Custom Candle Tube Boxes

Printed and Wrapped Tubes

For more colour and detail, tubes can be wrapped in a printed paper that covers the whole body and lid. This gives you full colour artwork, photography and patterns that run unbroken round the tube. Finishes such as matt or soft-touch laminate, gold or silver foil and embossing turn a tube into a luxury pack that suits premium fragrance collections and gift sets.

Think about the join. A wrapped tube has a seam where the paper overlaps, so patterns need to meet neatly there. We mark the seam position on your artwork template, and you can place it at the back where it will not be noticed. The wrap papers and laminates compared page shows how foil sits on each surface.

• Plain kraft tube with one colour print
• White tube with full colour print
• Fully wrapped tube in printed paper
• Tube with a contrasting lid colour
• Tube with a foil logo on the lid
• Tube with a window band showing the candle

Measuring Candles for a Tube

Measure the widest diameter of the candle, which on a jar is usually the shoulder or the lid, and the total height including any lid or wooden wick top. For pillar candles, measure the diameter and height of the pillar itself. Add a couple of millimetres to the diameter so the candle slides in easily, and a little to the height so the lid closes without pressing on the wick or jar lid.

Glass jars vary slightly, even within one batch, so measure several before sending sizes. If the jar is heavy, ask for a thicker tube wall and a reinforced base disc so the bottom does not push out when the tube is lifted by the lid. A card or pulp insert in the base can lift a short jar so it sits higher in a longer tube, which lets one tube size serve two candle heights. If you want the jar held by a cut-out rather than the tube wall, candle boxes with fitted inserts do that in a square format.

Lids, Bases and Closures

Most candle tubes use a telescope lid that slides over the body, sometimes with an inner neck so lid and body sit flush when closed. Flush designs look sleek and premium. A shoulder design, where the lid stops at a printed band, shows off a contrasting colour. The base is usually a fixed disc, glued or crimped in place.

A lid that fits too tightly can be frustrating, and one that is too loose can fall off when the tube is picked up. We set the friction so the lid lifts smoothly but holds securely. A paper seal sticker across the lid and body shows the candle has not been opened and adds a nice finishing detail.

Ribbon is another option for gift candles. A thin satin ribbon tied around the lid seam, or threaded through two small slots, makes the tube feel ready to give without a separate gift bag. A square carton with a tuck lid is the other common choice, shown on our printed candle boxes page.

Shipping Candles in Tubes

Candles in glass jars are fragile, so for online orders the tube should travel inside a corrugated mailer with enough space for a little padding at the ends. Tubes are strong along their sides but less so at the ends, so protect those with a card disc or paper fill. If you ship several candles together, a mailer with a die-cut insert that holds tubes upright keeps them separate and safe.

Heat is the other risk. In hot weather, candles left in a hot van can soften, so pack wax melts and soft wax blends with care and avoid leaving parcels in direct sun.

Label the outer mailer as fragile and keep the tube upright inside it where you can, as jars travel far better standing than lying on their side. Diffusers and room sprays from the same range can use the fragrance packaging in matching board.

Measure the Shoulder of the Jar, Not the Base

Jar candles are widest at the shoulder or the lid, and that is the measurement a tube is built around, so take the diameter there with callipers if you have them. Add the full height with the lid on and the wick trimmed, then measure three jars from the batch because glass varies. If you run two candle heights, say so, because a base insert lets one tube serve both and halves the number of sizes you print.

Choose kraft with one colour or a full printed wrap next, since the two are priced differently, and send a vector logo with a note on where you want the seam. A custom quote comes back by email within one working day, with minimums quoted per job. The free proof marks the seam and lid line so a pattern meets neatly at the back. Production takes 4–7 working days after approval and tracked delivery to UK mainland addresses is free, taking 2–3 working days. Tubes that arrive misprinted or crushed are reprinted or refunded when reported within 10 days. For online orders, shipping boxes cut for candle tubes can be quoted alongside.