Hop Pellets or Leaf Hops?

To this point I've been using a reusable hop bag for my Whirlfloc and hop additions.

Two questions;

1. Should I just pitch the hops into the boil?
2. Do leaf hops give better results?

I notice my hop bag doesn't drain too well when I go to remove it from the brewpot so am thinking ..how is the hops and Whirlfloc getting into the wort? I'm sure they get in there but ...

Any feedback appreciated.

I have never used Whirlfloc but I do not think you are suspose to put it in a bag. As long as it dissolves it is fine.

Ive used pellets and whole hops, haven't picked up a difference.

You might get a little less utilization with bags. When i use whole hops I just have them loose in the boil, then use a strainer over a funnel to get the cooled wort into my better bottle. Works very well for me, because I do not have a valve on my boil kettle.

As for is the bag preventing the acids and oils from getting into the wort? For my engineering background, a boil is a very turbulent enviorment, where the mass transfer is going to be very good, I am sure that all of the good hop stuff will diffuse into the wort pretty fast.

The hop bags also make for very easy cleanup.

I have noticed two differences.

Pellets seem to leave a little more crud in the bottom of my bottles.

Fresh leaf hops are a little better than pellets, but pellets are a LOT better than stale leaf hops; for your typical ales.

When you start getting into Belgian funk you will need stale leaf hops...

Pellets are more consistent than leaf, that is why so many breweries use them. I use both for different reasons. Pellet in the boil for consistency and leaf when I dryhop to reduce the amount of sediment.
If you haven't discovered paint strainer bags, try them out. I use the 5 gallon size to give the hops as much room as possible for utilization and ease of draining.