If you are looking for that top tasting or exotic looking fig, Jon of Ecanto Farms annually sells cuttings. They are at a good price. I would expect them to be available within a few weeks. To complete my collection I am looking to get Jon's Unk. Pastilliere......Please don't buy them all....LOL      
I would recommend, Strawberry Verte, Preto, Black Madiera, Black Greek, Naples White, Jarupa, Col de Dames to name a few: What do you guys recommend to the newbies..???

Violette de Bordeaux/Neggronne
Battaglia

Guys - are your recommendations based on productivity/taste/easy growth?

Armando - for example, in reading about Black Madeira, can't it be a bit difficult to grow without prolonged heat?

Rich, I thought about VDB also, Arne I bought a lot of 2 foot tall trees last year and so I was limited on space. I had my Madiera in a well lit shade. It didn't produce any fruit. Brett, I also heard great things about the Adriatic....... On paying top price on Ebay for cuttings, ask the seller how long it takes to start seeing roots. It took me 6 weeks to see a small root to appear from a Galbun....it grew after the initial slowness, and I killed by...???  don't remember.

RDB, has very good flavor and is one of the first to ripen and is a very good grower. My second year tree produced about 75 figs last year.

I would add Grise de St. Jean to this list. Not the most vigorous plant, but superb fruit. 

For taste variety, early ripening, high productivity, and vigor, my current recommendations would be (emphasis on early ripening and high productivity):
Improved Celeste, Malta Black, LSU Purple, RDB, and one of the best Mount Etna strains (that is, Marseilles Black and the like).
If I knew then what I know now, I would start with a focus on these five.
I would think that there are other cultivars that would do as well as early as much with good flavor, which I expect to learn in the future but I also think it will be tough to dislodge Improved Celeste, the Mount Etnas, Malta Black and the others from these top spots.
I'm always suprised that people recommend VDB since it takes quite a bit longer to ripen than many figs in my experience. Maybe I've had an unusual experience with it.

Also Chicago Hardy, Peters honey and Negronne! All three were purchased as one year old trees from cuttings and all grew nicely to produce good fruit this first season! Also do not dismiss Brunswick type figs! Exellent here in GA!

I feel silly for asking this, but does he sell his cuttings on ebay, this forum, or his website? This seems to be THE fig cutting party, but I'm not sure where to find it!

It'll be posted on this forum.  Here's one of the postings from last year, to give you an idea how it works.
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1281506440&postcount=80

Of course just because Jon's done things one way in the past doesn't mean he'll continue to do things the same way in the future.

Armando I revieved a cutting of jons uk pastillire recently. If you strike out getting it this year i will get you a few cuttings sent your way after i grow it into a small tree probably later in the year. Or airlayer