Digital BW, The Print

My understanding (which could be wrong) is that the printer driver 
will vary the amount of ink put down based, in part, on the media 
selected.  For example, with an Epson 1280 you will get more ink 
laid down if you select EAM than if you select plain paper.  I think 
this also means that any printing system that relies on the 
manufacturer's drivers is itself limited to the maximum amount of 
ink the driver will apply to that paper.  If true, then the media 
selection, which affects the maximum ink load, will also affect 
dmax.  (I can hear the "duh - what did you expect?")

My questions:
1.  Does this make sense?
2.  How does one find out which media settings put out the most ink?
3.  Are there any recommendations that will reduce the amount of 
experimentation required to see what driver media settings work best 
with papers not supported (listed) by the driver?

(I understand the concept of linearizing from paper white to dmax, 
but I'm still working on how to get to a paper/ink dmax without 
overshooting.)

Thanks for any help, and thanks for tolerating us newbies.