It's been a looong time since I've had LBF, so I can't really comment on it with any degree of confidence.
But I'm a huge fan of LNF and have a LOT in the cellar. It's hard to beat the price for the quality you get.
It's a little one-dimensional when fresh and very Virginia forward. But even just a few months of age just seems to deepen the flavors and bring out a more complexity.
I'm smoking some now that has almost 2yrs of age and it is fantastic. The Perique seems to make itself much more known at this stage.
Yes, there is a definite topping, but not enough to consider it an Aromatic.
LBF for some reason never hit the same way for me. I love Escudo, but LBF never seemed to be in my wheelhouse for one reason or another. Could be the cavendish. It could be that Escudo just seemed to have more complexity fresh than LBF. I probably need to revisit it.