From the newb perspective: ***IMO*** y'all do us newbs a disservice when you try to steer us away from something just because it's your preference. For all you know, that thing you don't care for could be the love of our pipe lives. To use the cob vs briar example, hubby has pretty much stuck with briars from the start. Earlier this week, I got in some new cobs, and he asked which one was his - and he has been smoking it to the point of resting all but one of his briar pipes since I handed him that cob. He's surprised how much he likes it now that he gave it a good try.
We're all supposedly adults: just lay out the options, and only steer folks away from things that are known bad quality (like the Chinese knock-off cobs). Leave the coddling and nannying to the rabid anti-tobacco folks. Some folks adore meers (maybe I will once my Storient arrives too!), some adore their cobs, some adore their fruit wood pipes, and some adore their briars. A few of us weirdos even like those pyrolitic graphite "space age" pipes like the Smoke, the Pipe, and Venturi.
I've been staying out of this one, but I had to order hubby a few MMs to keep mine safe now that he's suddenly discovered that there is a reason I am smoking mine so much.
Bottom line: You could be doing newbs a disservice by steering us away from something we might like. I type with a briar lit up right now, after discussing a potential Mr. Brog pearwood pipe with hubby. Oh, and it is okay to have your personal preference in pipes! Just like it's okay to have a preference in tobacco. This sounds like the equivalent of steering newbs to mild aromatics all the time for a starter tobacco (let the fur fly on that one, too).