leelee.d, so excited you're pulling the trigger on Halo!!! You won't be disappointed. As it has been mentioned here, there is a diff on the finish on the iridescence and the other colors. I do love both but I use my VVs the majority of the time and it is like Chesty said, like a felt or a light rubber coating feel.
As far as size, I know new peeps like to go smaller cuz it's more like a cig but, smaller batt/smaller life on it=more charging.
Here's a size comparison chart, last one being a VV
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My avatar shows the VV in my hand. It doesn't help you a ton cuz I know u don't kno me..LOLOL. But I have very small hands and the VV is very comfortable to hold. And here's a pic of some my random sized batts next to each other to get another visual of sizes. The small ones are the 450....I find them too small but good to stash in TINY purses to football games. Otherwise, I usually have GIANT purses so I don't need small batts
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Keep us posted on what you get and sorry I can't help at all with Menthol. The only menthol I have is Malibu and it's only a hint of it and I love Malibu but that's as far as I get w/menthol