Digital BW, The Print

I've been looking at the specs for papers recently, and I've
come across references to an "ink limit" for a paper--
for example, the Photo Rag datasheet on the Hahnemühle web
site characterizes the paper as having an "ink limit"
of 240%.

I gather that this is terminology from the printing press
world, and that it means how much ink (240% of what?)
the paper will accept before it get soggy. Does it have any
practical application in the digital b/w world of inkjet 
printers? 

I've only ever worked with an Epson 2200 (Windows XP and lately
QTR/Linux) so I assume that the media setting is the indirect
control for this. Or is this indirectly controlled by the various 
curves we use to print files in B&W? Maybe fancy rips allow one 
to control this directly somehow? If so, is that useful in 
practice?

Thanks,
david