Since never having used protein bars I really have no opinion as to taste, etc. however it was suggested that by sharing ideas of what is out there will give us a better understanding of these bars...found this info from another message board which I thought was quite interesting...take from it what you will:

An Inside Look at Protein Bars

This info is psoted at: Proteinfactory.com

Three years ago when I first started proteinfactory.com my biggest statement I was trying to make on the proteinfactory.com site was to make people aware of the different quality whey protein, mainly the difference between an isolate and a concentrate. I don't know if I was the first person to blow the whistle but soon after Proteinfactory.com became more well know I started to see more and more companies differentiate their protein powders from whey isolate and whey concentrate. I tried to make more people aware of the different qualities of hydrolyzed whey protein that caught on somewhat but not like the isolate vs. concentrate. This brings me to my subject of this article. If you notice at the bottom right of the home page you will notice a submission question that is, "What product would you like to see proteinfactory.com put in retail stores such as GNC?" Most people responded, "Don't put any products in and stay how you are". But the second largest request was protein bars. Thus I began my quest to find out who, what, when, and how protein bars are made.
First off you have to know that supplement companies rarely make there own bars. There are less than 10 manufacturers of all the protein bars in country, if that; I believe there are only 6 or 7. These manufacturers Asses are so tight; "If you put a piece of coal up their ass in a few days you would have a diamond". (Quote from Ferris Buellers Day Off, movie), Meaning that you cant get any answers from them on how the bars are made, the ingredients, where they come from, and the scientific mumbo-jumbo, on all their labels. That led me to investigate the ingredients myself.
The most profound, most important, and most controversial ingredient I researched was glycerol or glycerin. Protein bar manufacturers can buy this ingredient in two ways, natural and synthetic. You guessed it! The synthetic is about 100 times less expensive. 99% of the bars contain synthetic glycerin. Nobody uses the natural stuff.

We interrupt this article to bring you an important announcement from our sponsor.
"Hi I'm Bob Sleazeball from the Dow Chemical Corporation. We manufacture the synthetic glycerol that is used in all those protein bars that you eat. The product that makes your protein bar taste sweet and gives it that great after taste and gas. Ahh yes you know!. I know, I know you can thank us later. But did you know the other wonderful things you can do with that protein bar that contains glycerol. You can use it to make glue and other adhesives. Oh yes the next time you don't want to lick those stamps just dab a little of that protein bar on the back of the stamp and bingo, IT STICKS. You can also make resins and de-foaming agents. So the next time you need some glue or something sticky you can thank glycerol. Glycerol, glue, adhesives, protein bars, and resins, so many uses, so much fun!

This ingredient is the most important ingredient in the protein bars of today. It gives the bar its chewy ness, sweetness, and keeps it from getting hard as a rock on the store shelf. Just to let you know I am eating these bars while writing this article and you can do the same thing as I am and will notice the exact same thing I am describing with each bar, it really is cool. You'll see the differences I am talking about.

Take a look at W.W.S.N.P.P. bar (the reason I am using abbreviations is because I have been threatened with lawsuits). You're going to have to figure it out yourself. It's not that hard. The first ingredient is glycerin! That is why it is sooooo moist like and chewy. It only took me about 3 chews to swallow the thing. I would not be surprised if 60% of that bar was glycerin.

The next step was to take a look at protein bars with the SECOND ingredient being glycerin. N.P.D.W bar, M.T.N.T bar, and the L.B bar all have glycerin as their second ingredient. Wholly sore jaw. You need about 15 to 20 chews to swallow the thing. Hell ofa jaw workout. If I eat this group of bars for a month I would be like that guy from the James Bond movie where he would eat through steel. And I think I will have to go to the dentist to remove the krap from my teeth. Amazing all the protein bars I tried with the second ingredient being glycerin were very hard to chew. So now go ahead. Go out and buy the N.P.D.W. the M.T.N.T. and the L.B. bar they so much alike its not even funny. Well it is funny! I bet if I sat all three owners of these supplement down with all three different bars they could tell me which bar is their's and which one is the other guys.

In the past supplement companies have been leaving glycerin out of the carbs section on the nutrition profile. Let me explain.
"Glycerol/glycerin is a small and simple 3-carbon alcohol (by structure) that's produced in the breakdown or oxidation of nutrient substrates like glucose, protein, pyruvate, and triglyceride." John Beradi T-mag issue . Glycerol is an alcohol. The manufacturers leave it out of the carb section in the nutrition facts, it is justified because of this. But the body can uses glycerol to form carbohydrates and fats using certain pathways. Glycerol can be transformed into glucose or triglyerides in the body, depending on your energy requirements. This it turn can increase insulin levels and fat storing capabilities. Thus glycerol in my opinion should be listed in the carb section.

Finally the F.D.A. has come down on the glycerin issue not being listed as a carb. The F.D.A. has been fining allot of supplement companies for not listing glycerin as a carb. We're talking fines of $500,000 and up. I hate to be the barer of bad news, but you wont be able to buy "Low -Carb" bars anymore. All protein bars are going to contain at least 25-30 grams of carbs.

I am not 100% against the glycerin. If you need it to create a protein bar you need it. But at least be honest about it. Don't try to market it as a new carb source that can benefit you and help you krap blah blah blah. Like one supplement company I know. What a joke.

Now that I have talked about what glycerin does in the body, I want to discuss what does glycerin do to the bar? Well if you might have noticed every time you eat a bar that contains glycerin, I guess that is basically all of them, you feel like you need a gallon of milk afterward. Glycerin makes up most of the bar. It is a chemical ingredient and that is the side effect. Yuck! Then you get that nice aftertaste everyone loves. Ha Ha. That is also from the glycerin. The only reason most bars taste different is the flavor system used. And they don't taste different by much.

The second ingredient I would like to talk about is soy protein isolate. In terms of functionality soy protein isolate keeps the bar from getting hard as a rock, similar to glycerin. As opposed to a whey which will make the bar turn hard as a rock. You can see some bars that contain soy protein isolate will not contain glycerin. The S.P. P. bar is like this. I am not against soy protein isolate, but some bodybuilders like to stay away from it because they believe it can raise estrogen levels. You can definitely taste the soy protein isolate in a bar that contains it. Soy gives off a strong taste.

The third ingredient is maltitol. Maltitol is also used for chew ness and to keep the bar from getting hard. I would say 99% of protein bars contain maltitol. Maltitol is also used in most of the chocolate coating. Maltitol sucks because it causes major GAS!!!

Here in layman's terms is what the protein bar looks like today. I laid it out like this because you can go nuts trying to read the ingredient portions of these bars. Some bars in which glycerin is the second ingredient it looks like it's the 28th ingredient down because of all the scientific mumbo jumbo krap. For example,
Protein blend (hydrolyzed whey protein isolate with a low molecular weight of 10,000 daltons, cold-filtered ion exchange whey isolate specially made for us, and cross'flow microfiltration whey protein concentrate containing a high amount of protein fractions lactoferrine, beta lactaglobulin and glycomacropeptides, caseinate) Glycerin, Protein coating.

Heres the bar layout.

1st ingredient. Protein blend. I would have to say the main portion of it is whey concentrate. In some bars they list hydrolyzed protein. Its actually hydrolyzed PORK protein,yummm!.

2nd ingredient. Glycerin.

3rd ingredient. Is the coating on the protein bar This is usually in parentheses.

4th ingredient. Maltitol.

5th ingredient. Flavor system

6th ingredient. Vitamin and Mineral blend and whatever bull**** ingredients they dump in. Creatine, ZMA, isoflavones.

Simple as that. Over 20-30 protein bars on the market and they are all the same. Geez what a let down. Whoaa wait a second I don't want to end this article on a sad note. I forgot to tell you about the bar we might offer.

No glycerin, no soy, no crazy protein blend, and minuscule amounts of maltitol because we have to have a chocolate coating or the bar can't hold itself together. The bar will contain mostly whey concentrate, small amounts of whey isolate and some caseinate. What else does this mean? No crazy after taste, no money has to be spent of gallons of milk, no diarrhea from maltitol, and no bad taste from soy. I hate to say this but it really tastes better than any bar I have tried to date. Its new, unique, and is going to turn some heads!