There are alot of good sticks around the price you talked about. Brick house or the 601 lines. Padron brown labels should be $5-7 and the higerend ones go up to around $35. The best thing you could do is somke as many different brands you can get your hands on to find out what you like best and go from there.
As for seasoning it check out this sticky:
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=620