I too view all 'Halibut Pellets' as a generic, basically a fish meal 'starter base'. And whilst that base can be used 'as is' and will catch you fish, I see it as there to be flavoured. That base is to be a carrier of flavour. I take a base pellet (a HP) and glug it with a flavour, then make a wrap of the same flavour.
The only significant variable I see in basic halibut pellets is softening rate, and I've found large variation in them through home testing (a glass of water is all you need). Obviously, the smaller pellet you use, the more important it is to know softening rate ....especially if you're using drilled small pellets and casting out infrequently (some drilled 8mm pellets are more or less dissolved in 30 mins.)
The hardest pellets I've found are/were Bait-Tech Krill, but these (I believe) were only ever available in 14mm. I've got stock and I still use them, but unfortunately they're no longer available. They're a strange one as they're red, called 'Krill', but don't smell much like any other commercial krill products. But then maybe with many products we are led to think ...the stronger they smell, the better quality they are.
When we say a bait's "flavour" we tend to go by/think of its smell, but smell and taste (no, I'm not gonna get into the "can fish smell?" question
) are different senses. Smell does influence taste ....but this is leading down a rabbit hole so ....
And carpers often push subtlety, so????
So ....dunno
)
