Cigarette Carton.

It's a light glued sleeve that wraps ten packs in two rows of five, with the packs themselves giving it most of its strength. Because the contents are rigid, the board can be thinner than a standalone box of the same size.

The ends close with tuck tabs or glue flaps, and a perforated tear strip lets the store open it and pull out single packs quickly. A film overwrap can seal the whole carton.

The perforation lets a retailer break the carton down behind the counter in seconds and sell packs one at a time. It runs along one face or end, and the rest of the sleeve stays intact until then.

We set the perforation so it tears cleanly by hand but doesn't split open in a case or on a pallet. Tell us whether packs come out from the end or the top and we'll place it to suit.

They do, since cartons are stacked deep in shipping cases and on stockroom shelves before anyone sells them. The packs inside carry most of the load, so the sleeve's job is to keep its corners square and its glue seams closed under that pressure.

We match the board caliper to how high your cases are stacked. A gloss or matte lamination also stops the sleeves scuffing against each other when cases are opened and restocked.

Cartons take the same range as the packs inside: CMYK plus Pantone, foil, embossing, spot UV and a soft-touch laminate. Most brands mirror the pack design so the carton reads as a larger version of it on a duty-free or tobacconist shelf.

Warning panels on the carton faces are laid out first, to the size your market sets. We also leave clear zones for tax stamps where your distribution needs them.

A standard carton for ten king-size packs measures about 11 × 2.2 × 3.5 in. That size follows from two rows of five packs, so it changes if your packs are slim or a different height.

Give us the exact pack dimensions and we'll size the sleeve with just enough clearance for the packs to load without the board bulging. Custom counts can be built if your program isn't based on ten.

Yes, we leave print zones on the carton for serialised codes that link each pack to its carton and each carton to its case. The zone is kept free of varnish and lamination so the code scans reliably once it's printed or applied on your line.

Tell us the code format and the size of the label or print area, and we'll place it on a face that stays visible when the cartons are stacked in the case.

Custom cartons have a 500-unit minimum. If you're ordering packs from us as well, we'd run the cartons alongside them so the colours match between the two.

That minimum is low enough for a limited release or an export run into a single market. Quotes go up to 100,000 cartons for larger programs.

We need 7 to 10 business days to produce your cartons after the proof is signed, and 5 to 7 if you book a rush. A sample sleeve takes 5 to 7 business days.

Loading ten of your own packs into it is the only real test of the fit, so we'd always recommend one. The fee is credited against the full order, and we ship across the USA.