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I can't say I pay too much attention to branding. The value of branding is down to one's individual perception based on the product and, I hate to say it, marketing. Most of what I would consider to be 'premium brands' offer their fair share of stuff I'd never use but I'd not want to devalue any brand based on that fact (apart from Nash, obviously 😂). A brand is just a name for a company imo. Do I think SHB make decent/premium hookbaits? Yes, absolutely. I only use them for certain applications, but I've done so for probably 10 years + now. They have caught me some very special fish and that breeds confidence. Confidence is as important as anything in carp angling imo.

Heard of 50kg pop ups that went on a trip to France with some mates once 😂😂 can’t remember which ingredient did it though.

Well the Big Common would be the icing yes, but No the remaining target on my syndi is a 50 common 'white tips' so the yellows will be coming out, thinking of maize or corn as feed possibly. On the syndi I've concluded that baited patches are not the one, Kingy and Sandmartin PVA sticks and maybe a few with the stick, cannot see me using much bait this year TBH but you never know

That's where I used 50% base mix and 50% sodium caseinate to have a matching pop-up to the base mix. The base mixes I used that ratio with were New Concepts Mariner mix and Nutrabaits The Biollix, which were both fairly heavy base mixes. Usual procedure was make a 4egg mix of normal baits. While the base mix was out I would put around 1eggs worth of powder to one side for the bit for pop-ups and I would sieve the base mix to get rid of larger lumps and then add the same amount volume of sodium caseinate. So if I had 1 measuring cup of base mix, I would add 1 cup of caseinate. One egg in a bowl, add the required flavours/liquids if using any at 1/4 of what 4eggs took then mix as per normal. I usually had enough pop-up mix left over for another 1 eggs worth of pop-ups. A mate did the same when he used Enervite for his pop-ups, and that must be sieved!

I feel like I've heard that story before somewhere. Could you find out what it was and what level please 😂

I use SHB pretty much exclusively for pop ups nowadays. Caught plenty. Probably would have caught a proportion of those on another brands pop ups. Do I believe they’ve caught me fish that I may not have caught on a different hookbaits? I’d say maybe a few. But I’ll never know. Have I blanked on them? Yes. Down to the baits? Probably not, my decisions on location, rigs, baiting approach, etc at fault. you’ll catch a carp on a lego head in the right place. You’ll blank using an all singing all dancing hookbait in the wrong place. I’d choose SHB above any other pop up though. As Yonny said it’s a confidence thing. Plenty of options priced similarly with much less to them. I’ve looked at making my own, similar but obviously not comparable as I don’t know his process in and out. I’m talking cork chunk pop ups with a curing process of my own. Doable but I don’t have the time. IMO buy with confidence but they aren’t a miracle worker.

Do you consider SHB a premium brand or not ?

AA baits suggests 10% for pop ups Sodium Caseinate is a milk protein derived from using sodium to remove the protein content from milk. It has a protein content in excess of 96% and makes a very functional binder. Being one of the lightest of the milk proteins caution should be used as to the inclusion levels as 10% plus can make baits buoyant. Recommend inclusion level is up to 10% – (100g) per kg base mix.

Many premium brands as @yonny has said are pop-up mix and flavour, that could be any brand, although there are some that have that something. Garlic is one of those additions that can really put fish on the bank, but it is finding the garlic that works; in pop-ups I never found powdered versions work, possibly not enough smell, and I am not scientific enough to work it out, but in a food bait they may work well. Oh those coatings can be fun to make, can be as simple as rolling dried baits in egg, then rolling in powder. Funnily enough I have caught far more on a food bait equivalent than on a yellow pop-up on most waters. The yellow pop-up produced fish on 'small fish' waters, but not on big fish venues, although the past couple of years did produce stocked fish rather than original fish on the syndicate. Thinking back to various 25lb+ commons I have caught, none came on yellow baits, all but one were on snowman baits, food bait with an identical coloured pop-up (not necessarily same flavour), the one that didn't was on a single 15mm food bait. As an add, I did remove the 'disagreement', not going to have it get nasty. Express an opinion, give your point and don't have a go.

Maybe keep at least one on a yellow all year then, is that "the big common" 😍 I do kind of agree with the give them a choice kind of hookbait still though. Maybe just tone it down a bit later on in the year, and go for something similar but different if that makes sense. At times I've done quite well on the brown proper jobs. Something a little different but not greatly. Also I've never been one to use the same hookbait on all 3 rods, so I can't ever be conclusive about it 😂