Virginias are not flavor bombs like English blends. The flavors are every bit as defined but more delicate. Your situation is similar to being someone who salts everything they eat, even before they taste it, and then when they taste something unsalted they can't taste anything. The flavors are there, the palate needs to get educated.
After years of smoking English/Balkan/oriental blends almost exclusively for close to 40 years, the occasional Virginia or Aro for a change, I just got well and truly sick of them. About a decade ago I switched to Virginias and that's about 95% of what I now smoke.
Initially I had to make some adjustments to get the most out of Virginias. English, etc, etc, blends are easy to smoke, forgiving of mediocre technique, and always deliver strong flavors.
Virginias, on the other hand, will school you. They are easy to burn hot and can taste of nothing but hot air. I put a lot of experimentation into learning to get the most out of Virginias and here's what has worked for me.
To get the most flavor out of the Virginias that I smoke I dry them down to just short of bone dry. That means dry to the touch, no moisture rising in the tobacco when squeezed yet still mostly pliant even if crispy at the edges. That's the sweet spot for me. That's when I pull the most flavors. Excess moisture masks flavors.
If I'm smoking flake I may stuff and fold, crumble, or occasionally cube cut. Honestly, I don't think it makes that huge a difference, but never underestimate the power of suggestion. Any way you decided to prep, don't pack too tightly. The draw should be easy and effortless.
Go for an even burn across the top, let the expanded tobacco go out, tamp down lightly and it up. Puff a few times to get it going, then long slow sips to keep it going. The tobacco should be simmering around the cherry, on the verge of going out. Kept at that level, the flavors intensify for me. Slow smoke, slower than you do currently. If the pipe goes out it's o big deal, just relight. It takes a little practice to get that rhythm just right so that you can slow smoke from top to bottom.
I also recommend that you gently retrohale through your schnoz, as you have many more flavor receptors there than in your mouth.
As far as types of Virginias, McClelland's 40th is a top notch blend of orange and red Virginias. It will have stronger flavors than a great many other Virginias available in today's market. McClelland had a house style and that showed nowhere more than with their Virginias. But you might want to save that for after you adjust your technique and palate in order to be able to enjoy what's in the tin.
I like C&D for a couple of blends, Yorktown and Bijou, but there's a world of Virginia blends out there and some of the best are from Gawith & Hoggarth, and Sam Gawith. The German made HU blends are worth exploring. Their blender, Hans Wiedemann, may be the best blender in the world today.
There may be a point where wearing a hair shirt while only engaging in the missionary position may feel a little constricted and perhaps boring. In that case, doff the hair shirt and try different things, in other words, Virginias with a touch of flavoring or a significant amount of it, as is the English tradition, perhaps Virginia blends like Virginia/Perique. Smoke what you like, like what you smoke.
Bowl size and shape doesn't matter one bit. Chamber size and shape can have an effect on burning the tobacco, but most people can't tell you what it is, so again, really doesn't matter. Personally I get better flavors from medium to large chambers when smoking Virginias.
