You will probably be aware that in my previous reviews I have mentioned that I have a weakened immune system due to an underlying medical condition. As a result, I am susceptible to catching every cough and cold germ, which always seem to be worse in my throat and chest. When I suffered with the dreaded bug in March of this year I was fortunate enough to have a good supply of Jakemans in my home, as this is a brand of throat sweet that I find extremely effective at delivering temporary relief. However, I had forgotten to replenish the supply in my office desk and as a result I had to nip to a nearby pharmacist who had very little to offer. Unfortunately, the only lozenges available to me were several packs of a sugar free throat sweet belonging to Halls, which are manufactured by Cadburys and this review discusses my experience with consuming the cherry flavour. When I wrote this review two weeks ago I was once again suffering with a chesty and rather tickly cough with a sore throat accompanied by block sinuses, so I consumed the remainder of my earlier Halls purchase.

APPEARANCE OF THE PRODUCT

Whilst I like the flavour of cherry in certain foods I cannot advise that I find it particularly favourable in a throat sweet, so I always tend to opt for lemon where possible. The sweets are sugar free and presented to us in a 32g deep red and silver coloured square shaped tube where we are able to witness the Halls name running along the majority of its' length. Located on the right hand side is an image of one of the sweets with three arrows pointing upwards, which are to illustrate the vapour action that is released. The packaging is made from white greaseproof paper with a foil covering and I had been carrying a pack in my handbag for a couple of months and was puzzled to find tiny fragments of silver in the bottom. I later discovered that the silver and red foil was peeling away from the packaging, so it was necessary to remove all remaining sweets and store them in a small food bag.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH CONSUMING THE SWEETS

We are provided with 9 sweets in each pack and each is individually wrapped in a small piece of greaseproof packaging, which displays the Halls name. I'm not a fan of huge throat sweets and their size of 1½ cm square is perfect for me. The sweets offer a fairly large circular indentation on both sides, which seems a little pointless to me, particularly as we are not receiving as much sweet as I would have initially expected. The sweets are smooth and glossy in appearance and the moment I place one into my mouth I am able to witness the cherry vapours, which are fairly soothing. Whilst this is down to personal preference, I find the taste and texture of cherry flavour Halls identical to Tunes and this is not something I particularly favour.

I can advise that at the beginning of my suffering with a cough and sore throat the sweets could be described as only somewhat effective, as they did not provide me with the relief that I had hoped for. Although they slightly soothed my throat the effect was very short-lived and they offered no assistance or comfort whatsoever to my partly blocked nose. As previously stated, I am a real fan of Jakemans and cannot speak highly enough of such a reasonably priced sweet and throughout my experience with consuming Halls I found myself making comparisons. Whilst the sweets are acceptable for the tail end of a cough and cold they were not powerful enough when my symptoms were at their worst. I made a price comparison with Jakemans and would advise that Halls work out almost 25% more expensive. Due to their price and short-lived effectiveness, Halls Cherry Menthol receive only 3 stars from me.

INGREDIENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION

There is a lengthy list of ingredients contained on the reverse of the packaging per 100g and for obvious reasons I do not intend copying them into this review. However, I would advise that as with all throat sweets that are sugar free we are provided with a warning that excess consumption may result in a laxative effect, which is not something that has ever affected me. However, we are provided with no information on how many we should consume in any given period. Unfortunately, I can find no ingredients that identify the soothing properties such as cherry oil or menthol and all that is listed is "flavour". I find this a little disappointing, particularly as Jakemans contain natural ingredients such as honey and lemon oil, which in my experience, are much more effective.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

Halls Sugar Free Cherry Throat Sweets are widely available in supermarkets, chemists and newsagents and tend to retail for approximately 50p - 60p per packet.

I hope you found my review useful and would thank you for reading.