Custom Paper Tube with Lids
Custom paper tubes with a lid that lifts off cleanly — telescoping or shoulder style, wrapped in your print, from 100. The lid fit is sampled before print and the price comes back the same working day.
The lid is what turns a tube into a gift box
- Board
- Spiral-wound chipboard, 1.5–3 mm wall; lid to match
- Builds
- Telescoping lid, shoulder lid, hinged lid; metal or wooden lid options
- Wrap
- Printed paper full wrap or two-tone; foil, emboss, soft-touch
Get a price for Paper Tube with Lids
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Telescoping lid or shoulder lid
The telescoping tube is the workhorse. The shoulder lid is what premium spirits and candles use, because the join is a hairline rather than a step.
| Telescoping | A second, wider tube slides over the base tube. Simple; the lid can be full length or short. |
|---|---|
| Shoulder (neck) lid | An inner collar on the base; the lid meets the base flush. The rigid-box look, in the round. |
| Flip-top / hinged | A hinged lid on a wrapped tube, held by a magnet or a tab; less common, more theater. |
Getting the lid to lift the way you want
Lift resistance comes from the clearance between the lid and the base — a few tenths of a millimeter — and from how far the lid overlaps. A long overlap with tight clearance gives the slow, air-cushioned lift of an expensive candle box. A short overlap with a little play lifts freely and suits a tube opened often. We set it on the plain sample and hold it on the run.
Humidity changes tube fit slightly. A lid set snug in a dry factory can be tight in a damp shop; we allow for the delivery market.
Wraps, finishes and where the seam goes
Our plain kraft tubes without a wrap are the same wound construction with the label left off.
- Full wrap in printed paper — full color, foil, emboss, soft-touch; the seam sits at the back.
- Two-tone: one paper on the lid, another on the base, which reads as a deliberate design for little extra.
- Kraft base with a printed lid — cheaper, and the contrast works.
- Metal or wooden lid on a wrapped base for spirits and premium gifts.
Inserts for the thing inside the tube
A bottle or a candle in a tube wants to be held at the base and the shoulder, not left to roll. A die-cut board ring at each end, a foam collar, or a folded paper cradle does it. For sets — a tea selection, three balms — a divided insert stacks the items in the tube. Each is drawn from the product dimensions and shown on the spec.
Products that arrive better in a lidded tube
Candles, spirits and wine, tea and coffee, skincare bottles and balms, socks and scarves, watches and jewelry in a small format, and prints in a large one. Round products fit naturally; square products fit with an insert and gain the presentation.
Paper Tube with Lids — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- Spiral-wound chipboard, 1.5–3 mm wall; lid to match
- Builds
- Telescoping lid, shoulder lid, hinged lid; metal or wooden lid options
- Wrap
- Printed paper full wrap or two-tone; foil, emboss, soft-touch
- Fit
- Lid clearance and overlap set on sample; adjusted for delivery climate
- Inserts
- Board rings, foam collars, divided inserts for sets
- Sizing
- Diameter from mandrel steps; any length
- Minimum
- 100 tubes
On every job
- Print process
- The tube itself is not printed. A wrap is printed offset as a flat sheet and applied, with the seam at the back.
- Color
- CMYK and spot colors on the wrap. Bare kraft takes one color directly, printed on the outer ply as the tube winds.
- Tolerance
- Diameter is fixed by the mandrel; length plus or minus 1 mm. Cap fit is set on a sample with a humidity allowance.
- Tooling
- The mandrel sets the diameter and is not a cost. Tooling is the wrap print and any foil die, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- A food-grade inner ply or a separate inner bag where the tube holds loose tea, coffee or confectionery.
- Sustainability
- The wound board and the paper wrap recycle as paper. Metal ends and plastic plugs are removed first.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build paper tube with lids on
A tube is wound rather than folded, so the wall is built up in layers of board on a mandrel. That gives it drum stiffness, and it means the internal diameter comes from a fixed set of mandrels.
Wound kraft chipboard
Strips of recycled board spiralled and glued. The tube body: strong in compression, recyclable as paper, and naturally brown.
1–3 mm wallLight wall, 1–1.5 mm
For retail tubes that travel inside a shipper — tea, cosmetics, candles. Keeps the tube light and the freight down.
1–1.5 mmHeavy wall, 2–3 mm
For tubes posted on their own: posters, plans, spirits. A thin-walled long tube arrives with a kink in the middle.
2–3 mmPrinted paper wrap
The tube is not printed directly. A printed label is wrapped around it in full color, with foil or emboss, and the seam sits at the back.
120–157gsmTinplate ends
Crimped metal base and lid. The traditional tea and gift tube; adds weight and a different sound when it opens.
CrimpedPlastic plugs
Snap-in ends for shipping and poster tubes. Reusable, removable, and the fit is what stops them pushing out under a stack.
Push-fitFood-grade liners
A laminated or greaseproof inner ply, or a separate inner bag, where the tube holds loose tea, coffee or confectionery.
Inner ply or bagShoulder and telescoping lids
A short second tube over the base, or an inner collar for a flush join. The join is the difference between a container and a gift.
Wound to matchNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
A tube is finished on the wrap, so anything a flat sheet takes, a tube takes.
Bare kraft
No wrap at all. The natural wound board, which is the look most brands choose it for.
Printed wrap
Full color on a laminated paper applied round the tube, with the seam at the back.
Hot foil
On the wrap before it is applied, or on the lid top. Gold on kraft is the category signature.
Deboss on the wrap
Pressed after wrapping so the relief follows the curve.
Two-tone
One paper on the lid, another on the base. Reads as a deliberate design for almost nothing.
Metal ends
Tinplate base and lid. A different weight and a different sound when it opens.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a tube, where diameter comes in steps: paper tube with lids
Length is cut to order, but the internal diameter is set by the mandrel the tube is wound on. Those come in roughly 5 mm steps, so we choose the first step above your product rather than an exact figure.
- Internal diameter
- The product at its widest plus 2–3 mm, rounded up to the next mandrel. Anything more and a round product rolls inside.
- Length
- The product plus the depth of a cap at each end, plus 3 mm. Cut to any figure.
- Wall thickness
- 1–1.5 mm inside a shipper, 2–3 mm for a tube that travels alone. It is the whole protection on a mailing tube.
- Cap fit
- Set on a plain sample. A cap a fraction loose falls out in the post; a fraction tight cannot be opened by hand.
- Outside size
- Carriers measure the outside including the caps — usually about 0.25 in over the bore, and an inch over the length.
- Inserts
- Round products still rattle. A board ring or a foam disc holds a jar or a bottle centered.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Paper Tube with Lids
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a wall and wrap and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about paper tube with lids? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is the difference between a telescoping and a shoulder lid?
A telescoping lid slides over the outside of the base tube. A shoulder lid meets the base flush over an inner collar, giving a hairline join — the premium look.
Can you control how the lid lifts?
Yes. The lift comes from clearance and overlap, and we set both on a plain sample so the lid comes off the way you want it to.
Can the lid and base be different colors?
Yes, a two-tone wrap costs little more and is one of the most effective looks on a tube.
Will a bottle roll around inside?
Not with an insert. A board ring at each end or a foam collar holds it centered, and we draw it from the bottle dimensions.
Can I foil-stamp the lid?
Yes. The wrap is printed flat before it is applied, so foil, emboss and soft-touch are all available on it.
What is the minimum order?
100 tubes.
Do they ship assembled?
Yes. Tubes cannot flatten, so they arrive finished, usually with the lid fitted.
Are lidded tubes food safe for tea?
With a food-grade inner liner or an inner bag, yes.
Can a tube hold a set of items?
Yes, with a divided or stacked insert. Tea selections and balm sets are common.
What sizes are possible?
Diameters from about 25 mm to over 150 mm in roughly 5 mm steps, and any length. Send the product and we size the tube.
Are they recyclable?
The wound board and paper wrap recycle as paper. A metal lid or a foam insert comes out first.
Can I have a sample before printing?
Yes, and on a lidded tube we recommend it — the lid fit is the thing to check.
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