Cigarette Boxes.

The inner frame is a separate collar glued inside the mouth of the pack, and it gives the flip-top lid something to close against. It squares the opening, stiffens the front and makes the lid land with a click instead of sagging.

A pack gets opened many times a day, so without the frame the hinge line soon fatigues and the lid stops closing flat. The frame also keeps the front panel from bowing after a few days in a pocket.

There are four: the printed body with its flip-top lid, the inner frame, a foil inner wrap around the bundle and a clear film overwrap with a tear tape. Each one has a job. The body carries the print, the frame holds the shape, the foil keeps the contents fresh and the film seals the whole pack.

We supply the board components and can advise on the foil and overwrap so they suit your packing line.

Most packs are SBS paperboard, which folds cleanly on high-speed lines and gives a bright white surface for print. Kraft board is available for a natural look, and rigid board suits presentation or collector packs that won't go through a packing machine.

Odour-neutral board is available on request, which matters for anything sold on its aroma. Recyclable eco board is also an option if recycled content is part of your story.

Less than on almost any other retail pack, because a large share of the principal faces is set aside for warnings before design starts. We lay out the dieline with that area fixed first, sized to the warning artwork you supply for your market, and the design goes into what remains.

In that space, hot foil, embossing, spot UV and soft-touch lamination do a lot of work. We print CMYK plus Pantone, so a brand colour stays consistent from one run to the next.

The standard king-size pack for 20 is about 2.2 × 0.9 × 3.4 in, and we build to that footprint unless you need something different. Most machines, shelves and retail dispensers are set up around it.

Slim, super-slim and 10-count packs change the width and depth. If you're packing by hand, we can make custom sizes, but check with your filling line first, since a pack a few millimetres off won't feed.

The standard is the film overwrap sealed around the pack, with a tear tape that has to be pulled before the lid will open. We can also fit a printed tamper-evident seal across the lid line if your packs aren't overwrapped.

Either way, the seal shows a buyer the pack hasn't been opened since it left your line. Make sure it sits clear of the area you keep for any required stamps, so nothing gets covered.

We make cigarette boxes from 500 units. That suits limited editions, herbal or specialty brands and gift packs, where volumes are well below a tobacco factory's.

Big programs are quoted too, up to 100,000 units per run. Custom inserts and child-resistant options go on the same quote as the box.

Printed cigarette boxes come off production 7 to 10 business days after approval, or 5 to 7 with rush. Sample packs are made in 5 to 7 business days.

We'd sample before any machine-packed run, so you can put a few through your line and check the fold, the frame and the lid action. The sample charge is credited to your production order.