Best way to explore tobacco

I think you do right to start with small samples. Even if you really like a blend/leaf, your tastes evolve and change. I'm none too methodical, but it helps to have two of a kind in the same calendar year (or whatever) to compare. English, VaPers, burley blends, Balkans, cigar leaf blends, Oriental blends.

Without intent, I explored tobacco by genres. I began with aromatics, went to English, Latakia, Va/per, and Virginias. These days, once discovering what I like, I go back and try others I missed or sample mixed genres. This was the path my tastebuds brought me. Fellow pipers sent me samples or I'd read a review.... had i to start over again, I'd begin by finding one blend I truly loved. I'd then look on tobaccoreviews and find someone who loved it for the same reasons as you do. Follow that persons path or forge your own. There's no right way

Do what you have been doing, seams to be working, but dont rely to much with reading reviews, look some up on youtube, I know there are a lot of idiots on line but also some usefull information that may support other reviews

I like to use tobaccoreviews.com as a resource for finding new tobaccos to try. The site has a robust search tool to help you explore by type of leaf, manufacturer, flavor profile, strength, ratings, etc. Of course taste is somewhat subjective but I find the reviews on the site help me form a cursory idea of what to expect from any particular blend.

I'm kind of in the same boat. I've went to the website of my local tobacconist, seen what brands they carry, and then look at the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com and compare.
In Canada there aren't any places that give you samples unfortunately.

Originally my incentive to smoke a pipe was the nicotine. My idea was to eliminate inhaling burnt paper.

That was 2 yrs ago.

I went from smoking RYO ribbon cut generic stuff to learning about pipes and tobacco. A wonderful happenstance.

I learned within a month or so, not to inhale. I think taste actually became enhanced with this development.

As to the varieties and genres of leaf, I tended away from aros and more toward burley and Virginia until that fateful first foray into Latakia blends.

Perique offers another layer of flavors(plural) and variations of percentages of it in blends help to make possible an incredible array.

I learned to taste and smoke early on with codger blends. I went through a couple of tubs of SWR initially and then began to compare it to its siblings. Each time I switched it was not immediately wonderful, it took time for my pallet to accept the changes and differences. I was discovering my own abilities, slowly learning how to enjoy this process of burning and tasting tobacco.

This web page and the folks here have been my mentors, friends and confidants. Damn them! Now I spend a lot of my time enjoying and thinking about something I had considered a nuisance and a habit.

You're doing fine. I like to occasionally move to a different genre of tobacco, and then go down a rabbit hole of a particular brand that is good at that. I recently bought a large number of Virginias from McClelland to explore that for awhile. I've done similar, but still in a somewhat random pattern, a few times. Whatever tickles a fancy at the moment is a good way to keep exploring. Good luck!

Tobacco Acquisition Disorder. It is so easy to fall into when there is so much good stuff out there. I usually do the same as crashthegrey. I buy 4-10 1 oz bulk samples and/or a few tins from a manufacturer and/or blend and go from there until the forums or reviews give me the itch again. Don't try to acquire all the knowledge at once. It can't be done. Be patient and enjoy the journey. I've currently fallen down the rabbit hole of MacBaren's HH line and am already eyeing C&D Burley blends.
I'd second JimInks as a good source of written reviews. YouTube has SO many bad reviewers. I would look up "Stuff and Things" as an example of a good one for classic blends.

If you want to explore a genre of tobacco, try some of the samplers that are available. Here's a selection to check out:

samplers
Do check out Tobacco Reviews. Two of the most respected reviewers are DK and JimInks.
The only way to find out what you enjoy is to try different blends.

I try different blends from each different genre. For example if I want to get into Virginia Flakes I will go to tobaccoreviews.com and find a few reviewers with similar tastes to mine. I will then read a bunch of their reviews to see what they like.
For example, I will look at jiminks first and then pipestud second and read some of their reviews. When I first began researching different blends I found reviewers such as Tantric,Paddy,DK, Euelenberg and Noorrmm to name a few of the old guys to help me find blends. Even to this day I will look at the old guys to see what they say about a particular blend.
My cellar is pretty much complete and it takes a special blend to make it into my rotation. I am honestly not looking to add any new blends into my rotation as I have been doing this for a while. One thing you may want to think about is how well a certain blend will age as you want to be grabbing blends that will last 20 plus years. Of course you want to cellaring blends that you like to smoke so if many of them are blends that age well, that is just a bonus.
Virginia, Virginia/Perique, Virginia/Burley/Kentucky and Virginia/Aromatic flakes age the best. Here is my list of tobacco that ages extremely well.
Virginia Flakes:

Fribourg&Treyer Cut Virginia Plug TR

Fribourg and Treyer VintageTR

Fribourg & Treyer Special Brown FlakeTR

Wessex Campaign Brigade Dark FlakeTR

Wessex Brown Virginia Flake TR

Wessex Gold Virginia Flake TR

Wessex Gold Brick TR

Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake

Samuel Gawith full Virginia Flake

Hamborger VeermasterTR

Dunhill Flake TR

Astley’s no. 44 Dark Flake TR

Astleys 109TR

John Aylesbury  Luxury Flake TR

Rotary Navy CutTR

Capstan Blue FlakeTR

Brigham Klondike Gold TR

 

Virginia/Perique Flakes

EscudoTR

Solani 633 TR

Samuel Gawith St James Flake

Dunhill Deluxe Navy RollsTR
Virginia/Burley/Kentucky Flakes

Solani Silver Flake TR

Peterson Perfect Plug

GL Pease NavigatorTR

Petersons Irish Flake

Peterson University Flake

Esoterica  Stonehaven

Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired

Wallace Flake TR

Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky TR
Aromatic flakes.

Mac Baren Modern Virginia Flake TR

Mac Baren Vanilla Creme Flake TR
Straight Aromatics

Sutliff Molto Dolce

Cult Blood Red Moon

Amphora Originial
The TR next to a name means that the tobacco is tin ready meaning ready to smoke out of the tin with no additional drying time. The three aromatics at the bottom of the list are not flakes and I do not plan on aging them any longer than 10 years. I enjoy my flakes on the moist side so if you try any, I would recommend smoking them without drying and then smoke them without drying to see if you also like your flakes on the moist side. The reason I enjoy my flakes on the moist side is I get more flavor that way as I find a dry flake smokes too hot and loses flavor that way. If you find you like any on my list let me know as I would be interested in your impressions.

Didnt see this mentioned, but it becomes important to not mix tobaccos that can alter the taste of others, mainly blends with latakia with virginia blends. Also, some blends have a perfume (for lack of a better term) that will get into a pipe and does not come out easily. Some lakeland blends are very bad at this.