Here's the way I look at it: Something like a pot shaped pipe is a lot wider and a lot less deep than something like a billiard. When you get towards the bottom of a billiard shaped pipe, the tobacco has filtered everything that you smoked before it, so the tobacco at the bottom is a lot more moist with tar and nicotine than the stuff at the top. As such, it will smoke a lot hotter because of all the moisture from the previous tobacco. A pot shaped pipe cuts down on this somewhat, at least it does for me in most cases. As such, I find that I have a lot better luck with almost any tobacco in pot shaped pipes, be it burley, aromatic, or English. I don't smoke pure Virginias or Virginia heavy blends, so I can't speak as to how they would do in a pot shape, but I know that in something like my no name pot shape or either one of my Savinelli 320s, which is a variation on the shape, I have had good luck with both English and aro delivering a nice cool smoke. I tend to pack a little loose, however, so that might have something to do with it. I think if you play around with the packing and tamping a little bit you will find that it will deliver a fine smoke no matter what you put in it. Good luck!
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