Actually yes, and my experience mirrors Trever Talbert's:
http://talbertpipes.blogspot.ca/2007/04 ... briar.html
Really, whether briar is Algerian or Corsican or Martian, how it is processed seems to be more important than where it grew. Mimmo's blocks are absolutely uniform in color and texture, and he candidly admits that he gets it trucked in from ALL OVER THE MED.
Now, I've used Algerian from Yazid, Spanish from Jaume, Greek from Alex Zavvos and Makis Minetos, Italian from Mimmo, the Italian supply from Molina (Samantha on eBay), Tim West's stuff (greek at the time I think), and some from a mill in Tuscany I got through another pipe maker.
I can make generalities that agree with Trever's findings. In GENERAL the greek stuff seems to be a little earthier in flavor, a little darker. The Italian is either bright and almost tangy in flavor or sort of soft and muted, almost like a filtered pipe, depending on the mill. The Algerian tasted a little different, a little sharp too.
Now, these are VERY small differences, and lots of pipe smokers wouldn't find them or care about them and it's really, in my opinion, the least of a guy's worries in pipe making. The exact nuance of your briar flavor is not going to put anyone on or off your pipes.
I've sent multiple pipes to many guys, purchases or just tester pipes, and I've not hinted at my own findings (sometimes don't have findings yet) about the wood. For example, when I started with Makis, I sent some pipes out and asked for opinions. What I got back, across the board was "This wood is... nothing. It tastes like nothing, it's totally boring." I got that from about 6 different people. Contrast that with the Molina wood, which seems to offer a very shiny bright smoke without being bitey or sharp. Sweet and intense if anything, and I think Yak that you would agree with that.
After 50 smokes? I doubt anyone could tell anything about any pipe - briar source, oil cured.... none of it. Then you are left with a briar pipe and the mechanics of the pipe will dictate the final smoking properties more than the briar.
Are some pipes just insanely easy to smoke, and is it briar related? Seems to be. But the variables aren't controlled. I have a huge ugly pipe cut from defective Spanish wood, and good Lord, it's a smoker. Mechanically not ideal, but it just cruises along at the perfect temperature and offers wonderful flavor with everything you put in it. A magic pipe. Is it the wood? A factor. The drilling? Factor. The bore? Factor.... all factors. And the next guy might smoke that pipe and say "Meh, it's all right I guess."
So I chose a vendor that offered me good consistency, hardness and grain I liked, a good price, and shapes that I feel inspired by. And the pipes smoke.... just fine.
So that's all there is as far as I can tell. Pipes I cut from yesterday's wood smoke identically to pipes cut from 30 year old stock after 50 smokes.