FVF Question and Discussion

So, just home from a 10 hr night shift, sitting here on the front porch, watching the sun rise while puffing some FVF in one of my favourite pipes, a Sav Oscar Lucite 614. As noted earlier in my intro, just recently smoking again after being off the weed for a significant trying to get off the damned cigarettes, which I've succeeded in, BTW. My senses have changed significantly so this is the first bowl of FVF I've had since who knows when, 2 years plus.
So, this bowl is well behaved, VERY well behaved with typical pure Virginia flavours, with minimum prep from flake to flame. While FVF is always recognized as a top tobacco, many will say it's not worth the hassle of the PITA prep required, and almost nobody recommends it for noobs, again, because of prep, being hard to light and keep lit.
Now, About 45 minutes ago I took out the flake, noted it was fairly dry, and rubbed it out on a sheet of paper and left it for a bit to make some Pu'erh tea. Came back, packed it mostly by gravity and tapping on the side of the bowl. Once level I pressed down lightly and topped it off with tiny rubbings as tinder. Two char lights, slight light tamp each time and then a true light, off to the races. It went out after a few minutes, I laid it down while I dumped and cleaned the pipe I smoked on the way home.
Easy light tamp and relight. Plenty of smoke, even with light short sips, and wonderful Virginia flavour profile. About the 30 minute mark I laid it down again to make more tea, same relight as the previous.
Now maybe1/2 way through the bowl and still a pleasant trouble-free smoke. Cool, dry, and pretty well as good as it gets.
So, why is this so easy when so many talk of the PITA to prep, light and smoke?
Am I lucky? Does the climate here treat the flakes perfectly? Is the rising sun aligned with the 3rd moon of Saturn and the nose star of Ursla Major?
Now, while taste is very subjective, many rank this tobac very high in their desert island list. Me, while it is a wonderful smoke, definitely not top 5 and possible late top 10.
So am I missing something in prep or smoking it that would increase taste? The combination of how easy it's smoking right now with my (maybe) lower rating than most tells me maybe I am missing something.
Maybe I've confused you more with trying to explain myself, but I hope not as I'm anxious to read views on this experience.
Cheers and good night.
Jamie.

Seems to be a pattern emerging here, with the common word being dry.
Now, for me, this is a subject for a totally different post, probably more likely a blog entry.
Even after years of smoking pipes, I still have issues deciding when something is dry enough, normally I leave it too wet, and I suspect this comes from my passion for cigars. You get a cigar below 60% RH and it feels crispy, probably not fit to smoke as it'll be flavourless and hot.
But for some reason it's different with pipe tobacco. This afternoon's drive to work included a bowl of McClelland Anniversary. This initially feels so dry, a while ago I would have tossed it or sprayed the sap with distilled water and left it for a few days to rehumidify. But today I packed it anyway and what a wonderful smoke.
Still not sure about the FVF this morning though. There's a whole bunch of "high seniority" smokers with much more knowledge than I who don't like the blend because of the amount of prep. Guess I'll chalk this one up to luck for now, and continue on my quest for the perfect Rh.