So the smoother hit thing with the recycler is noticable to me too. Some nerdy shit coming,
Recyclers work by breaking the smoke/vapor into tiny bubbles at the percolator at the bottom, which cools it quickly; those tiny bubbles then hit that lip above and burst and collect into bigger bubbles. Those bigger bubbles then get sucked through that curly q tube and pulled back down to mix with the tiny bubbles (that's the "recycling" part) before it all comes through the mouthpiece