Labeling E-Cigarettes and E-Liquid
Electronic cigarettes (e-Cigs) are a booming industry, and they have very specific challenges when it comes to labelling. For example, most vendors offer various "nicotine strengths" and certainly many different flavors - all of which adds up to lots of different labels in varying quantities. This challenge is perfectly suited to digital label printing, which is all we do here at Wizard Labels. Whether you are looking to print labels for e-Cigs or e-Liquid (the 'juice' that produces the vapor), we can help. Here are some tips particularly relevant to the "vaping" industry (as it is sometimes known):
Multi-versioning - As vapers all know, there are thousands of flavors available in various sized containers - from 5ml through 30ml being the most typical. But that's just the beginning - because all these products are also available in a range of nicotine strengths, so the labeling challenge is significant when you take all these variations into account. If you went to a traditional label printer, the plate costs alone would bankrupt the average e-liquid vendor, but digital printing makes it much more manageable financially and logistically. As long as you "group" all the labels of a single size together, you get the combined pricing for all those variations. We then run all those versions at the same time, and you can even vary the quantities - some versions may sell better than others, so you can freely mix the quantities within the run.
For example, if your order is for a total of 2,500 labels spread across 5 different versions, you might want 1,000 of one version, 500 each of the next two versions and 250 each for the remaining two versions (or some other logical breakdown to suit your business needs). We can usually be quite flexible in this way, but there are some practical implications if the quantities are completely randomized with no logical groupings. For example, asking for one version of 275 labels and another of 225 makes the production process more complicated, and may involve significant waste as well - which is something we try to avoid if possible to minimize our environmental impact.
Why is this important? - because we print multiple versions side-by-side across the raw material, so having equal numbers wherever practicable is much more efficient in every way. Does that mean all versions need to be the same quantity?- no... just that we may want to work with you and even some of them out if possible. This usually only becomes necessary when we receive an order for many versions and the specific quantities are likely to create unnecessary waste (or extra time to break down in production). In such cases, we'll reach out and see if there's an acceptable compromise. The adhesion challenge - Many of the smaller e-liquid bottles are a label's worst nightmare, due to the narrow diameter of the bottle which makes adequate adhesion more difficult than (say) a flat container. This is the same challenge we see with lip balm sticks - the labels can have a tendency to "unfurl" and become unstuck over time, and there are a couple of tricks that can make this less likely (see the image below). First, the adhesive on the labels themselves needs to be more aggressive to stay in place, and second it can help if you design your labels with a slight overlap area (so that the label wraps around the small bottle and sticks to itself). To make matters worse, many vapers carry their "supplies" in their pockets, so paper-based labels are not a good solution - they can tend to deteriorate very quickly.
We have a great solution to both of these problems at the same time, called "Tight Mandrel BOPP" material - it's a polypropylene label stock which is extremely resistant to wear and tear (and moisture), plus it has a stronger adhesive to achieve a better bond with the container. Note - as the bottle size increases, the need for these special tricks begins to diminish - but on smaller bottles it's almost an essential part of the process if you want your labels to stay in place and look good.
Cleanliness and Godliness - Okay, let's concede that there might be some debate about whether vaping is a mortal sin, but cleanliness is a big issue for e-liquid vendors (during manufacturing as well as labeling). If the bottle surfaces come in contact with the juice before labeling, the labels will have difficulty adhering properly - so make sure your containers are clean and free of any contamination when you apply the labels. Also, it's quite likely that your customers may spill some juice down the sides of the bottles during use, which just reinforces the need to avoid paper and use a robust label material (as mentioned above).