Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or have nothing to do with the global community of hookah smokers), you’ve already heard about the new HJ Alien Mini Phunnel bowl. The bowl isn’t a revolution, it’s a refinement of the hugely popular Tangiers Phunnel Bowl.

The aim is simple, smoke great—and do it with as little tobacco and coals as possible.

A full review will be coming in the near future. But for now, let’s get a quick look at how the HJ Alien compares to other bowls.

Comparing a standard Egyptian bowl and the Tangiers Small Phunnel Bowl, the HJ Alien is clearly the slimmest in design. It also weighs the least at just about 5 oz, compared to the Tangiers bowl weighing in at 8 oz and the standard Egyptian bowl at 7 oz. At this point, it’s hard to tell how this may affect the heat absorption. But the first experiences are very good.

the HJ Alien sits lower than the Tangiers bowl at about 9 cm, but just slightly taller than most Egyptian bowls. You’ll have to keep this in mind when selecting your wind cover.

Also worth noting, compared to the Tangiers bowl, the HJ Alien has a much larger opening at the bottom, which grows gradually more narrow as it approaches the top of the bowl. For most this won’t cause problems. But for some, especially those who own Chinese hookahs (such as Mya hookahs), the design of the stem may make it impossible to use this bowl without additional bowl grommets.

HookahJohn, the manufacturer of the HJ Alien, claims the bowl uses 1 or 2 coals. This will vary depending on your coal choice. HookahJohn also claims the bowl uses less tobacco, which it clearly does. Tobacco packed in an HJ Alien bowl appears on the left, while the Tangiers bowl and the Egyptian bowl are on the right. Though the picture cannot do it justice, the bowl held just slightly more than half as much tobacco as the Tangiers and Egyptian bowls did. That’s roughly 10 – 15 grams of tobacco.

How does it smoke? Well, you’ll have to wait for the full review coming in the near future. Or, better yet, you can buy one and see for yourself. They retail at $24.99, but are on sale for a limited time at $18.99. The HJ Mini Alien Phunnel Bowl is manufactured and sold exclusively by HookahJohn.com.