First, a word about our fragrances. Our greatest concern is the quality of our fragrances. We are very demanding or our fragrance houses. Acceptable fragrances must smell on the stick as they do when they are burned. They must be true to their nature. Our vanilla is smooth, rich, creamy and delicious. Our peach smells as if it were just picked. All our fragrances are alluring and deeply sensual. As for the strength of the fragrance that we use - we use a lot. Up to 10 times the amount of other brands. A word about our freshness. Our proprietary fixative keeps the fragrance fresh for a long time. We have never had anyone say that their stock had gone stale. Really!! You would expect that eventually our incense would get old. It must, but we are just not sure how long that will take.