Table of Contents
Five Halo eLiquids
Note from the editor – Halo Cigs has been reviewed many times in the past three and a half years of Spinfuel’s history. However, this review, while covering some eliquids reviewed before, is being conducted by our new Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team. You can find the other reviews by using our slide out search bar on the left. – Dave Foster
With products in over 90 countries and ejuice sold in thousands of vape shops throughout this country, Halo has definitely made a name for themselves. Out of Gainesville, FL, Halo Cigs (hereafter referred to simply as “Halo”) mixes their eliquids using USP food grade PG and VG in a sterile lab housed in a large facility.
Their line of tobacco-flavored line of eJuice could cure even the most severe cravings an ex-smoker may have as her or she begins the journey away from cigarettes and toward the ‘infinitely safer’ world of vaporizers. And their ‘Gourmet’ flavored line could very well appeal to both new and experienced vapers looking for some truly unique vaping experiences.
I was excited to sample this line and get into what makes Halo so special to so many. Even though I am not a huge fan of tobacco vapes, I can always appreciate a well-made eliquid. My team was sent an assortment of blends from each line, tobacco, menthol, and gourmet. I hope you enjoy reading about the variety Halo has to offer as we did vaping their eJuice.
Halo eliquid, to date, offers 22 different blends in three categories… Tobacco, Menthol, and Gourmet. There are vapers in the community that adore Halo ejuice, and there are vapers who despise Halo ejuice. Best of all, every vaper that has tried a Halo eliquid comes away with a strong opinion, truly a sign that Halo Cigs eliquids are never boring.
Strap in, here we go….
FLAVORS
Belgian Cocoa: A flavor bursting with dry cocoa undertones and a sweet chocolate top note.
Cordoba: A rich, woodsy smokiness and salty sweet caramel flavor.
Tribeca: A blend with tobacco undertones and notes of vanilla and caramel.
Black Calico: A popular pipe tobacco blend, an earthy Cavendish base delicately blended in a light vanilla bean wrapper.
Subzero: This is an extreme concentrated menthol flavor.
Spinfuel Protocols
Because many of our readers may still be unsure of how we conduct our extensive reviews, we suggest that you take a look at the protocols we’ve set up for so you’ll understand how in-depth our process is. A Spinfuel eLiquid Team Review is unique, from the manner and time we put into each eliquid and each brand and how we arrive at a score we give each individual flavor.
The coveted Spinfuel Choice Award is given out to individual eliquids, not the brand behind them, and are earned when all members of the team award the eliquid with the highest possible score. No easy achievement, I assure you.
Halo E-Liquid Particulars
Halo Eliquid comes in 7ml bottles or 30ml glass bottles with glass childproof caps. They retail for $5.99/7ml and $19.99/30ml, which is a bit pricey at $.86/ml at the 7ml size. However, 7ml is a nice sample size and Halo does offer a variety of sample packs on their web site. At 30ml it’s more affordable at $.67/ml. We think it’s best to think of the 7ml size as ‘samples’, and the $5.99 price as an investment to discover whether or not you’ll want to reorder in the more affordable 30ml glass bottle. After all, with the tidal wave move into large capacity tanks and glassomizers a 7ml bottle doesn’t last very long.
Halo doesn’t reveal it’s PG/VG ratios, but because the eliquid is not very thick, and the nicotine levels goes up to 24mg (2.4%) my educated guess is that they are, at best, 50:50 PG/VG.
Halo has not yet made the move toward higher VG blends for subohm and dripper style vapers. The nicotine levels available are: 6mg, 12mg, 18mg, and 24mg. Like all other eliquid brands, Halo also offer a zero-nic option.
Packaging
All 30ml bottles are blue cobalt glass, which is not only attractive but protects the ejuice from light since it’s best to store ejuice in a dark space, so a dark bottle makes sense. The caps are childproof glass droppers. The Halo labels are also attractive, eye catching and informative. The flavor is stated on the back as well as the nicotine level, bottle size, lot number, ingredient list, warning, and even an expiration date. The 7ml bottles that I have seen in vape shops are plastic, but still have a childproof cap and the informative label.
The JUICE
This is what it is all about: the flavor. We have five blends to cover in this review. I’m Dori, the head writer, and will kick every flavor off with my thoughts as the team follows. Remember, as always, taste is subjective and is in the mouth of the beholder. I do believe I’ve assembled a truly unique team that is well qualified to approach each eliquid with an open mind. All vapers have different palates, and that includes my team. I value each opinion of those on my team. Let’s see what we come up with for these for various blends.
Before we begin I would like to remind our readers that the team is made up of ‘Drippers’. The Dripping method reveals the truest flavor profile and produces the maximum amount of vapor possible from an eliquid. Because it appears that Halo eliquid is a 50:50 blend, or close to it, none of the eliquids below are well suited for dripping when it comes to vapor production. Flavor, on the other hand, is more likely to be intense. Propylene Glycol (PG) is the flavor carrier while Vegetable Glycerin (VG) is responsible for most of the vapor production. Halo should seriously consider reformulating their eliquid line with a higher VG ratio in order to appeal to drippers and those that like to use subohm tanks, while keeping the suppposed 50:50 blends for vapers that don’t subohm vape or drip.
BELGIAN COCOA: “Our Belgian Cocoa E-liquid blend offers a robust flavor backed by a good throat hit and great vapor production. With dry cocoa undertones and a sweet chocolate top note, this well-balanced e-liquid blend is a great all-day vape. Unlike other overly sweet chocolate e-liquid blends, Belgian Cocoa E-liquid is engineered to be vaped all day long.”
Dori: 5 stars. This is perhaps the best chocolate flavor I have tried to date. That is saying a LOT. That being said, I’m not sure I could vape any chocolate blend all day long, but I gave Belgian Cocoa a whirl and it lasted a long time. I preferred it best around 50 watts. The cocoa undertone on the inhale was amazing at this wattage and spot on. Belgian Cocoa could cure any chocolate craving I, or any other vaper, could possibly have. The flavor doesn’t stop at the inhale. It mellows out into a drier cocoa undertone on the exhale, and I enjoy every second of it. This is a ‘smooth and dreamy’ vape experience. The throat hit is mild at 6mg-nicotine and the vapor production is, well, decent. I used the Mad Modder OKL and a Popeye RDA with a .4-ohm coil build.
Alicia: 5 stars. If you have a major sweet tooth when it comes to chocolate you will love Belgian Cocoa! It’s chocolate at its finest. It’s like I’m eating a Hershey’s chocolate bar, but in vapor form. It’s full of flavor, smooth, and rich. The dry cocoa comes through on the inhale, it’s not as sweet as you would think but then that sweet chocolate flavor kicks in and takes it up a notch and goes full flavor throughout the rest of the vape. It has a light throat hit and a straight chocolate aftertaste. Chocolate lovers look out because here is a great alternative to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Scott: 4.5 stars. Chocolate vapes, some love them and some hate them. In this case, there is no denying that Belgian Cocoa is a whopping strong flavor. I can smell Belgian Cocoa in my sleep, in my car, in my room, just everywhere. I probably smelled like cocoa for days after vaping it! For me, it isn’t an all day vape because it is just so overpoweringly strong. I couldn’t get rid of the chocolate taste from my mouth for hours. If you like chocolate, you’d really need to be in the devout follower category to vape this for a full day straight. Having said all that, it definitely serves its purpose as a sweet dessert vape without being sickly sweet.
Dana: 5 stars. Belgian Cocoa reminds me a of rich sweet cup of hot cocoa! It has just the right amount of sweetness and it’s oh so chocolaty! It’s so yummy that if I could I would drink the entire bottle! (Please don’t try this at home) This eliquid is a great after-dinner treat when you don’t want to indulge in the real thing. Belgian Cocoa offers a great chocolate taste and no calories!
I vaped with my Doge .2 on a regulated mod set at various wattages. Next, it’s going in my Kanger tank to enjoy everyday until it’s gone! Louis: 3.5 stars. If you like dark chocolate, you would probably like this a lot more than I did. It had a super strong dark chocolate taste. It’s almost like taking a spoonful of baking cocoa powder and dropping it directly into your mouth. I could really taste the dark chocolate on the inhale and the exhale, though the exhale also produced hint of milk chocolate. It has a mellow throat hit due to the 6mg nicotine. I wasn’t really impressed with this Belgian Cocoa.
CORDOBA: “Elegance and sophistication combine in Cordoba’s masterful blend of rich, woodsy smokiness and salty sweet caramel flavor. Enjoy the distinctive taste and aroma of your favorite high-end cigars in this refined eLiquid.”
Dori: 4.25 stars. Cordoba is a very unique flavor. It’s very woodsy-like, just as the description indicates. A true cigar lover would really appreciate this blend. I’m not a big fan of tobacco vapes, but I have to commend Halo and give props where it’s due. The balance of flavor is really good.
Cordoba is packed with an earthy inhale and a sweet note at the tip of the exhale, though I do not get the caramel flavor at all, if I did it would have scored a little higher. I vape Cordoba from 30-70 watts and found that I liked it best right around 50 watts setting. This is a very smooth blend with a mild throat hit and decent vapor production.
Alicia: 4.25 stars. Being true to the flavor profile, Cordoba is a very “woodsy” tobacco. However, I agree with Dori and I’m not getting much of the caramel. It may be that the caramel mixes well and makes the tobacco less harsh but more of a smooth and light tobacco than others I have vaped before.
Cordoba is not an eliquid I would choose to vape but it is one that I would recommend for those that are looking for a nice earthy cigar flavor.
It’s not drowned out by sweetness and has a complex flavor profile. It’s also one of those flavors where the first hit made me say “yuck”, but as I continued to vape it became more appealing after my taste buds got used to it.
Scott: 3 stars. I’m not sure where they were trying to go with Cordoba. This is definitely not one of my favorites. It does have a tobacco taste, but there is also a salty taste that makes it very undesirable. The mix of salt and tobacco taste makes me feel like I took a drink from the ocean and then tried to smoke a cigar. Cordoba, in my opinion, is an acquired taste.
Dana: 1 star. I agree with Scott, this is not one for me. Have you ever smelled perfume and a cigar together? That is what Cordoba tastes like. It has a very strong perfume inhale and an even stronger cigar tobacco exhale. I could only take a few hits of this and the strong taste just got to me. I tried this several times and still could not vape it at all. I tried vaping this on my Doge RDA with a .2ohm coil build on an unregulated mod.
Louis: 4 stars. I could tell in an instant that this was a tobacco flavor. It is a strong woodsy tobacco with light mellow caramel tones, which gave it a slight cigar taste. I kind of got a salted caramel taste on the inhale, but more of the cigar like tobacco taste on the exhale. I would have enjoyed this juice a little more if the tobacco flavor wasn’t as strong and the sweet flavors weren’t so mellow.
TRIBECA: “ Tribeca E-liquid has definitive tobacco undertones with a semi-sweet top note that is reminiscent of RY4 e-liquid and other treasured tobacco e-liquid blends with slight hints of vanilla and caramel.”
Tribeca has already been awarded the Spinfuel Choice Award way back on July 31st, 2012. – Ed
Dori: 5 stars. I am really enjoying the Tribeca blend for a tobacco-based vape. The inhale is definitely tobacco based, but with a sweetness that swirls in right away from the vanilla and caramel, and that seems to mellow out the tobacco flavor. I can taste the vanilla and caramel even more at 30 watts. Tribeca is a well-crafted blend for you tobacco lovers out there. You should definitely give this one a whirl. The throat hit is medium at 6mg, but it’s a smooth vape with a good vapor production.
Alicia: 5 stars. Tribeca is pretty tasty and I think it’s my favorite from these 5 flavors. It’s sweet yet smoky and has a really nice, smooth tobacco base that I’ve come to love. The inhale brings out the smooth tobacco flavor mixed with subtle hints of vanilla. At the tip of the exhale, the vanilla really stands out and then the tobacco comes through with swirls of caramel mixing in. It’s a perfect blend and makes me fall in love with RY4 flavors all over again. On my Gatorbox paired with my Popeye RDA built at .26 the vapor production is decent and like most tobacco’s has a decent throat hit, but it’s not harsh. This is a flavor I can see myself vaping frequently!
Scott: 4.5 stars. Tribeca is golden light brown in color and smells of caramel richness. On the inhale, you get the explosion of rich tobacco flavor. On the exhale, you get the greener notes of woodsy tobacco. In my opinion, this juice is very similar to RY4. It’s like a tobacco that is on the level of a dessert vape. It leaves a pleasant maple-caramel aroma in the air. The good thing about these juices is that the quality is definitely there. Tribeca vapes extremely clean and crisp, the throat hit is tremendous, and the vapor production is a good. Dana: 4 stars. Tribeca has a deep, dark caramel inhale and a strong tobacco exhale, but not as strong as the other tobacco flavors in this line. This is not an eliquid that I would personally vape but anyone that likes a good tobacco flavor, this one could be for you to try. The caramel is full of flavor and not too sweet. I vaped this on my Doge RDA with a .2ohm coil build on a regulated mod.
Louis: 5 stars. Part of the reason it was easy for me to switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping was all of the non-tobacco flavors. With that being said, even though this has a tobacco flavor I did really enjoy it. It starts off with a sweet inhale and then you get a graham cracker, vanilla with sweet creamy caramel-y maple taste on the exhale. The flavor packed exhale is also where I got notes of light tobacco. I noticed this juice tasted even better in my Aspire 2 tank. I experienced a very good throat hit with light vapor production. This was a really enjoyable tobacco flavor.
BLACK CALICO: “Reminiscent of popular pipe tobacco blends, this Danish style tobacco flavor offers an earthy Cavendish base delicately blended in a light vanilla bean wrapper. With a complex balance of authentic tobacco flavor and subtle sweetness, Black Calico is light enough to be enjoyed by anyone seeking a true tobacco flavor.”
Dori: 4 stars. This is another really earthy blend rich with tobacco flavors, especially on the inhale. I do get a very subtle sweet flavor from the light vanilla wrapper at the tip of the exhale. The finish is the best part, where that bit of sweetness swirls into the tobacco blend. The throat hit is medium at 6mg, but it’s still a pretty smooth vape with a good vapor production. I enjoyed Black Calico best around 50 watts on the Mad Modder OKL.
Alicia: 4.25 stars. The aroma of this one is a sweet tobacco and the taste is pretty close to the same. It definitely reminds me of a pipe tobacco, and it’s a little too sweet for my liking. The inhale and exhale both deliver a nice balanced pipe tobacco flavor throughout. On the inhale, I get very light hints of vanilla that quickly fade into the tobacco. It’s smooth and has a light throat hit with decent vapor production. Seeing as I’m not a lover of pipe tobacco, this isn’t something I would choose to vape, but for the pipe tobacco lovers this may be right up their alley.
Scott: 4 stars. Black Calico is a tobacco flavor with a little punch and then it’s topped with what seems to be vanilla or something sweet. It has more of a pipe tobacco taste and the deep tobacco flavor really captures the sensation of a strong tobacco. The vanilla touch adds a bit of sweetness and it’s really just the right amount. If you like a little punch with a bit of sweetness, you will want to try Black Calico.
Dana: 1 star. Black Calico has a very, very strong tobacco inhale and exhale. It’s so strong that I chocked on it. I vaped this on my Doge RDA using a .2ohm coil build on a regulated mod set at various wattages trying to get it to where I could actually vape it. Sadly, this eliquid is so strong I was unable to vape it. However, if it’s a strong tobacco flavor you are looking for, this one is for you.
Louis: 5 stars. This is tobacco flavor that I really liked. This ejuice was similar to a deep rich pipe tobacco. I even got a strong throat hit from it. On a typical hit of this juice for me, I noticed a nice equal balance of sweet vanilla on the inhale with a sweet tobacco on the exhale. This has a really nice sweet tobacco taste that I easily grew fond of.
SUBZERO: “Subzero E-liquid offers an intensely fresh experience, packed with triple the menthol effect of our standard menthol e-liquid flavors. Designed for those seeking a more concentrated menthol effect, this premium e-liquid blend offers a subtly sweet mixed mint aftertaste.”
Dori: 4.5 stars. I suggest vaping Subzero on a low wattage setting so you can actually take a full hit! This menthol is the extreme of all menthols with a bit of sweetness at the end. The inhale almost took my breath away!! I started at 50 watts and could barely inhale the entire way-it was that intense. On the exhale, the full menthol blast continues, but mellows out at the very end. It leaves a sweet mint aftertaste just like the description says. This is a very refreshing vape and for those of you with sinus issues-a SUPER way to clear yourself out for a day. Everyone should keep a bottle of menthol around for that purpose. I even had a customer say the same thing this week to me about a flavor I have here. I used a .4-ohm coil build on a Popeye RDA for Subzero.
Alicia: 4.25 stars. Yep, it’s menthol! Cold, straight menthol. As I’ve said before, I can appreciate a menthol flavor from time to time. Although I wouldn’t be able to vape this by itself, it would be good to add a couple drops to other flavors to give them that menthol kick that a lot of us crave. This is strong and has a hard throat hit. I can’t really evaluate the vapor production because of how strong it is. I Subzero in my in my Kanger Subtank equipped with a 1.2-ohm coil, atop my Sigelei 150, set it to 20 watts and even at those settings, it’s just incredibly strong. There’s no tobacco or other flavorings mixed in, just straight menthol. Fortunately, there is no chemical taste and it leaves my taste buds clean, cool and refreshed.
Scott: 4 stars. Most of the time I have no idea what to expect when trying out a new eliquid. This was not the case with Subzero. I knew that this one was a heavy hitting menthol the minute I opened the bottle. The hit from this juice is like nothing I have ever tried before. It is so heavy on menthol that I had an icy tingle at the back of my throat for a long time after I vaped it. It would probably be similar to the effect of taking shots of Listerine. The flavor is basically pure menthol. Considering the level of menthol, it provides a pretty potent throat hit. The cooling effect makes it tough to tell, but overall it’s a very strong hit. Vapor was pretty good for such a strong menthol flavor.
Dana: 1 star. WOW! The first hit about threw me off my chair! If you love Halls cough drops Subzero is for you! It’s menthol times 10+. I am not a fan of menthol on a regular basis anyway, but now and then I like to take a few hits. If I have a cold, a good menthol seems to clear out my sinuses. However, this liquid is beyond any menthol I have ever tried. It’s just way too strong to even be vape-able. I vaped this on my Doge RDA with a .2ohm coil build on an unregulated mod.
Louis: 3.5 stars. While I was vaping this juice, I almost wondered if I had put Vicks in my RDA instead of e-juice. Honestly. Subzero has a very particular menthol that has a very strong icy cool throat hit. I also noticed this juice is a light vapor producer, but that might have been because I couldn’t take a hit without freezing my lungs. On the plus side, it would be really good for clearing sinuses!
CONCLUSION:
Halo definitely knows what they are doing when it comes to tobacco blends, and they even surprised us with a super gourmet flavor that some of us REALLY enjoyed. There are a ton of people who need that one special tobacco blend to finally kick the habit and get into vaping. With as many countries and shops that Halo is sold in, you can tell they have a lot of success in this department. We suggest you check these particular blends out if you are into tobacco or cigar flavored vapes, need an extreme menthol, or if you really want a chocolate vape to knock your socks off.
As always, the team and I all have a unique way of tasting flavors but you’ll know who you relate to most after you read a few of our reviews. All vapers have our own style, and we are no different.
Dori Odosso and the Spinfuel eLiquid Review Team
