Surprised to see this old thread revived. Since I'm the original poster, I'll just say that I'd tried a pair of rubber plugs with a kind of tiered structure. They fit well and were easy to install but became itchy. The central "trunk" used to poke and irritate my ear.
I got a big cheap bottle of 100 CVS foam plugs for like $6. They work fine but are a bit soft and challenging to put in all the way.