I keep my smoking to a minimum because of my asthma, but I do smoke on occasion. Mostly I stick to cigarillos (I prefer Panter Blues), but I've bought a couple of pipes I found at thrift stores and tried it. I'm fortunate that there's a dedicated local pipe shop near me that offers very reasonable tobacco prices -- I bought a couple ounces (or so) for the first time about 2 years ago now for I think $6 and haven't gone through it yet.

I have two pipes; one is a Medico Guardsman (with the pinecone design at the top). It has a "carburetor" and a bleed hole, both of which are meant to help get a smoother, cleaner, burn, but I found when I used that pipe my tobacco burned too hot and too fast. So I bought another one, an unmarked Briar pipe, very simple in design. I've had better luck with that.

As for type of tobacco, I never did care for the very spicy stuff. I'll have to check out the Balkan blends Gibb recommended. The one blend I've bought (and am yet to finish) was BWLB, or Burley White Less Bite. It is an aromatic blend, but it's not too sticky or artificially pungent, in my (novice) opinion.