I recently bought 3 tins of cut plug and in spite of TR reviews I really enjoyed it! I found all the things you expect from a brown virginia flake. It's not as strong as FVF but it has all the flavors, just a bit more subdued.
I started smoking FVF as a daily diet because it was available in bulk and cheap, about $3 0r $4per ounce, but those days are gone and I have been looking for alternatives.
Some I have found and enjoyed quite a bit are Orlik's golden sliced, GLP Montgomery and Union Station, Buteras RV Golden Cake, McC Epitome (a club blend), and Quantum, not a flake, but very good.
I really believe that anyone who thinks they would like to be a pipe smoker should delve into the world of Virginias. If you can learn to smoke them, you can handle anything else, blendwise!
I got my Cut Plug from pipesandcigars.com, but you might find it also at 4Noggins and Mars Cigar, all three are excellent to do business with and offer shipping deals with volume orders as well as great service and prices, about 1/2 what a B&M locally would charge me, if they had it in stock.