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How Tor Browser reaches a Torzon onion service
Opening an onion address starts a short negotiation between your browser and the service.
Looking up the descriptor
Tor Browser first fetches a signed descriptor for the address from relays that store them. The descriptor lists introduction points.
Choosing a meeting place
Your browser picks a rendezvous relay and tells the service, via an introduction point, where to meet.
Joining the circuits
The service builds its own circuit to the rendezvous relay. Neither side learns the network location of the other.
Why it can be slow
The final connection usually passes through six relays, so the torzon market onion will always feel slower than an ordinary website.
A Torzon onion connection passes through about six relays, which explains both the privacy and the slowness.