In my experience the leaves alone are only dissapointing - a little 5x extract is ok to begin with (put some salvia leaves in the pipe and put a little 5x extract on them, something like a few flakes to begin with).
Best use a bong - a normal pipe does work, but in a bong it's much easier to smoke.
The first time I could get a real effect from Salvia was when I filled a normal pipe with half leaves and half 5x extract. The same amount in a bong gave me a stronger effect. However I'm not gonna do it again because the trip doesn't speak to me in any way and I tend to feel kind of hollow afterwards.