Why a tin needs one
Because a tin is a box with air in it. Everything metal does well, holding its shape in a case and on a pallet, is wasted if the product is loose inside and arrives at the bottom in pieces.
The insert is also the first thing a customer sees, because it is what the open tin looks like. A pre-roll in a moulded channel reads as considered. The same pre-roll rolling around loose does not, and it is the same tin.
PET
Clear plastic, vacuum-formed to the shape of the product. Cheapest to tool and quickest to change, which is why most first runs use it.
It is rigid, so it holds one shape exactly, and it is see-through, so the product shows the moment the tin opens. The flip side of rigid is that a product which varies in size either fits or does not.
Silicone
Moulded and flexible, so it holds a range of sizes rather than one. That suits anything that varies unit to unit: hand-rolled pre-rolls, or cartridges from more than one supplier.
It grips rather than cradles, so a cartridge in a silicone well does not rattle when the pack is shaken. Rattling is the complaint vape brands hear most.
Foam
Die-cut sheet, usually with a pull tab. The right answer for anything fragile or expensive enough that arriving intact beats arriving fast.
It is the most forgiving of the seven, because a cavity cut slightly small still takes the product. It is also the least likely to be put back once somebody has taken it out.
Metal
A formed tinplate tray, same material as the tin. The only insert that keeps the whole pack one material, which is why it goes with the Eco build where the point is that there is nothing to separate.
It tools like a tin rather than like a plastic part, so it earns its place on a line that runs rather than on a first order.
Biodegradable blister
Behaves like PET in the hand and breaks down under commercial composting conditions rather than in a kerbside bin. Worth saying that precisely on a pack, because the two are not the same thing.
It moves more than PET across a temperature range, which is worth knowing if the pack sits in a hot warehouse.
Paper
Folded or moulded pulp. The lightest option, and the only one that takes print, so it can carry a strain name or a batch number without you adding a label.
It absorbs moisture, which rules it out for anything with a terpene profile worth protecting, and it marks if the product is oily.
How to choose in one go
Fill the tin and shake it. If the product moves, the insert is wrong no matter how good it looks. If it does not move but you cannot get it out one-handed, that is also wrong, and it is the version that gets returned.
Send us the product and we specify the insert against the filled tin instead of against a number on a page.
Hold one before
you specify it.
Tell us what you're packing and we'll send the formats that suit it.