I'm also wondering do english or virginia blends give better flavor then aromatics?
First, welcome to the forum and the world of pipe smoking.
"Better" is incredibly subjective. I personally do not care for American style aromatics, and am generally quite cool about aromatics anyway. so I don't smoke 'em any more. You have lots of guys here who like 1Q, MacB's 7 Seas series, and the Frogs - I'm not one of them, and would not recommend them to anyone - so, to my palate, yes, they are significantly better. (A lot of "drugstore" aros rely on low grades of tobacco and heavy flavoring to disguise that.) YMMV,however.
English style blends and Virginias, on the other hand, are not flavored as a rule, so what you are tasting is the flavors of the tobacco. Sometimes you will read comments from folks who think they are tasting additives, when they just aren't aware that a well-crafted blend is giving them that taste. (The recent example was the gentleman here who thought McClelland's Virginia blends were topped, when it was actually the way the blends were processed.)
Pure virginia blends tend to be subtle - they don't have big, bold flavors, as a rule, and will require some time and patience to appreciate. I am relatively new to these blends - past 6 or 7 years - but they are now a regular feature of my rotation.
"English" blends feature latakia in varying amounts, which has a smokey,leathery taste. They may or may not feature other oriental or Balkan tobaccos. Some of them are very full flavored, while others are more subtle. The room note may not be pleasing to someone who doesn't enjoy these blends, so you may have complaints from your SO. There's an old joke about these blends - "The worse they smell, the better they taste."
This has been a kinda long response, so I will close by saying what I always do: "Buy the best tobacco you can afford." If you continue smoking aros, try some of the lighter, Danish style blends, that are topped, not heavily cased - or even cased blends with higher grade leaf. Have fun! :
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