What Is Soft Pack Packaging? How SASIB Machines Produce It

Soft pack machines are typically built around specific pack dimensions. The SASIB 3000, for example, is configured for 84mm and 100mm packs with squared corners, while the SASIB 5000 is built for 100mm soft pack production. If your product lineup includes multiple sizes, confirm which machine's configuration matches your actual pack dimensions before choosing between them, since a machine set up for one format doesn't automatically handle another without reconfiguration.

Not every cigarette pack is built the same way. Alongside the familiar rigid hard pack, many markets still rely heavily on soft pack cigarettes, a format with its own production requirements and its own dedicated machinery. If you're setting up a line that includes soft pack production, understanding what actually goes into it helps you choose the right equipment from the start. Here's what soft pack packaging involves, and how machines like the SASIB 3000 and SASIB 5000 produce it.

What Makes a Soft Pack Different

A soft pack is exactly what it sounds like: a flexible paperboard pack rather than a rigid hinge-lid box. Instead of a hard outer shell, cigarettes are wrapped in a foldable paper or foil-lined structure, often finished with an outer wrapping layer for protection and shelf presentation. This construction requires different folding, sealing, and wrapping mechanisms than a hard pack machine uses, which is why soft pack production runs on its own dedicated equipment rather than a shared platform.

How the Packaging Process Works

Soft pack production generally follows this sequence:

1. Finished cigarettes arrive from the cigarette making machine at the correct count per pack
2. The soft pack machine folds and forms the flexible pack structure around the cigarettes
3. The pack is wrapped, commonly in alufoil and label wrapping, to seal and finish it
4. Packs move on to cartoning and outer case packing for shipping

Machines like the SASIB 3000 and SASIB 5000 handle the core folding and wrapping stage of this process, built specifically for the flexible pack structure rather than a rigid box.

Format and Size Range

Soft pack machines are typically built around specific pack dimensions. The SASIB 3000, for example, is configured for 84mm and 100mm packs with squared corners, while the SASIB 5000 is built for 100mm soft pack production. If your product lineup includes multiple sizes, confirm which machine's configuration matches your actual pack dimensions before choosing between them, since a machine set up for one format doesn't automatically handle another without reconfiguration.

Why Wrapping Method Matters

The finishing wrap on a soft pack does more than hold it together. Alufoil wrapping, used across the SASIB soft pack range, helps protect the cigarettes inside from moisture and keeps the pack looking finished on shelf. This is a different consideration from hard pack production, where the rigid shell itself provides much of that structural protection, and it's part of why soft pack lines need their own wrapping stage built into the machine rather than relying on a downstream overwrapper alone.

Where the SASIB Boxer Fits In

If your line also produces cartons or outer packaging alongside soft packs, a machine like the SASIB Boxer handles that separate stage, building and sealing the outer carton that groups multiple soft packs together for distribution. This sits downstream of the soft pack machine itself, and it's a separate piece of equipment with its own role in the line rather than part of the soft pack forming process.

Who Actually Needs Soft Pack Equipment

Not every manufacturer needs to invest in soft pack machinery. It's worth considering specifically when:

• Your target market has strong existing demand for soft pack cigarettes
• You're launching a product line where soft pack is the standard format for that category
• You want to offer both hard pack and soft pack options without limiting your product range

If your factory is exclusively producing hard pack cigarettes for now, this is equipment you can plan for later rather than build into your initial setup.

Talk to Us About Your Packing Line

Choosing between hard pack and soft pack equipment, or planning for both, depends on your target market and product strategy as much as it does on machine specs. At Civic Tobacco Machinery, we help manufacturers work through what their actual packing line needs, not just which machine has the highest speed rating. Reach out to us and we'll help you plan it out.

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