After weeks of unsuccessfully trying to enjoy Va flakes in my Radice Apple I finally used it for my Saturday morning bowl of Dunhill EMP and voila! I have found its purpose. It has now been dedicated to Lat blends.
john, how big is the pipe? If it is a large group 5 or a 6, then an English blend would work better. There are plenty of times when a group 5 can be perfect for an English blend especially when the inside bowl width is 7/8 to 1". There are also times when you just get plain lucky and a combination works perfectly, no matter what size the pipe is.
Apple shape pipes run the gambit in size. Usually, Va flake works well in smaller medium size pipes, or small pipes, whereas more complex tobaccos like English, or any blend with four or more constituent tobaccos unfold better in a bigger bowl with a wider chamber. As cigrmaster says, some pipes don't follow the rules and do great with unexpected blends, but you have to find those by trial and error.
It is one of my larger bowled pipes. Chamber is 0.83 X 1.59. Most of my pipes have smaller bowls. I guess I just wanted it to be a Va and VaPer pipe because I smoke more of those. But I needed another Lat pipe because I really only had one dedicated to them. So I guess I'm happy it all turned out for the best. A while back I bought a poker to smoke Lat in and it turned out to work better for Va so I guess you just have to experiment until you find a good paring.