Not all inexpensive pipes smoke badly, but some do. If the drilling is off, or the tenon, it can affect the draw, make it gurgle etc. Also, really cheap pipes are varnished (at least they used to be) which made them heat up.
My suggestion, if you're not averse to it, would be to look into estate (secondhand) pipes. Reputable outfits like Smokingpipes.com restore them nicely and describe them honestly. Great way to get an expensive pipe for the price of a cheap new one.
Meantime, you also might want to pick up a few corncob pipes. They're cheap as dirt and smoke nicely. That would buy you time to shop discriminatingly to gradually amass a 7-day rotation of quality estate briars and/or meers.