Nighthawk, do you have pipes at this time? If not, your pipes, when you buy them, will come with synthetic reeds, almost certainly. Use those. There are enough hurdles to jump when you start piping without adding in the frustration of reeds that will drive you batty.

After a year or so, spend the $20 on a set of good cane reeds. Try them out. If all goes well, you will get that sound that tells you what all the synthetics are trying to imitate. Odds are good that you will put the synthetics back into the pipes after you have tried the cane for a week or so. But it is worth messing with them a little, just to get to know the sound. If the reeds are going right, it is one of those "aha" sounds, where you understand what makes the bagpipes so magical. The world all makes sense. The music just flows out and the drones ring magically along with your chanter. The angels weep for joy and the dog stops howling.

Or, more likely, the darned things won't stay in tune long enough to let you experience the sound properly.

Start with what the pipe maker includes with your set, experiment later.

-Patrick