As a cheap bastard who has yet to pay more than $20 for a pipe, I reccommend getting various pipes off Ebay and fixing them up. Yes, it's labor intensive, but it yields experience as well as smoke. As for Uncle Arthur, he has made a stem for my corn cob pipe and it is excellent! Getting my own churchwarden from him is one of my dream pipes and will hopefully soon become a reality as soon as he takes my ridiculous vague idea and turns it into something practical.
Otherwise, just like those guys said.