when you LIGHT IT ON FIRE. "It doesn't smell like the Palo Santo my yoga teacher burnt in a class I was in 5 years ago..." riiiight, so, this is actual fallen wood from trees....which means that not all the Palo Santo you smell is going to carry the same fragrance. Because......it's not from the same one tree. I honestly don't understand how this is a difficult concept....but alas....I have burnt palo santo that had a much muskier smell, and palo santo that had a much more woodsy minty smell. It's ok for Palo Santo to have different scents. 1) Because of the whole different tree things that I explained earlier and 2) Because you yourself are going to be in different energetic spaces when you use this. It WILL smell different sometimes solely because of your energy space. That's just the nature of spiritually cleansing tools. This wood is no joke. It's extremely powerful. So, here's my two cents. I've been purchasing Palo Santo for years. From shaman, from healers, from street vendors in New York, from my metaphysical shop in my hometown, online and even at a Whole Foods in Austin, TX. Prices always vary. Some will be more expensive than others, because more is put into the packaging. For the Palo Santo that I purchase for letters I mail out to people that are the size of matchsticks and come 35 to a pack and are packaged in plastic---it's going to be considerably less costly than this Palo Santo. This is HANDS DOWN .... THE BEST Palo Santo I've ever purchased. I don't think these sticks are tiny or skinny at ALL. And I purchased 4 boxes of the 8 packs. Each one, had the same size sticks (with marginal differences of course...). Check out my picture--I'm holding 2 of the 8 sticks that came in a box and they're almost the size of my hand. I really don't understand how those are considered small and skinny. BUT--clearly I am not the recipient of every single box this company has ever put out---so if your boxes came with sticks sizably different from my picture---then forgive me. When I got the package---before I even opened up the box---my whole desk filled with the fragrance of the wood. Through the sealed, taped box. I was already in heaven.When I opened the BEAUTIFULLY packaged boxes, I was immediately blown away. I do energetic clearing and healing work---so, this really will only make sense to folks who do as well---but I immediately felt the beautiful energy of this wood. This is not fake. This is real. Wood isn't going to burn like the stick or cone incense that you're used to. Here's how I personally use these sticks. Each morning, when I meditate--I take a stick, and hold it in my hands as I center myself. I then light the stick, let it burn and smoke for a good while until there is a good ember glow when I blow out the flame that reaches the center of the stick---and not just the edges. These sticks are considerably thicker than most that I've used, so I do have to burn them longer---which means the "black smoke" portion of lighting them will last longer than a skinnier stick. Keep a window open or light them outside bc they could smoke a lot. I'm leaving the country in April for 3 months, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find Palo Santo in Belgium...so I went ahead and stocked up. Just one of these boxes will last me the entire 3 months I'm out of country. I'm going to wrap the sticks in some sort of sealant---because the box doesn't really provide much preservation for the incense---I'll probably put the sticks in one of those organic cotton drawstring bag things to help keep them more preserved. But hey I'm a hippy---so I have those lying around. Ok---that's my two cents. I'm out again....