I started off with a briar basket pipe, and recently bought a Savinelli. The Savinelli is awesome and you can find some good prices on some Savinelli pipes as low as $53.
Basket pipes are pipes that didn't meet the standards the carver or company put in place. They start out as first, but end up as seconds because either the grain is not good, there are knots in the wood, there are to many divots in the briar etc. Many smoke great and you can get them from generally $15-30.