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China is the world's largest tobacco producer, with an annual output of 34.45 million large cases. Most cigarettes are packaged in cartons, utilizing primary paper types such as white cardstock, white cardboard, coated paper, and aluminum foil paper. Assuming a national volume of 34 million large boxes, with soft and hard box packaging each accounting for 50%, the annual sales volumes of these four paper types would be: 490,000 tons of white cardstock, 300,000 tons of white cardboard, 68,000 tons of coated paper, and 105,000 tons of aluminum foil paper. In recent years, the strong development momentum of hard box packaging has significantly increased the consumption of white cardstock. The extensive use of aluminum foil paper further highlights a distinct Chinese characteristic. Whether it is hard or soft packaging, Class I or II cigarettes, or low-grade Class IV or V cigarettes, all adopt luxurious and high-cost aluminum foil paper. This phenomenon has greatly promoted the growth of China's aluminum foil paper manufacturing enterprises. While exacerbating the issue of "excessive packaging" to some extent, it also demonstrates the elegance and sophistication of Chinese-style cigarettes, earning global recognition in the cigarette packaging industry.
The following is an analysis of the types and standards of commonly used paper for cigarette packaging.
1. White Cardstock
White cardstock is a thick, firm paper with a high basis weight. Its uncolored surface has earned it the common name "white cardstock."
In China, white cardstock is classified into three grades: A, B, and C. Grade A must have a whiteness of no less than 92%, Grade B no less than 87%, and Grade C no less than 82%. The raw material for white cardstock is 100% bleached chemical wood pulp, with the best being bleached coniferous sulfate pulp, which can also be combined with partially bleached broadleaf sulfate pulp.
Cigarette packaging requires white cardstock with high stiffness, burst resistance, smoothness, and whiteness. The paper surface must be smooth and flat, free from streaks, spots, unevenness, warping, or deformation. Since cigarette packaging primarily uses high-speed web gravure printing machines, the tensile strength of the white cardstock must be relatively high. Tensile strength refers to the maximum tension that paper can withstand before breaking, expressed in kN/m. During high-speed gravure printing, the paper roll must endure considerable tensile force. Frequent paper breaks would lead to frequent shutdowns, reduced work efficiency, and increased paper waste.
Two types of white cardstock are used in cigarette packaging: FBB (yellow core white card) and SBS (white core white card). Both FBB and SBS are single-sided coated white cardstock. FBB consists of three layers of pulp: the surface and bottom layers use sulfate wood pulp, while the core layer uses chemically mechanically ground wood pulp. The front (printed surface) is coated twice or three times with a scraper, while the back has no coating layer. The core layer's use of chemically mechanically ground wood pulp results in a high wood yield (85% to 90%) and relatively low production costs, making FBB more affordable. This type of pulp contains more long fibers and fewer fine fibers, resulting in better thickness. Therefore, FBB of the same gram weight is much thicker than SBS. SBS typically consists of three layers of pulp, with the surface, core, and bottom layers all using bleached sulfate wood pulp. The front (printed surface) is coated with a coating layer, applied twice or three times with a scraper, while the back has no coating layer. The core layer's use of bleached sulfate wood pulp ensures high whiteness, referred to as white core white cardstock. The fine pulp fibers result in tighter paper, making SBS much thinner than FBB of the same gram weight. For example, Hongta R&F's 230g/m² FBB has a thickness of 320μm, while its 230g/m² SBS has a thickness of 295μm.
2. Single-Sided White Cardboard
Single-sided white cardboard was formerly simply called white cardboard. The front quality of single-sided white cardboard must be white and smooth, with a tight structure and good stiffness. It should not fuzz during printing, exhibit minimal expansion and contraction deformation, and be suitable for color registration printing. Additionally, it should possess good folding endurance to ensure straight creasing lines during die-cutting and creasing without causing the paper surface to break.
Single-sided white cardboard consists of multiple layers of paper sheets stacked together, with each layer requiring different qualities of pulp. The front (printed surface) uses high-quality bleached sulfate wood pulp, the middle core layer uses lower-grade waste paper pulp, grass pulp, or wood joint pulp, and the back uses medium-grade reed pulp or waste paper pulp.
To enhance the grade of single-sided white cardboard and improve the smoothness and gloss of the front side, machine-coated processing produces single-sided coated white cardboard. The quality of the front side improves, while the bottom layer remains the same as ordinary single-sided white cardboard.
Due to inferior stiffness, whiteness, and die-cutting/creasing performance compared to white cardstock, single-sided white cardboard is only used for outer cigarette packaging, specifically strip box packaging. Depending on the back color, white cardboard comes in two types: gray-backed white cardboard and white base white cardboard.
3. Coated Paper
Coated paper originated in the UK as a specialized paper for printing high-end artworks such as oil paintings or watercolors. The British term "ArtPaper" translates literally to "fine art paper" or "art paper." Early letterpress printing used "copperplate" to print detailed images, associating this paper with "copperplate," hence the name "coated paper." Over time, the name became standard and continues to this day. Thus, "coated paper" is not a direct translation of "Art paper."
Coated paper can be classified into single-sided coated paper and double-sided coated paper. By convention, "coated paper" refers to double-sided coated paper unless otherwise specified. Variations include glossy coated paper, matte coated paper, granular coated paper, and fabric coated paper.
Coated paper features a white and smooth surface, excellent smoothness, and high gloss. The surface coating's whiteness exceeds 90%, with extremely fine particles, and is calendered by a supercalender, ensuring high-quality coated paper. Surface coatings significantly impact the printability of coated paper. Offset printing ink is highly viscous; improper handling may cause the coating to stick and peel off, leading to "powder shedding" and "fuzz shedding," resulting in mottled images and defective products.
Coated paper is primarily used in soft-pack cigarette packaging. Typically, single-sided coated paper weighing 90 to 100g/m² is used, simply referred to as single-sided coated paper. Printing methods include gravure printing, offset printing, and flexographic printing. Gravure and flexographic printing use roll single-sided coated paper. In addition to adapting to gravure and flexographic printing, roll coated paper must maintain good flatness after printing and cutting into finished cigarette labels, avoiding bulging or warping to ensure normal use on cigarette machines.
Due to the high quality requirements for single-sided coated paper used in cigarette packaging, few manufacturers produce qualified single-sided coated paper for cigarette labels. Major producers include domestic enterprises like Jindong, Taiwan's Yongfengyu, Japan's NPI, and the United States' Meide Weishweike.
4. Cast Coated Paper (Commonly Known as Glass Card Paper or Glass Coated Paper)
Cast coated paper, also known as high-gloss pressing on a chrome-plated drying cylinder. The term "Cast" implies casting, hence the name cast coated paper.
The base paper, coating solution, and other materials for cast coated paper are similar to those for coated paper, but the production process differs. After coating, when the coating layer is still undried and malleable, the paper surface is pressed against an internally heated chromium-plated cylinder. Under pressure, the coating layer heats and dries to form a film, losing its plasticity and automatically detaching from the cylinder surface, forming cast coated paper.
Cast coated paper has an extremely high gloss and rich fine voids, providing excellent ink absorption and superior dot and tone reproduction, enhancing image clarity. It surpasses coated paper in gloss, smoothness, density, bulk density, elasticity, ink adhesion, and powder shedding resistance. Therefore, cast coated paper adapts to various printing methods.
As the selling price per ton of cast coated paper is about 30% higher than coated paper, it is often used for high-end product outer packaging. Recently, more cigarette packages have adopted cast coated paper. Hard packaging uses 230g/m² glass cards, such as Huize "Little Panda," "One Quality Huangshan," "Chengdu," Century "Pride," etc. Soft packaging uses 100g/m² glass copper plates, such as "Yunyan," "Fu," etc. Additionally, high-end aluminum foil paper bases should also be cast coated paper to achieve mirror-like smoothness and fully display metallic texture.
At present, cast-coated paper is primarily imported from Indonesia. Among the varieties used for hard packaging, the 230g/m² "Aviation" brand is considered superior, while the 100g/m² "Arcadia" brand, utilized for soft packaging, is also regarded as the best option.
V. Aluminum Foil Paper
Aluminum foil paper, alternatively referred to as aluminum-coated or spray-coated paper, features a thin metallic aluminum layer adhered to its surface. Cigarette packs printed on aluminum foil paper are distinguished by their magnificence and delicacy. Given that commonly used colors such as gold and silver exhibit a metallic luster, they align with China's traditional aesthetic of nobility. Currently, the majority of high-end cigarette packs are printed on aluminum foil paper.
Aluminum foil paper can be categorized based on different base papers into aluminum foil card paper, label paper, and cigarette liner paper. According to variations in surface patterns, it can be classified as patterned holographic aluminum foil paper, plain holographic aluminum foil paper, and ordinary aluminum foil paper. Based on processing techniques, it can further be divided into paper-plastic composite aluminum foil paper, transfer aluminum foil paper, and direct plating aluminum foil paper.
Among these, paper-plastic composite aluminum foil paper is typically vacuum aluminized and colored on a 12-20μm PET film, then laminated with cardstock (glass cardstock or white cardstock) via a laminating machine. This process incurs relatively high costs due to the inclusion of both thin films and aluminum. However, the use of high-gloss PET results in a remarkable aluminum spraying effect, characterized by a bright and lustrous surface, making it suitable for some high-end cigarette packs. Nevertheless, due to its high cost and lack of environmental friendliness, opposition has grown, leading to a decline in its usage.
The transfer method is currently the most widely adopted production process for aluminum foil paper.
In the case of aluminum foil paper, the aluminum foil layer is evaporated under high vacuum conditions. Large rolls of cardstock or high-grammage coated paper, due to their high moisture and air content, make it challenging to achieve the required high vacuum degree for aluminum plating. Simultaneously, the significant amount of moisture discharged from the paper causes substantial changes in its physical properties. Even after rehumidification treatment post-aluminum plating, it is difficult to restore the original physical indicators. Consequently, the direct plating method is predominantly used for producing low-grammage label paper and cigarette backing paper.
The physical properties of the three types of aluminum foil paper vary significantly due to differences in production processes.
Paper-plastic composite aluminum foil paper exhibits the highest surface flatness and appears visually lustrous and bright. Since metallic aluminum is attached to the PET film, adhesion is firm, preventing aluminum shedding during printing. Additionally, the presence of the PET film enhances the stiffness and toughness of the paper, improving post-printing processing performance.
Transfer method aluminum foil paper involves transferring and adhering the metal aluminum foil layer from PET to the paper surface. Regardless of the type of paper, its surface flatness and smoothness cannot match the level of PET film. The gloss of transfer method aluminum foil paper decreases, and cracks are prone to occur during post-printing film cutting and creasing. To achieve optimal results in printing and processing, design and plate-making must consider the characteristics of this paper, emphasizing its metallic luster. Pattern designs should avoid large-area tones with strong coverage and instead use transparent inks for printing. For instance, transparent yellow printed on the silver-aluminum layer can produce a golden color with metallic luster. At 90° or 180° folds, ink cracking is common; thus, it is advisable not to print ink at creases to compensate for the material's folding limitations.
Aluminum foil paper possesses unique printing adaptability. Its surface metal aluminum structure is relatively tight, with almost no gaps, resembling a mirror surface. Consequently, aluminum foil paper lacks the absorption properties of ordinary paper and functions as a non-absorbent substrate. It is incompatible with quick-drying, high-gloss quick-curing offset printing inks or special inks for synthetic paper offset printing. After inking, liquid solvents remain on the surface, causing printed products to easily become dirty and sticky, resulting in numerous defective products. To prevent sticking and dirt and enhance drying performance, specialized inks must be employed. UV ink is the preferred choice for printing on aluminum foil paper. As UV ink does not contain solvent components, it cures and dries instantly upon exposure to a UV lamp after printing. It offers strong ink layer adhesion and high gloss. In recent years, many cigarette package printing enterprises have invested in six-color + UV ink curing and drying devices + UV varnishing offset printing machines, primarily to address aluminum foil paper printing challenges.