Custom Cardboard Tubes with Inserts

Who Uses Cardboard Tubes with Inserts

Skincare and cosmetics brands use them for serums, face oils and dropper bottles, where the tube gives a premium look and protects fragile glass. Spirits and liqueur makers use larger tubes for miniatures and full bottles, often with a neck collar so the bottle is suspended. Candle makers use them for jar candles, and tea and spice brands for glass jars of loose leaf or blends.

Gift brands like them for sets: a bottle with a small spoon, a jar with a wooden dipper, or a fragrance with a rollerball sample, each item held in its own place. Online shops value them because the tube survives the post far better than a folding carton, and it does not need much extra packing in the outer parcel.

Craft beverage brands sometimes use tall tubes with a base insert for limited edition releases, where the tube becomes a collectable in its own right. Brands at the premium end usually move to our luxury tubes for premium serums with a heavier wall.

Measuring Your Bottle or Jar

Accurate measurements are essential. Measure the container's widest diameter, its full height including the cap or dropper, and the diameter of the neck if you want a collar. For pump or spray tops, measure with the pump in its locked position. If the bottle has a shoulder that tapers, note where the taper starts.

Ideally, send us a physical sample. Glass bottles vary slightly between batches, and an insert cut to a sample will hold the real product better than one cut to a drawing. We design the tube's internal diameter with a small clearance around the widest part, then set the insert to hold the product without forcing it.

If you plan to sell two or three sizes, measure them all at once. We can often design a shared tube diameter with different insert heights, which keeps printing consistent and reduces setup.

Printing and Finishing the Tube

The outside of the tube is wrapped in printed paper, which can carry full colour artwork, product photography, ingredients and barcodes. Because the wrap runs continuously round the tube, you can design a pattern or illustration that flows all the way round. The lid can be printed separately or in a contrasting colour, and the inside of the lid is a nice spot for a short message.

Foil blocking, embossing and spot UV all work well on tubes. Soft-touch lamination gives a velvet feel that suits skincare; gloss lamination suits bright, playful brands. Kraft paper wraps with one-colour print suit natural and artisan products.

Inserts can be printed too. A card collar printed in your brand colour looks finished when the lid is lifted. Makers who want the board to show choose kraft paper tubes left unprinted with a single label.

Lids and Closures

Most tubes use a telescopic lid that slides over a raised inner neck, giving a smooth, controlled opening with a gentle air-cushioned feel. For a cleaner look the lid can sit flush with the base. Ribbon pulls help with tight-fitting lids, and a printed seal sticker across the joint shows the tube has not been opened in the shop.

Base options include a fixed card base, a metal-rimmed base for weight and strength, or a removable base for products packed from below.

Choosing the closure is partly about how the tube will be sold. On a shop shelf, a snug lid with a seal sticker keeps curious hands out. For gifting, a looser lid with a ribbon pull makes opening more pleasurable. For subscription or online orders, a firm fit matters most, since the parcel will be thrown around before it arrives. Tell us where most of your tubes will end up and we will set the lid tension to match.

It is worth asking for a few sample tubes from the first batch to test with your own filling process. Staff quickly find whether bottles drop into the insert easily or need a little guidance, and small adjustments to the collar or platform can be made on the next order. A metal closure at each end is standard on our tubes with metal end caps.

Post Us the Bottle

An insert cut to a drawing is good; an insert cut to the actual bottle is better. Glass from the same supplier varies by a millimetre or two between batches, and a dropper bottle is a different height with its pipette fitted, so the surest route is to post us one filled bottle with its cap and let us measure it. If posting is not practical, measure the diameter at the widest point and the full height with the closure on, and say whether the pump or dropper is fitted during packing. Choose the lid style and the insert material next, because a foam collar and a card collar need different internal depths. Artwork for a tube is a wrap, so send the logo as a vector file and we lay it on the curved template on a free proof. The quote arrives by email within one working day, minimums are low enough to test one product first, and tubes are made in 4–7 working days after approval with free tracked delivery to the UK mainland. Wide, short containers suit our paper jar tubes for creams better.