When I decided to venture into pipe smoking from the cigar world I asked my local tobacconist who also smoked a pipe what I should buy. Without even blinking an eye he said, "Corncob!". I admit, I was a little thrown off at first. But I respected him for not pushing an expensive briar pipe on me, even a lower priced briar. But he knew that if I enjoyed the corncob, I would be back for not only more pipes, but pipe tobacco- he was right!
Even though I own a couple Petersons, Mastro de Paja, Boswell, etc, I still smoke my corncobs several times a week- even daily some weeks. Aside from being my "walk the dog" or "cleaning up dog doo" pipes, the corn cobs actually smoke really nice (even better then a couple of my briars. They are also good for trying new tobaccos, instead of putting a tobacco you may not end up liking too much in your new briar pipe.
I am still a newbie to this, so you can definately take the words of many of these brothers of the briar. Also, the pipe's visual and artistic quality (and price) doesn't necessarily match up to the quality of smoke you get out of the pipe. I picked up a $25 no-name briar pipe that has been smoking beautifully- and it doesn't look to shabby either.
Good luck!
Eric D.
