Sahara Smoke Company has revised their popular specialty bowl, known as the Vortex. The bowl retains its classic funnel shape, with the air holes drilled uniquely around the sides of the spire. The revised bowl retains most of its classic qualities, and gains a few improvements. But, the really important question is, how does it stack up against the classic Vortex bowl? In a word, great.

While the aroma of the tobacco is nearly identical to actual graham crackers, the flavor, unfortunately is not. The flavor is a combination of honey and a subtle sweet spice. Possibly cardamom.

Babylon is a fairly common composition of sweet blueberry and mint. The flavor is similar to other popular offerings such as Starbuzz Blue Mist and Social Smoke’s Baja Blue. Tonic’s version, Babylon, outperforms Starbuzz’s Blue Mist in longevity, with the mint flavor lasting nearly the entire length of the session. Babylon also uses a bit more mint than other similar flavors.

Pumpkin Pie is a sweet, mellow and mild earthy flavor with only slight hints of authentic pumpkin pie. In a real-world comparison, it tastes much like honey and some kind of sweet nut.

Sweet Tang was, well, sweet and tangy. The flavor is a mild citrus, most likely orange. The flavor, in the real world, is much like a sweet orange-aide drink, with a subtle mint flavor.