I’m really not sure how to approach this review. For one thing, I’ve been trying hard to find a humorous angle for the review like many of my recent ones. Unfortunately, nothing has really jumped out at me. For another thing, rarely have I come across a product that I like so much yet which has some really obvious, glaring flaws. Such is the issue with Pipedream’s Fetish Fantasy Series Japanese Silk Rope.

What is any rope used for? Tying it to something or tying up something, of course. Specifically, this rope is meant for Shibari-style bondage. It is not necessarily designed for advanced BDSM or bondage practitioners, but it should be more than sufficient for those wanting to dabble in vanilla BDSM/bondage as well as more intermediate BDSM/bondage practitioners. The rope’s length (35 feet/10.5 meters) and diameter (1/4 inches/6.35 millimeters) is more than sufficient for most uses. In fact, some people might find this length to be too much. The rope can be cut, but it will fray unless the ends are somehow treated.

Although this rope is not meant for suspension play -- Pipedream is pretty adamant about that -– I decided to test whether it could be used for such a purpose. For this test, I hung the rope from a joist on our second-story deck and tied it to make a harness like a mountain climber or rapeller might do. I weigh 185 pounds (84 kilograms), and it supported my weight with no problem for a few minutes before I decided the test was a success. After seeing me straddling a purple rope hanging from my deck, the neighbors now know I’m a bit of a freak, but I think they suspected that anyway. Mind you, I’m not necessarily recommending that you use it for suspension play nor doing so within sight of your neighbors, but I'm rather just mentioning what my rope was minimally capable of supporting.

I’m not sure why Pipedream calls this rope's material “silk,” as I can’t imagine there is much silk in it. Silk rope exists, of course, and it is a highly regarded rope in bondage circles. It is, however, quite expensive -- much more so than the price at which Pipedream sells theirs. Instead, it seems to be a very soft cotton. So, if you are a devotee of 100% silk rope, don’t get taken in by the low price and the “silk” moniker attached to this rope. Regardless of the exact material used in its fabrication, it seems pretty benign, as it has caused no rashes, and it has neither a discernible taste nor odor.

The quality control on this product is pretty bad. I’m not saying this specifically because of my rope, although it is the case, but many reviews on the Pipedream Fetish Fantasy Series Japanese Silk Rope have had the same issues. First, there was a spot on the rope where it looks frayed. It’s the type of fraying you expect to see at the end of a rope, but this was in the middle of the rope. I’ve made rope before, and I can tell you exactly why it is there. Rope is made up of numerous strands of material, and each strand is fed into the rope at different points to keep the length of the rope going indefinitely. The fraying is where one strand got fed into the rope but punched through to the outside. It doesn’t appear to affect the rope’s integrity, but it shows shoddy QA/QC. Secondly, the ends of the rope are enclosed in a cheap silver tape. If this was a properly applied, high quality, strong tape, I might be fine with it. It wasn’t. The tape was placed on rather loosely, is misaligned, and isn’t even particularly sticky. Even after washing it once, the tape has loosened considerably. I’ll shortly be super-gluing the ends to prevent fraying. Despite these QA/QC issues, I doubt they will affect the long-term use of this rope. I fully expect this rope to last many years.

First off, it is really soft. It feels very nice on the skin, and because of it, the chances of rope burn and chafing are much reduced with normal use. I’m sure some people who read this review will raise an eyebrow with my use of “normal” in describing rope used to bind a human body, but it’s all a matter of perspective.

Softness is nice, but considering this is meant for bondage, what is really important is how well it holds a knot. We have used all sorts of ropes in the past for this purpose, from natural products to your standard hardware store synthetics. I’d have to say that Pipedream’s Fetish Fantasy Series Japanese Silk Rope held a knot better than any of the others. Let me clarify. All ropes are capable of holding a knot, but the question is how tight the rope needs to be pulled to maintain this knot. This rope required relatively little tightness to hold the knot. This is important for getting the rope off quickly in the case of an emergency.

This rope also had an unexpected positive, as it decreased the amount of bruising that was evident in the days after the rope was removed. This was the case on wrists, ankles, breasts, and the back. It is likely due to the combination of the softness and its ability to hold a knot. Admittedly, some people like post-bondage bruising as a sort of badge of honor, but that doesn’t really suit us.

Should your rope get dirty (and that's entirely possible, considering how well it absorbs liquids), cleaning this rope is fairly straightforward. The best news is that, for at least the purple version of the rope, the color doesn’t bleed. This is, of course, important should you decide to wash it with other clothes. That said, washing rope in the washing machine is prone to problems, as you usually end up with a huge knot of rope, even if you place it in a hosiery bag. As such, hand-washing is probably your best bet, as is hang-drying, for the same reason.

The rope is a bit on the fuzzy side, especially after it gets washed, so it will attract dust, lint, hair, etc. As such, storing it in a plastic bag is a good idea.

The rope itself is fairly discreet, although anyone with even the slightest kinky leanings could guess the use of a purple rope. The box it came in, on the other hand, is hilariously indiscreet. Plastered over the entire surface of the box, excepting the bottom, are various photos of a lovely woman wearing panties and nothing else bound in various positions. The front photo is especially nice, with a blatant crotch shot below the word “FETISH” in huge lettering. If you are not inclined to have everyone know your bedroom perversions, dispose of it discreetly. If, however, you are a prankster like me, consider keeping the box and leaving it out at a friend’s house the next time he/she has a party. Hilarity will ensue. In fact, I’ll tell you from experience that boxes from anal toys make especially great jokes. If you don't want to embarrass your friends, please recycle the box with your cardboard. Cutting it, turning it inside out, and placing it inside another collapsed cardboard box should provide all the discretion you need.

There are no directions that come along with this rope. On the one hand, that doesn't sound like a big deal considering it should be plainly obvious what you should do with bondage rope. On the other hand, this rope is clearly aimed at bondage/BDSM novices, and some words about how not to use rope would be nice. If you are reading this review and don't have much experience in using rope for bondage, please read up on how to properly use it so you don't cut off circulation or otherwise harm your partner.

I would like to thank EdenFantasys for allowing me to receive this item for free as part of their review program. It is a great program that really helps the entire community decide which items best suit their needs.