The Cigar Family site identifies the Cuesta Rey Centenario maduro as a sun grown wrapper. It also does not list a Cuesta Rey Centenario sungrown. Are they the same, Cuesta Rey Centenario maduro and sungrown. Is their sungrown band just a marketing tool or is there really a different Cuesta Rey Centenario sungrown cigar from the maduro cigar.

Then the other question is "Tuscan"?

They are most definitley different cigars. I prefer the Maddies, but the SG's are good also.

What Beat said.

For some reason, Fuente doesn't update its site a whole lot as far as their cigars.

All the Centro Fino SGs are the same size as the regular Centenarios, so maybe that's why. But they also don't list the Cuban Belicoso as a Fuente size, nor do they list the DC Maximus.

Hmmmm.

Not to get too far afield, but are those Pyramid #9's as good as the demand would seem to warrant? Never tried one.

I love the Pyramid #9's in Natural,haven't tried the sungrown.

The sungrowns are even better

http://www.cigarbid.com/auction/forum/forum.cfm?action=list&forumID=1&messageDisplay=0000000015319 

Remington

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Sun-grown is a growing method and maduro is a specific type of wrapping leaf. You can have a sun-grown maduro wrapper. I was reading a CA interview with Jorge Padron in which he stated all Padron wrappers are sun-grown both natural and maduro. The difference between sungrown and shade grown is theoretcally that shade grown produces a milder smoother wrapper where as sun-grown is less smooth, more veiny and toothy but also much richer in flavor. There are different qualities in Sungrown wrappers, and the ones used by the Newman family in the Fuente lines are outstanding. I'm not sure if Cuesta Rey uses the same wrapper as the Fuente line...Does anyone know if thats the case??

I don't know if the Centro Fino SG is really maduro but it definitely is a darker wrapper than the regular Centenario. I have a few of the CF #9 and it is a really nice smoke.

dbguru, I just compared Questa-Rey and Fuente SG wrappers. IMHO it is not the same SG wrapper. The Fuente wrapper is dark brown and almost black on some cigars. The Questa-Rey wrapper is reddish brown.

dbguru,
You're right, the sungrown leaf has more to do with the way it's grown (exposed to the sun rather than shaded, as most cigar tobacco) and maduro is the way the leaf is cured (fermented befor being used as a wrapper), so it is possible to have a sungrown maduro. That's part of the reason for my question. "Sungrown" usually means leaf taken from the top of the plant, younger leaves, more fragrant and often sweeter in taste, where sungrown maduro wrappers can be any leaf from a sungrown plant but it goes through the fermentation process to develope it's flavor and aroma. Because I couldn't find a specific reference to a sungrown wrapper on Cuesta Rey Centenario cigars at the Cigar Family site, I was curious.

mrkmitch: Good explanation

Maduro is a fermentation process. Often, in the process, agents are added to enhance the darkening of the leaf. Most tobacco procesors refuse to call them dyes; rather "natural catalytic agents that force the leaf into changing to a darker hue." Rolando Reyes Sr. who makes Cuba Aliados, Puros Indios, etc. uses no such agents, so his maduros are the same color as his colorado and colorado claro.