newbie questions for selecting first pipe and tobac

[jonogt]

I'd like to try out pipe smoking as a hobby and such, but i'm not sure where to start.

i'm not a [cigarette] smoker (might be unusual around here), but the whole pipe idea just seems fun... for the novelty of it and all.

being a beginner on all this, i'd like to select a first pipe and tobacco that are easy enough to maintain, with a nice taste and aroma, and stays lit easily (i guess this would be fast burning). I've seen various pipes with different bowl diameters, depths, etc. and a million and a half different kinds of tobaccos.
the shop near me has a nice selection http://www.cigarandtabac.com/tobacco.htm shown at that link, but their store hours are not to convenient for me right now, and i'd like to know what i'm looking for ahead of time.

i've seen pipes on ebay... a lot of shapes that i really like, but i have no idea what would be a good choice to start with and what i'd be sorry for.

http://tinyurl.com/drw6w i love that one for example, but is it any good?

so i'm a newbie trying to keep my head above water in an ocean of information and knowledge. any help is much appreciated

thanks
-Jon