JHCCoffee Yet occasionally I will pull a longer shot and actually get (for my taste) sufficient body and strength. Why?
How are you measuring your extraction?
Espresso extraction starts very concentrated and drops off very quickly. Unless you are starting with totally inappropriate fine grind and under-extracting short shots, as you go longer, shots will invetibly less concentrated. There may be some overlap in half steps for ball-park extracted shots, but none between 1;2 and 1:3, or 1:3 and 1:4. So a little more extraction at a longer ratio will still be less concentrated (objectively)
Of course, some beans can be way more intense than others, but this isn’t extraction related,
Grind for extraction, don’t grind for time/or flow.