As anyone who has bought more than one of them already knows, not all PVs are created equal. The same goes for e-pipes.
This classy, some might say pretentious, arm of the mod family includes a wide variety of colors and styles, at a broad range of prices. Somewhere near the middle of the scale comes the F-106 e-pipe from Fortunecome of China, a somewhat hefty-sized pipe powered by an 18350 battery which is inserted into the bowl of the pipe.
The F-106: Big and Bold, and Maybe Too Much of Both
The F-106 takes the classic approach to pipe styling, with a large, rounded wooden bowl. Fortunecome doesn’t specify the type of wood used, but it is a darker wood… possibly walnut. On the side of the bowl is mounted a small rhinestone-like firing switch, which has the common eGo-like 5-press on/off function. A blue LED lights up the tiny switch when fired, and will flash three times when the e-pipe is turned on or off.
A Questionable Choice of Threading
Now that we’ve covered the basics, here’s where things start to go downhill with the F-106. Let’s start with the threading on the stem. While it’s somewhat typical to find eGo threading on an e-pipe, you’ll usually find that the stem has both the internal and external threads common to eGo devices. In the F-106′s case, it only has the internal threads. This greatly limits the number of atomizers you’ll be able to use with it. We were able to use an Innokin iClear 16 and a Bauway CE8, for example, but not a Kanger EVOD, as the EVOD does not have internal eGo threads. Unless you’ve got a very thorough knowledge of the atomizer you want to use with the F-106, and how that atomizer is threaded, whether it will work with it or not may be a real crap shoot.
I’d Swear I Charged that Battery…
Our second major gripe about the F-106 is the internal battery contacts. The bottom of the e-pipe has a spring, which works well enough, but the top positive contact consists of a thin, flimsy-looking arm that swings out to make contact with the top of the battery. It doesn’t fit particularly snugly, and we couldn’t get the F-106 to work at all with our flat-top 18350s. The only way we could coax it into firing was to attach a small magnet to the top of the battery to raise the contact point enough for the arm to connect to it. It may work better with button-top 18350s, but we didn’t have any lying around to test with.
Attack of the Giant Mutant Bedazzler
The last of our major gripes would be the huge plastic faux-ruby attached to the top of the cap that fits over the bowl, covering the battery. It is, in a word, tacky as hell. OK, that’s three words, but “tacky” alone doesn’t quite cover it. Maybe it’s supposed to simulate the red glow of an analog pipe as it is fired, but if that’s the intent, it’s a dismal failure. Rather than looking like a glowing analog pipe, the giant ultra-fake gem just makes the F-106 look cheap. A simple metal cap, or a wood insert, would have looked much better, and probably would have allowed us to take the F-106 out in public without being embarrassed by it.
The Scores
Build Quality: 5/10
The wood bowl of the F-106 e-pipe is admittedly rather nice. The wood finish of our test unit as clean and scratch-free, with a nice grain to it. However, that wasn’t enough to make up for what we consider to be a rather shoddy mechanism for making contact with the 18350 battery. The F-105 will not work with an unmodified flat-top 18350 battery, and we can’t even be sure it’ll work correctly with a button-top.
We’re also not particularly happy with the switch. If it stuck out a bit more, the pipe could be held more like an analog pipe, but it’s very small and doesn’t stick out far enough to really be pressed with anything but a fingertip.
Looks: 4/10
We love the look of the bowl of the F-106, but that’s really all we like about this e-pipes looks. The small rhinestone switch alone probably wouldn’t have given the F-106 an air of “oh my God that looks ridiculous,” but the humungous plastic red monstrosity covering the bowl certainly does. The cheap plastic pipe stand included with the F-106, which looks a bit like a plastic folding chair and has problems holding the pipe upright, doesn’t help much.
Flexibility: 3/10
The internal-only eGo threading of the F-106 is an unusual choice that severely limits what you’ll be able to attach to it. Only a few of our eGo-based clearomizers had the type of threading required to be used with the F-106.
The battery issues mentioned above also limit what sort of 18350s you’ll be able to use with the F-105 e-pipe. Unless, like us, you happen to have a small stockpile of magnets lying around, your best shot at a working battery will be a button-top.
Performance: 4/10
We can’t say we were particularly impressed with the F-106′s performance. Vapor production and flavor were very weak with all but our lowest-resistance atomizers. Even then, performance was nothing to write home about.
Price: 3/10
While we haven’t found any U.S. retailers selling the F-106 e-pipe, the wholesale price from Fortunecome is around $26-$30, which would probably put it at $50-$60 retail. Frankly, considering the low performance, cheap looks, and questionable engineering of the F-106, we find it hard to justify paying anywhere near that much for it.
Overall Score: 3.8
Fortunecome F-106 E-Pipe
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