That's may be part of the answer. Speaking as one of those guys smoking 30 years ago (more than 50 actually) I would say that there was a style to what was a fully ready tobacco that has largely disappeared, though you can recapture some of that with some G & H and SG blends, and until recently, Germain's as well. Processing and aging of the leaf before being blended and after being blended has been reduced to reduce costs to the manufacturer, so letting the tins age for a year of more may, and the word is "may" rectify some of that. Since some of these blends aren't really fully cooked at release, the changes aging brings may or may not please the customer.
MacBaren puts out some pretty good stuff, but it's not a match for what the Brits were doing decades ago. Denmark really is where British blends go to die. But Conglomerates have spent money on buying up famous IPs and are cashing in by pretending to continue those famous blends. As long as you like what's in the tin, doesn't matter if it resembles the blend that became famous enough for its name to be carried on. As long as you haven't smoked the original versions you won't know what's different.
Sutliff still releases blends with really good aged components, like their Cringle Flakes, though their style isn't like decades ago. They supplied leaf to all the top blenders at one time or another and produced some much loved blends of their own. They still have quality components.
KBV does those micro batches made from small caches of left over quality leaf. Their releases are generally really good, but small, and then gone.
K&K seems to have bought up all the IP's and pushed out tons of blends under different labels that were pretty decent quality , not like their British originals, but good smokes nonetheless, though some of the blends have been subject to component swapping in the last 4 to 5 years.
Bottom line is if you like what you're smoking that's all that matters. Trying to recapture the past isn't going to happen. A lot of those old practices are nearly as extinct as the dodo.
You adapt and find where the good stuff is in any period. And, like anything else, Sturgeon's Law applies.
