Available in FSC-certified board or recycled paperboard versions, Contempo Specialty Packaging has created the ‘world’s first’ child-resistant and plastic-free cigarette box for cannabis pre-rolls.

Achieving child resistance in a cigarette pack has proven difficult in the past, with traditional flip-top designs being vulnerable to tearing; this means children can rip the box open and access the pre-rolls.

To avoid this outcome, Contempo has aspired to ensure security and durability with the structure of its new pack, which is said to be the first plastic-free cigarette box to be certified as child-resistant according to 16 CFR Part 1700.

Customers can choose between recycled paperboard and FSC-certified boards to produce their box, with either option described as ‘easily recyclable’ at end-of-life. Its size can also be fully customized to accommodate different pre-roll sizes and quantities.

Additionally, it is compatible with various print finishes and embellishments, such as hot stamping, spot UV, and soy-based inks.

Now Contempo hopes to provide cannabis producers and retailers with a pre-roll pack that balances safety with recyclability and ‘a familiar package style that consumers love’.

“Since Contempo began serving the cannabis industry in 2017, we’ve received countless customer requests for a truly sustainable child-resistant box that opens like a traditional cigarette box,” said Michael Markarian, CEO of Contempo Specialty Packaging. “Utilizing plastic parts for the hinge would have been the easy answer, but that runs counter to our mission of sustainability.

“With our 100% paperboard child-resistant cigarette box, we’re elated to fill a niche in the cannabis packaging market and bring producers another innovative, beautiful, sustainable, and child-resistant packaging option that measures up to the care and quality they bring to their cannabis.”

All the way back in 2020, we spoke to Rich Quelch, global head of marketing at Origin, about the child safety measures implemented into cannabis packaging: the regulatory standards in place, the relevant labelling requirements, and the common trends.

Hoffmann Neopac went on to reveal a fully metal version of its high-barrier, child-resistant tins for dry and semi-dry cannabis products; this was intended to boost the pack’s recyclability and improve its protective qualities.

In a more recent development, Keystone Folding Box Co. produced a child-resistant blister wallet for hard tablets. Featuring push-through opening, the pack was designed to be smaller and utilize less material – claiming to consume 75% less plastic than plastic bottles while containing the same amount of product.

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