The Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown Pyramid No. 9 is a 6¼ × 52 pyramid made at Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. in the Dominican Republic for J.C. Newman Cigar Co. It carries an Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed sungrown wrapper over a Dominican binder and aged Dominican ligero filler. It smokes medium-full, runs about $10.40 to $13.55 a stick, and this exact size finished 2025 as one of the most decorated cigars of the year. It scored 93/100 from Norm.
- The Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown Pyramid No. 9 (6¼×52) pairs an Ecuadorian Sumatra sungrown wrapper with a Dominican binder and aged Dominican ligero, rolled at Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. for J.C. Newman.
- It smokes medium-full with a nutty, sweet core, honey, nougat, chocolate, and a buttery cashew finish, with oak, black pepper, and coffee bean showing up depending on the box.
- Street price sits around $10.40 to $13.55 a stick in 10-count boxes, and this exact vitola ended 2025 as one of the most decorated cigars of the year. Norm's score: 93/100.
FROM THE PORCH
Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown has been on my list since the Pyramid No. 9 landed the number four spot on one of the big year-end lists for 2025. That kind of ranking makes me wonder, is the cigar really that good, or did it just have a good year on somebody's list. There are a lot of great cigars out there, and a ranking is about as subjective as it gets, so I wasn't convinced either way. I picked up a few sticks and set aside a night to find out for myself.
I'll be honest, I'm still not sure the ranking tells the whole story, and that's not really mine to settle. What I do know is I'd buy this one again without thinking twice. My notes are below.
BEHIND THE BLEND
Cuesta-Rey goes back to 1884, when Angel LaMadrid Cuesta founded the brand and later partnered with Peregrino Rey. It once held the title of tobacco purveyor to Spain's King Alfonso XIII. Karl Cuesta sold the brand to Stanford Newman's J.C. Newman Cigar Co. in 1958, and it's been a Newman family brand ever since. Production has lived at Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. in the Dominican Republic since the 1980s. J.C. Newman says the Centro Fino Sungrown line launched in 2002. The company credits the blend to Carlos Fuente Sr. and Rich Dolak, its longtime in-house blender and VP of operations.
BLC BLEND BREAKDOWN
BLEND SPECS
"Centro fino" refers to the center-stalk primings, the rows of leaves from the middle of the plant. The wrapper is grown in Ecuador's Quevedo region by the Oliva Tobacco Company, a Tampa leaf-growing family with no relation to the Oliva cigar brand.
THE VITOLA LINEUP
| VITOLA | SIZE |
|---|---|
| Pyramid No. 9 ← reviewed | 6¼ × 52 |
| No. 60 (Toro) | 6 × 50 |
| Robusto No. 7 | 4½ × 50 |
All three core sizes come in 10-count boxes. Pricing is street, not sticker. Figure about $10.40 to $13.55 for the Pyramid No. 9, $7.25 to $9.68 for the No. 60, and $8.28 to $8.85 for the Robusto No. 7. There's also a legacy Captiva tubo (6⅛×42, 20-count, about $6 to $7) that's off the current lineup but still findable at retail. One buying note: the 2025 hardware belongs to the Pyramid No. 9 alone. And watch the band, Cuesta-Rey's separate Centenario line sells its own Pyramid No. 9 with a completely different blend.
THE COLD DRAW
Right off the wrapper this line gives you floral sweetness, golden raisin, hay, and a little cedar, with cocoa drifting toward mocha at the foot. The cold draw, what you taste pulling on the unlit cigar, runs chocolate and malt with cedar right behind. Underneath that you'll catch smaller stuff, an herbal note, dark fruit, baker's spice. That's a lot of information before you ever light it.
One honest note here. The blend runs the same across all three sizes, so what you're reading in these sections is the line's character, not something unique to this pyramid.
BLC CIGAR PROFILE
Burn: mostly a straight line, though the odd stick needs a touch-up or two.
Draw: excellent, smoke comes easy with no resistance issues.
Two straight notes on those bars. Depending on the box and the year, this blend goes one of two ways. It's either nutty and sweet, honey, nougat, chocolate and buttery cashew. Or it's woodier, with black pepper, coffee bean, and peanut out front. Complexity moves stick to stick too, some stack notes all the way down, others keep it simple, the bar above splits that difference honestly. The balance is the part that doesn't change, whichever version you get, nothing turns harsh or lopsided.
THE FIRST THIRD
The line opens on cedar and wood with a sweetness that leans caramel more than sugar. Pepper is in the mix early, present without taking over. Around the edges you'll catch fruit, sometimes citrus, and now and then something savory underneath.
It's a working opening, not a showy one. The blend lays out its pieces early and spends the rest of the smoke rearranging them.
THE SECOND THIRD
The middle stretch is the best part of the arc, in my opinion. Caramel sweetness sits against charred wood and the two stay even. The retrohale, pushing a little smoke out through your nose, turns up vanilla and cinnamon. From here straight tobacco moves to the front, with white pepper climbing steadily behind it.
If you only give this cigar partial attention, give it here. This is where the blend earns its shelf time.
THE FINAL THIRD
The back stretch is where sticks in this line part ways, and I'll give it to you straight. Most of the time the last third is the payoff, the chocolate goes heavy, the malt turns creamy, and a buttery cashew note lands on the finish. Some sticks coast home instead, the richness settles early and the back half smokes quieter than the middle. I'd chalk that up to normal batch and session variation, the finish runs medium-long either way.
OVERALL RATING
BLC OVERALL RATING
On paper the case is strong. You've got Fuente hands rolling it, and a sungrown Ecuadorian wrapper over aged Dominican ligero. The track record runs back to the line's launch, which the company puts at 2002. Add top-tier year-end hardware for 2025 attached to this exact size, at under $14 a stick, and you won't find many cigars at this price with that kind of record. I still don't know if I'd have picked this exact stick as the fourth-best cigar of the year, that kind of ranking is somebody else's math, not mine. What I know is the smoke backs up the attention, nutty and sweet with real balance, and I'd buy it again without thinking twice. Worth a box, in my opinion, ranking or no ranking.
WHO GRABS THIS CIGAR
If you smoke medium-full and lean toward nutty, sweet profiles over pepper bombs, this one's aimed at you. It fits the Fuente faithful who want that factory's Dominican work without hunting limited releases, the Pyramid No. 9 sits on regular shelves at $10.40 to $13.55. Newer smokers should respect the medium-full strength, have a meal first. And if you're chasing the cigars everyone talked about in 2025, this size is the one that picked up the hardware. In my opinion the price still looks fair for it.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions about the Cuesta-Rey Centro Fino Sungrown Pyramid No. 9.
