Shrink, film and cigar bands

The specific decision about whether to seal, which in this craft has a technical answer rather than a presentational one.

The sealing question

A fully cured bar in a sealed film is stable. A bar that has not finished curing, sealed in film, sweats inside the wrapper and the customer opens something wet.

Which makes the cure confirmation, weight stops falling, a prerequisite for sealing rather than a nicety.

And in a humid climate even a cured bar can sweat in film as conditions change.

Shrink wrap

Clean, protective, tamper-evident and it shows the bar.

It seals completely, which is the problem above, and it removes the smell, which at a market is removing the sale.

Perforated shrink exists and solves half of it: it breathes a little and still looks sealed.

A heat gun or a shrink tunnel is needed, and heat near soap has to be managed because the surface softens.

Cigar bands

A printed paper band around the middle, leaving both ends open.

The category standard for good reasons: cheap, breathable, the bar can be smelled, it carries the whole label, and it looks handmade rather than industrial.

Against it: no protection at all, and the bar is handled directly.

It is also the format that makes a range look coherent at very little cost, because only the band changes.

Perforated and breathable films

The middle answer: a film that protects and still exchanges some moisture.

Worth considering for wholesale, where bars are handled by staff and sit on a shelf for months, and where a band alone leaves the bar vulnerable.

Whatever you choose, test it: wrap bars from a batch, store them warm and humid for a month, and open them.

That test is the whole of this page and it takes one batch.

References