Latakia always tastes the same to me. Virginia's can widely vary. Sweet and tangy reds, grassy, haylike brights, deep earthy browns, stoved, etc...a smorgasbord of flavors. Toss in some figgy, deep fruity, spicy, Perique. A little nutty, chocolatey burley...cube cut white burley maybe. But you can keep the same old boring Latakia.
For me, I smoked it, liked it ok, but never loved it. Took me a while before I decided I just didn't want it in anything I smoked. Once I started really getting into the Virginia's is when I decided that I'd just rather not have even a slight bit of it in any blend. And some say it doesn't age as well, fading over time. I disagree to an extent there. One of the best blends I ever had--that had the stuff in it--was a well aged tin of Dunhill Nitecap. But I think that maybe was a result of the wonderful VA and Izmur leaf there and not so much the Lat fading over time. Still, I kept thinking how good this would have been if they had just left out the Lat altogether, ha-ha.
And I don't really care for the smoky campfire thing in Lats, although I do like Kentucky Dark Fired. Just a different animal. Go figure, ha-ha.
Like Hermit, I do have some in the cellar. Traded off most of them but there's a few gems in there still. A lot of guys love the stuff, it makes for good trade stock.