I pity those that bought it when they could've gotten a pound of Balkan Sobranie Original Match from SPC's sale right now for $28.
I Thought Balkan Sobranie Was Out of Production
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I used to buy the stuff in the mid 1980s when I couldn't find my regular tobacco at the local railway station going into work. It always came in very pretty white and black painted tins. I never cared for the stuff and gave several unopened tins of this blend from the mid 80s to Shaintiques a few years back that I had found in a drawer at my late Mothers house. I included a sealed ring pull can from heaven knows when with the London address on the can that everyone raves about. I used to pick out the bits of Turkish leaf and RYO cigarettes out of the stuff! For some reason neither it or its various copies have ever appealed to my taste in tobacco but I can understand why they were so widely popular back in the day.
Even when blends remain with the same brand they are variable, like wine, from year to year. The tobacco crops vary, sometimes the sourcing varies, the processing and storage/aging can vary. Know a good thing when you smoke it, and don't expect every batch to reach a special exalted level. As Satchel Page said of baseball, "You win a few. You lose a few. Some get rained out. Such a deal."
I love the current Sobranie. But understand I also am partial to the Germain's house style--so it all depends what you are looking for much more than the branding.
Like so many of the old brands that have been reintroduced over the past few years—Bengal Slices, Three Nuns, My Mixture 965, etc.—the current iteration of Balkan Sobranie is not the same as it once was..
According to Tobacco reviews the leaf makeup is different so they should be two different blends but I'm sure they don't always disclose every leaf in the blend.
I just picked up Balkan Sasieni and I have a few ounces left of Supreme in the celler. The Sasieni already has a year of age on it upon delivery, and am going to wait till August to break into Supreme (will have 6 months of age). Will do a side by side and see what my under developed palette can discern and report back with my very uneducated findings!
TR used to say Black Frigate had perique in it, and it doesn't. I've found it to be a terribly unreliable site.
Not being exposed to oxygen in a tin is going to have a large impact on the flavor and aging English blends tends to dull them.
Black House was in my rotation years ago, and now you reminded me to look to see if I have any left. back then I thought it was great stuff.
Can't speak to how much it is or isn't like the original Balkan Sobranie, but Arango Balkan Supreme is another great option for a blend in that vein. Cheap to.
Bengal Slices White was a P&C marketing department creation and an example of 'Tobacco Badge Engineering' whilst I am reliably informed the Bengal Slices ex-STOP blend was pretty damned close to what was being punted around in the 1980s. I suppose in the final analysis it is a matter of personal opinion!