Cuesta-Rey
- Founded in
- 1884 — Ybor City, Tampa, Floride
- Factories
- Tabacalera A. Fuente, Santiago de los Caballeros, République dominicaine
- Countries
- Rép. Dominicaine
Cuesta-Rey is older than the house that owns it. Angel LaMadrid Cuesta, a Spaniard who had learned the trade in Cuba, and Peregrino Rey founded it in 1884 in Ybor City — the Tampa district where the cigar industry settled after leaving Havana. There they rolled clear Havanas: cigars made in the United States from imported Cuban tobacco.
The workshop also worked for other brands, among them Nat Sherman, which this atlas holds. The house further claims the title of official cigar of King Alfonso XIII of Spain — that is the house speaking, and no independent source establishes it.
In 1958, the year Julius Caeser Newman died, his son Stanford bought the brand from Karl Cuesta's family. J.C. Newman has made Cuesta-Rey ever since. And since the 1980s the handmade cigars no longer come out of Tampa: they come from Tabacalera A. Fuente, in Santiago de los Caballeros — the factory that also makes Arturo Fuente and Ashton. That is why this entry is filed under the Dominican Republic while J.C. Newman's remains American.
Three ranges hold the catalogue. Cabinet Selection carries a Cameroon wrapper over Dominican and Brazilian filler; Centenario, a Connecticut Shade in natural or a Connecticut Broadleaf in maduro; Centro Fino, an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper. The vitolas keep catalogue numbers rather than names — the Cabinet No. 898, the No. 95.
Range Depth
Cabinet Selection
The dressiest of the three: Cameroon wrapper, Dominican binder, Dominican and Brazilian filler. Two sizes only, both long and slim — a rare choice today.
Cabinet No. 898 · Cabinet No. 95
Centenario
The widest range, natural under Connecticut Shade and maduro under Connecticut Broadleaf. A mild register, wholly Dominican beneath the wrapper.
Aristocrat · Pyramid No. 9 · Dominican No. 60 · Dominican No. 5 · Robusto No. 7
Centro Fino Sungrown
The fuller side of the catalogue. The sun-grown Ecuadorian wrapper gives a denser cigar than the rest of the brand, without leaving it.
Pyramid No. 9 · Centro Fino No. 60 · Robusto No. 7
Source : jcnewman.com (fiches Cuesta-Rey : gammes, capes, vitoles) ; en.wikipedia.org (fondation 1884 à Ybor City, clear Havana, production dominicaine depuis les années 1980)