Candle Tube Packaging.

Kraft plies are spiral-wound around a mandrel into a rigid wall, then wrapped in a printed paper label. A disc forms the base, and the lid telescopes over the body. Round packaging around a round jar wastes no board on corners and lets the vessel sit close to the wall all the way around.

Wall thickness comes from the ply count, and we set the ply count from the crush load the tube has to take in a carton or a mailer.

Paper, plastic and metal end caps are all available, and the right one depends on the look of the range and how it will be recycled. Paperboard ends keep the tube all-paper. Metal ends give the heritage caddy look and take a knock on the rim well, and plastic caps give a firm push fit.

We would go with paperboard ends on most candle tubes, since the telescoping lid already does the closing and the ends take their impact inside a snug outer.

Tight enough to hold its own weight when the tube is lifted by the lid, and loose enough to glide off with a steady pull. That fit comes from the lid depth and the gap between the two wall diameters. A lid that drops off in a tote is the common failure, and one that needs a twist to open frustrates whoever is opening it.

Inside, a collar ring seats the jar so it cannot slide up and down when the tube is tipped.

Design the wrap for rotation, because a tube has no front panel and the label runs the full 360 degrees. Shoppers turn a tube in the hand, so the scent name and the brand should each appear more than once around it, and the label seam should fall away from key type. CMYK wrap print, hot foil, embossing and matte soft-touch are all on offer.

We don't cut windows in spiral-wound tubes, as an aperture weakens the wall. A printed image of the candle's colour on the wrap does that job instead.

Two common sizes are 3.5 inches in diameter by 4.5 inches tall and 4 inches by 5.5 inches, both telescoping. The internal diameter is the figure that matters, and it gets a light clearance over the widest point of the jar. Height is measured with the lid on the vessel and the wick clear.

We work from your jar rather than a chart, since two 8oz tumblers from different glassworks can differ by a few millimetres.

An all-paper tube with paperboard end caps goes straight into curbside paper recycling. Metal or plastic ends need separating first, and a foil liner where the wax touches changes things as well, so pick a coated paper liner if the recycling claim matters to you. A curbside mark printed on the base tells the customer what to do with it.

Plenty of buyers keep the tube as a storage canister after the candle is gone, so it often stays in the house for years.

A candle tube run starts at 500 units. The wrap is printed flat and applied to the wound tube, so the setup cost sits in the label and the tube tooling, and 500 is roughly where that setup evens out. The same format scales to 100,000.

A range of fragrances can run in a single tube size with a different printed wrap for each, and every wrap is quoted as its own design.

Production takes 7 to 10 business days from the approved proof. Rush scheduling can shorten it to 5 to 7 business days. A sample tube, with the jar fitted and the lid glide checked, is ready in 5 to 7 business days and settles the fit before bulk.

When you go ahead with production the sample fee is deducted from it, and we ship the finished tubes across the USA.