So far, there aren't any guaranteed performers in the e-pipe area. Janty is supposed to unveil theirs in september but it could be longer before it's released.
At this moment there are the...:
DSE601- spotty performance history. Some run great, some don't. Hit or miss really. Even if you get one that runs good, you never really know for how long and you'll be messing with it often to keep it running. Can be had for a relatively decent price though and they look damn close to the real thing.
GreenCig G500- Seems to be the best performer, but costs a bundle. Other downside is that they are difficult to refill. Requires drilling the cartomizer and other procedures to refill. Pretty much stuck with the stock flavors of the proprietary cartos.
Ruyan e-pipe- hard-ish to find recently and more costly than the 601 but not as much as the g500. Some say they're great, others say that its a slightly better built 601.
KR mini-pipe - it's way smaller than the pics let on. It has the shape of a pipe bowl with a small protrusion for attaching penstyle attys to it. If you go this route, I suggest buying a few extra
batteries as they run down faster than they charge up with the supplied charger. Also, the stock attys generally suck. I prefer to use the Joye 302 or BE112 attys, both of which are far superior in vapor production to the KR stock attys. The BE112 leaves a tiny gap between the bowl and the bottom of the atty, the 302's don't. The bowl/battery housing can be purchased in auto or manual. They are available separately at some retailers, so you can
buy just the bowl, get some 302 attys and carts, a few
batteries and a charger for roughly the same price as a starter kit.
There are also some french pipe style e-pipes out there which look vaguely like a .... and a screwy looking chinese style pipe which looks like dinky little thimble cup on the end of an extended penstyle e-cig but I haven't played with either.
If you hadn't guessed it...my preference is the minipipe with 302s but thats just me. I haven't bothered to mess with my 601s in a while due to the maintenance issues. I'd probably just wait for the Janty pipe design to see daylight, as they usually produce some kick-... stuff....or you could steer him towards another type of ecig or cigar style maybe.