You have to tailor the tobacco load to the size of your chamber. If you are choking the bowl you are starting with too much tobacco. You don't always need to use a full flake. Cut it or tear it to make it fit your pipe. Keep in mind flakes are dense and expand when burning, make sure you allow it room to do so otherwise it will choke the bowl again and it will not burn well.
For example: fold the flake once lengthwise, and then once width wise. Compare the plug against the bowl size...if it is too long, hold the plug from the base and tear off the excess (it's ideal to have a flake well shorter than your bowl). Next check for width, you want the plug to slide into the chamber easily. If you have to force it, it is too tight. Check the draw. You want a little resistance.
If you start with a short plug, you can gently tamp down the tobacco before lighting to create a relatively level surface. Take any crumbs or loose bits of tobacco that were liberated in the preparation of your plug and rub them as finely as you are able. Sprinkle a bit on top of your plug, gently tamp them to create a level surface (no pressure), and bring in your flame source.
Major caveat: this all assumes your tobacco is dry enough to burn. The rule of thumb I learned is when you fold a flake the strands should break. This will guarantee your tobacco is fully dried. Typically, I stop drying tobacco when it is resilient enough to resist flexing.
Anyway, on to Cube Cutting:
This is simply cutting a flake in to pieces roughly the size and shape of the head of a match stick. A sharp knife or razor blade works well. After cutting, you simply drop the pieces into your pipes bowl. If you tap the bowl gently at the half way and 3/4 point, the cubes will sit evenly and you will not need to tamp the load. Remember, cubes are dense and will expand quite a bit, allow them room to do so.
Like fold and stuff, the tobacco needs to dry enough for the cube cut method.
When preparing a wet tobacco such as a tin of FVF, I will decant the entire tin onto a wire cooling rack lined with paper towels or a tea towel, and leave the tobacco to air dry for several hours, or until the tobacco has become dry enough to break but not crumble when a folded.
At that point, I will cube cut the entire tin and drop it all in to a mason jar. Typically, this will keep the entire volume smoke ready. Occasionally, a blend will need a bit of dry time even after this treatment, but that is rare.
The above should work well to get you started but you'll find your own technique along the way.
