Having smoked only Balkan Sobranie white back in the late 60's and early 70's, I was dismayed when recently returning to the pipe and discovering that my favorite blend is no longer.
So in my search for a replacement, I have tried ALL the attempted duplications and never found one that stirred the memory brain cells EXCEPT:
Sutliff's Balkan Sobranie Original Mix Match which was the first to remind me of the old days and is all I've been smoking recently.
Is it exactly the same? Of course not due to the lack of Syrian Latakia and what seems a different strain of Yenidje which lent a dry almost soda-like character to the original smoke although the Yenidje used in this blend seems to be of high quality.
To me spending astronomical money for a discovered 70s tin somewhere is Fools Gold. I am willing to bet even a well kept vacuum sealed tin of the original blend, would only be a ghost of it's former self due to age.
Sadly the Sutliff blend is now gone like the original, but can still be found with some searching if lucky...I hope I get lucky!