[1] The Balkan Sobranie tobacco business was established in London in 1879 by Albert Weinberg (born in Romania in 1849), whose naturalization papers dated in 1886 [2] confirm his nationality and show that he had emigrated to England in the 1870s at a time when hand-made cigarettes in the Eastern European and Russian tradition were becoming fashionable in Europe.

In the early 1980s, the Sobranie trademarks were sold to Gallaher Group, which continued production with a modified formula at various locations in Europe.

Throughout its existence, Sobranie was marketed as the definition of luxury in the tobacco industry, being adopted as the official provider of many European royal houses and elites around the world including the Imperial Court of Russia and the royal courts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Spain, Romania, and Greece.

Sobranie was primarily a replacement for Jordan's primary tobacco sponsor, Benson & Hedges (a Gallaher-owned brand in the United Kingdom), in the United States Grand Prix, to circumvent the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), as a clause in the settlement meant Philip Morris USA (who holds the Benson & Hedges trademark in the United States) was only permitted to sponsor Team Penske in American open-wheel racing with their Marlboro brand.

[11] Sobranie cigarettes were mainly sold in the United Kingdom until the introduction of plain packaging, but also were or still are sold in Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, France, Georgia, Greece, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Malaysia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and Ukraine as well as many duty free shops in airports.