Heya Ellie, welcome to the planet.
Yep..a Kamry K1000 plus is a good one to start with, as it's a nice simple dinky little pipe. It's not quite a traditional pipe in terms of it's shape, but unlike the earlier ones that are pipe like, which
@Crewella has plenty of...they are mechs only...the K1000 plus does have a chip in it, so is easier to use..as it'll regulate the power flow better than the older version. It's not a proper regulated pipe (it's a hybrid of sorts), as there's no adjustment on this one..just fire and vape. But works pretty well with Naulilus Mini tank. You can just buy the bowl on it's own, which is around £19 i think, from Petersham Pipes
https://www.petershampipes.co.uk/product/kamry-k1000-plus-replacement-bowl-battery/ plus the other spares for it, including the stem if you want it. They're great to carry around with you, as they are so small, especially if you just have the standard drip tip on the tank, as i do, great for stealth vaping! The battery should last around a couple of tanks worth, i usually get about a day of it, before needing to recharge it. The battery is built in, so is recharged via USB cable..simple as it comes.
I have two Kamry K1000 plus bowls, the first i bought nearly a year ago...and is still in use today. The only thing i would say..is that the 18350 battery is a bit limited in terms of power delivery, so much so, that i've stopped using my Naut mini on it (fitted with the 1.8 BVC, cos i was having problems with the coils not lasting very long with the Kamry), and now have the Nautllus 2 tank on it with 0.7 coil fitted (looks a bit daft, cos the tank is wider than the fitting on the bowl), as this works better imo. The pipe was designed to take a stock tank with a 0.5 coil fitted, but like Crewella...i thought the stock tank was crap! However, the Kamry bowl is a good one to start with.
If you're looking for something that looks like a pipe..then generally speaking, most of them are mech pipes..so no chip them to regulate the power flow. If you aren't familiar with mechs, then it's perhaps better if you look at semi regulated or fully regulated ones...although many of these do look really weird! Take the Smok Guardian 3 for example, which i think Crewella does also have...it works well...but gee it's ugly! Looks like a shower head! Here's an image of it:
The older Smok Guardian 2, does look nicer, and is sort of regulated i think..but i haven't looked into that one yet.
There is another older now discontinued Smok epipe, that looks similar to the Kamry...but is fully regulated, the original 40watt Guardian, but i can't find anybody that still sells them in in the UK (Edit: i have now discovered one site that has them at half price, see post below)...looks nice though:
Perhaps a better one..is another that Crewella also has, again looks a bit daft, but is a proper regulated epipe..the F-30 30w pipe. It's cheap, made of wood effect plastic...and the bowl end looks like a chopped off end of a golf club! But it's a reg'd pipe! The full kits are expensive in the UK (£60 or so), but you can get just the bowl from Fast Tech for around £19 plus shipping from China.
I'm looking to progress to something a bit beefier soon...the main issue with those, is any epipe bowl fitted with a larger 18650 battery can look a bit unwieldy..sometimes downright weird! In fact i'm having a mech pipe made up for me, which i should get soon. The only issue with mechs is the way the power is delivered, which is essentially the full whack of a fully charged battery at once, so one needs to appropriate the correct tank set up for a mech...this is something i'm still getting my head around, as i've not had a mech before.
Can Crewella or anybody else suggest other epipes to look at?
There's one i'm still interested in, but was warned off them by a local vape shop owner (which i now believe cos he wanted me to buy the pig ugly Guardian 3!)..the epuffer 629 X kit. Looks gorgeous, comes fully boxed with two tanks and spares to boot, but very pricy at £150 (!)....anybody tried that one? I suspect the high price is due to the beautifully finished wooden case it comes in..but one to aspire to later down the roadaways, perhaps!..
BTW....whilst my own knowledge and experience of epipes is still in the developing stages....there's no epipe section in this forum....so are there many pipers here that would like to see a new All things for Epipe connoisseur thread?
I'd like to start one up...maybe call it the 'Sherlock Holmes room'!
