The origin of Cuesta, Rey & Co. can be traced to January 1873 when Angel Cuesta-La Madrid (1858-1936) aka Angel L. Cuesta arrived in Cuba from the village of Colosia in Asturias, Spain.  After going to school in Cuba for a couple of years, he took an apprentice job at a cigar factory where he learned the business.  He then landed a job at another factory as a "torcedor" or specifically trained skilled cigar roller.

The young Cuesta arrived in Cuba after the beginning of the 10-Year War, so his years there were not easy.  When the war ended, he decided to leave Cuba for Key West where he arrived in 1878.  After a few years in Key West, he spent time in New York and Chicago before moving to Atlanta.  In 1884 Cuesta opened a cigar factory in Atlanta with seventeen workers, one of which was Peregrino Rey (1862-1920).  Rey was a Spanish immigrant from Brion, Galicia who came to Cuba at the young age of thirteen in 1875. Like Cuesta, in Cuba he became an apprentice cigar maker and in 1884 moved to Atlanta to work for Cuesta.  In 1893 Cuesta decided to open a new cigar factory in Port Tampa, closer to the supply of Cuban tobacco and to the flow of skilled cigar workers arriving from Cuba.  Rey remained in Atlanta supervising the operation and production of the cigar factory then located at Marietta St. & Broad St. 

In 1894, Cuesta merged his Port Tampa factory with the Ballard Cigar Co. to form the Cuesta-Ballard Co. and relocated to the southeast corner of 21st St. & 10th Ave. in Ybor City.  The Cuesta-Ballard Co. did not last but a year and closed in 1895.  That same year Rey joined Cuesta in Tampa and formed Cuesta, Rey & Co. located at 2015 Howard Ave.  By 1902 Cuesta, Rey & Co. enjoyed a good reputation in the industry as evidenced by this article in the March 21, 1902 Tobacco publication.  In 1914 Spanish King Alfonso XIII named Cuesta, Rey & Co. official cigar purveyor to the Courts of Spain.  While it was cheaper to import raw tobacco and make all Havana cigars in Tampa for the U.S. market, in 1918 Cuesta, Rey & Co. acquired Cuba's well known El Rey Del Mundo brand from Diaz Hnos. Co. and opened a new cigar factory and warehouse in Havana, primarily to supply Europe and South America. 

Cuesta, Rey & Co. continued its prosperous existence in Tampa until 1959 when it was acquired from Angel L. Cuesta's heirs Karl and Angel Cuesta by the Standard Cigar Co., a subsidiary company  established by J.C. Newman Cigar Co. when they relocated to Tampa.  Today J.C. Newman Cigar Co. still produces and markets cigars under the Cuesta-Rey brand as evidenced by the huge sign on their Ybor City factory pictured below..

The Cuesta, Rey & Co. factory building in the vintage picture below was used as a warehouse until 1975 when it was purchased by Joe Demmi.  It was damaged by fire in December 1975 and demolished in 1986.  Today, there is no standing factory building constructed by or for Cuesta, Rey & Co.  However, there is a two story building at the northwest corner of Howard Ave. & Beach St. that has a sign that says: "Original Boarding House for the Cuesta Rey Cigar Co. Established 1903".

Although there is today no remains of a cigar factory building related to Cuesta, Rey & Co., due to the prominence of their name in the industry, the fame of their brands and their significant contribution to the history and of the cigar industry in Tampa.