CN114728728B

CN114728728B - Smoking article wrapper

Info

Publication number: CN114728728B
Application number: CN202080082204.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: R·波洛尼; A·塔基; G·甘贝里尼
Original assignee: GD SpA
Current assignee: GD SpA
Priority date: 2019-11-27
Filing date: 2020-11-05
Publication date: 2024-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2040-11-05
Also published as: CN114728728A; KR20220104720A; WO2021105802A1; EP4065487A1

Abstract

A smoking article wrapper (10) is described, of the type comprising: -groups of smoking articles (P); -an inner wrapper (2) wrapped around the group of smoking articles (P) and comprising an opening (2') for extracting the smoking articles; -an outer shell (4) containing the group of smoking articles (P) wrapped in the inner wrapper (2), wherein the outer shell (4) is made from a blank (100), the blank (100) being folded so as to define: -a container (4A) which is cup-shaped and has an upper opening (4'); -a lid (4B) which is cup-shaped and hinged to the container (4A) so as to be movable between an open position and a closed position; -a label (8) applied to the extraction opening (2') and attached to the cap (4B) by means of an adhesive (7). The package is characterized in that it comprises a layer (50) of absorbent material for gluing the label (8) to the cover (4B) of the casing (4).

Description

Smoking article wrapper

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a smoking article wrapper.

The present invention may be advantageously applied to a cigarette pack to which the following description will explicitly refer without loss of generality.

Background

It should be noted that reference will be made herein indiscriminately to specific examples of "cigarettes" rather than to the more general expression "smoking articles", without however losing the generality associated with other types of articles such as leaf cigarettes, cigarettes or cigarillos, electronic cigarettes or ecgis, auxiliary products such as filters, filler materials for ecgis, and other tobacco-based products or with alternatives or tobacco substitute components.

Rigid smoking article packages of the hinge-lid type are known with reference to document WO2008/142540 owned by the same applicant.

Packages of the type in question have: an outer cup-shaped container having an open upper end and a lid shaped like a cup and hinged to the outer container to rotate relative to the outer container itself between an open position at the open upper end and a closed position; an inner wrapper contained within the container, enclosing the cigarettes, and having an opening for extracting the cigarettes, the opening being closed by a closure label.

The closure tab is secured to the cover such that by opening or closing the lid, the extraction opening is simultaneously opened and closed by the closure tab. For this purpose, the label is coated at least partially on the inside with a repositionable adhesive material (e.g., pressure sensitive adhesive).

Packages of the type in question are increasingly used, as they allow the smoking articles contained therein to be preserved better and longer.

The closure labels used in these packages are labels made of plastics material, whereas the blanks from which the outer container is formed are made of cardboard. In order to attach the closure label to the lid, water-based adhesives are used as this type of adhesive, allowing the relative position of the label and the folded blank to be adjusted during the manufacturing stage of the package.

In order to improve the package from an aesthetic point of view and with the aim of meeting market demands, a "laminated" blank should be used for producing a package of the type described hereinabove. In particular, these blanks comprise a coating of a cardboard layer with a layer of plastic material or metallic material: for example, the coating layer may be a film made of PET, metallized PET (MET PET), polypropylene, aluminum, or a finish layer transferred or sprayed onto the card surface (e.g., vacuum metallized or transfer metallized). The coating allows to achieve aesthetic effects that are not obtainable with common cardboard.

However, since the label (which, as mentioned, is made of plastic material) must be glued to the outer layer of the blank, the use of these "laminated" blanks involves the fact that two materials that cannot absorb water-based adhesives must be glued together: thus, it is not possible to fasten the label to the "laminated" blank in a reasonable time.

This problem can be solved by using a hot adhesive; however, a thermal adhesive is unsuitable because, by instantaneously fixing the label to the blank, it does not allow adjustment of the lid relative to the label during the step of manufacturing the package. This results in undesirable aesthetic effects that do not meet the required quality standards: for example, a crease in the label or inner wrapper or a slightly raised cap that is misaligned with respect to the container.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to provide an article package that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a smoking article wrapper of the type described hereinabove (i.e. having a closure label secured to the lid), and which is improved from an aesthetic point of view, in particular being more attractive in the consumer's eye.

At the same time, it is an object of the invention to produce packages of high quality in terms of robustness and manufacturing accuracy.

The object indicated above is achieved by means of a package solution having the characteristics mentioned in claim 1. The invention also relates to a method according to claim 14. The claims form an integral part of the present disclosure provided herein.

As will be seen in detail below, the packaging solution described herein allows the use of sheets or blanks formed of plastic or metallic materials to produce the outer shells of the packages, such as, for example, PET, metallized PET (MET PET), polypropylene, aluminum, etc., which allows for aesthetic effects not obtainable with common cardboard sheets.

The indicated materials share the fact that: they are non-absorbent, reference liquid or paste-like materials.

This aspect makes it impossible to replace the usual cardboard blanks with blanks made of the indicated materials, as these materials involve forming packages that do not meet the required quality criteria; in other words, the attachment of the label to the wrapper lid does not meet the required specifications.

In fact, as previously mentioned, the presence of non-absorbent materials creates problems in terms of the gluing step of the adhesive label to the cover of the outer casing. This operation is typically performed by using a liquid-based cold adhesive (typically, a water-based adhesive): the gluing process does not take place immediately, but is activated only when its liquid component starts to decrease, for example due to absorption. In the application in question, this aspect is exploited to allow minor adjustments in position to be made to the outer housing and the label, even after they are glued together.

However, on blanks with non-absorbent materials, the liquid component of the adhesive is not absorbed and the adhesive is difficult to activate (or rather, the crosslinking process starts) requiring an extremely long time, which is not compatible with industrial processes.

To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, it is theoretically possible to envisage using a hot adhesive instead of a cold adhesive. However, the applicant is able to demonstrate that the use of a hot adhesive completely eliminates the possibility of subjecting the label and the cover of the outer casing to adjustment in terms of position, so that the obtained packages have a higher inaccuracy and a lower production quality compared to the production of packages with cardboard blanks and gluing with liquid-based adhesives (in particular, water-based adhesives).

According to the present invention, in order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, the packaging solution described herein provides an absorbent material layer on the label or on the cover of the outer casing, the absorbent material layer being designed to define the label-to-cover connection zone or the cover-to-label connection zone, and an adhesive is applied on said connection zone.

The absorbent material layer is arranged in combination with a non-absorbent material from which the label or outer casing of the package is made, and serves to absorb the liquid component of the adhesive during formation of the package so that the adhesive can be activated.

As will be seen in detail below, with respect to known solutions, the indicated layer of absorbent material may be an additional material that also constitutes the final structure of the label or the outer shell. Alternatively, and with specific reference to an embodiment in which the layer of absorbent material is arranged on the outer shell, the layer of absorbent material may instead be obtained from the same cardboard material used to form the outer shell.

Drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description, with reference to the attached drawings, which are provided by way of non-limiting example only, wherein:

Figure 1 shows an example of a package according to the invention from an isometric view;

figure 2 shows the inner wrapper of the wrapper of figure 1 extracted from the outer shell;

Figure 3 shows a blank of the outer shell of the package of figure 1;

Fig. 4A, 4B and 4C show different examples of embodiments of the label of the package of fig. 1;

Figure 5 shows in cross-section a detail of the package of figure 1 according to a first embodiment of the invention;

figure 6 shows a blank of the outer shell of the package of figure 1 according to a second embodiment of the invention;

fig. 7 shows a detail of the package of fig. 1 according to a second embodiment, according to an isometric view.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. Embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the embodiments.

The numbering used herein is for convenience only and thus does not limit the scope of the protection or the embodiments.

Referring to fig. 1, 2 and 3, the wrapper described herein (indicated in its entirety by reference numeral 10) comprises an inner wrapper 2 enclosing a group of cigarettes P and an outer housing 4 containing the group of cigarettes P enclosed in the inner wrapper 2.

The outer shell 4 is composed of a folded sheet (commonly referred to as a "blank") defining:

A cup-shaped container 4A, in particular having a bottom 40, a front wall 41, a rear wall 42 and two opposite side walls 43 (only one of which is visible in the figures); and

Cup-shaped cover 4B, in particular having an upper wall 44, a front wall 45, a rear wall 46 and two opposite side walls 47.

Lid 4B is hinged to container 4A about a folding line I so as to be movable between a closed position in which group of cigarettes P wrapped in inner wrapper 2 is completely enclosed inside the casing formed by container 4A and lid 4B, and an open position in which lid 4B is folded towards the rear side of the wrapper, exposing inner wrapper 2 and group of cigarettes P to the external environment. The cigarettes rise above the walls 41, 42 and 43 of the container 4A through an upper opening 4' defined by the upper edge of the same wall.

The inner wrapper 2 wraps the group of cigarettes P so as to completely enclose the group of cigarettes P in the inner wrapper 2, and has a cut-out portion 2A, the cut-out portion 2A being positioned on an upper end of the group of cigarettes P, and an opening 2' is obtained with the cut-out portion 2A so as to extract the cigarettes.

The wrapper 10 further comprises an adhesive label 8, the adhesive label 8 being applied to the inner wrapper 2 so as to completely cover the portion 2A. For reasons that will become apparent, the adhesive that covers the label 8 on the side intended to be applied to the wrapper 2 is divided into a permanent adhesive (which is positioned on the portion 2A) and a repositionable adhesive (e.g. a pressure adhesive) that is instead positioned on the surrounding portion of the label. In addition, the portion of the label 8 secured to the back of the inner wrapper 2 may be provided with a permanent adhesive or a repositionable adhesive.

The label 8 has a substantially rectangular outline and is applied over the upper end of the inner wrapper 2 so as to extend partially over the front and back sides of the wrapper 2. The label 8 is attached to the front wall 45 of the cover 4B, wherein its end portion is positioned on the front side of the inner wrapper 2.

In this way, displacing the lid 4B from the closed position to the open position (and displacing the lid 4B from the open position to the closed position) simultaneously causes lifting and lowering, respectively, of the label 8 and, as a result, also opening and closing of the extraction opening 2'; the portion 2A follows the tag 8 in virtually the same movement, thereby being attached to the tag 8 by means of a permanent adhesive.

On the other hand, the repositionable adhesive allows to guarantee the resealing of the wrap 2.

The wrapper 2 may be constructed from a sheet of heat sealable material or a multi-layer sheet (i.e. blank) with a base layer of paper or cardboard for producing a hermetically sealed wrapper. In addition, it should be noted that the opening 2' of the inner wrapper 2 may be obtained by means of through openings in the heat-sealable sheet or in the blank from which the inner wrapper 2 is made.

The cover 4B and the label 8 have respective areas A1 and A2 for their interconnection, the areas A1 and A2 being attached to each other by means of an adhesive 7 layer. The adhesive 7 used is either a cold adhesive or a liquid-based adhesive (in particular, water-based) activated by absorption (i.e., removal) of liquid components, resulting from the advantages discussed hereinabove.

In a manner known per se, the label 8 is made of one or more layers of plastic material (for example PET and/or polypropylene) to exhibit a mechanical behaviour of the elastic type, which allows the label 8 to deform during the movement of the cover 4B, but without undergoing permanent plastic deformation.

As anticipated above, in the packages described herein, the outer housing 4 comprises a plastic material or a metal material on the outside to provide a specific aesthetic appearance to the housing.

For example, the sheet or blank 100 (see fig. 3) forming the housing may comprise PET, metallized PET (MET PET), polypropylene, or aluminum.

In a preferred embodiment, the blank 100 has a multi-layered structure consisting of a cardboard sheet 101 and a sheet 103 of plastic material or metal material coupled to the cardboard sheet 101.

In an alternative embodiment, the blank 100 instead consists of a cardboard sheet prepared with a coating of plastic material or metal material made by a printing process or an equivalent process for the transfer of a layer of material.

By way of example, the cardboard sheet may be of the SBS or FBB type and may have a thickness between 300 and 400 microns and a density between 200 g/m ² and 270 g/m ².

The sheet of plastic material and metal material coupled to the sheet of cardboard may have a thickness between 6 microns and 30 microns. In the case of plastic or metal coatings, this may have a thickness of less than 1 micrometer.

The blank 100 has two opposite faces, only one of which defines the outer surface of the housing 4, and this will be the face defined by the layer of plastics material or metallic material, i.e. the upper face 100A of the example of reference to fig. 3.

Still referring to fig. 3, the blank 100 has a predetermined profile and a series of predetermined fold lines to allow the shell 4 to be obtained by a predetermined sequence of folding operations performed on the blank.

Referring now to fig. 1 and 3, it will be noted that the front wall 45 of the cover 4B of the housing is formed by: a portion 102 of the blank defining an outer surface of the wall; and an end flap 104 folded against the inside of the portion 102 to reinforce the structure of the cover and to form a lower edge thereof (with a fold line, rather than a cut line).

Due to the flap 104, it is found that the plastic/metallic material defining the face 100A of the blank is also formed in the housing 4 on the inner surface of the front wall 45 of its cover 4B, in particular precisely at the zone in which the label 8 has to be glued (i.e. in the connection zone A1 of the cover 4B).

Unlike paper or cardboard, which may be considered absorbent materials, the plastic/metal materials indicated above are non-absorbent materials. Incidentally, it should be noted that the term "absorbent" (and similarly, the term "non-absorbent") as used in this discussion will be understood in a general manner as the ability of a material to absorb a liquid or pasty substance. For the applications described herein, single layer materials (in particular, paper) have proven to be particularly suitable. Preferably, the layer of absorbent paper material is uncoated. Preferably, the absorbent material layer is a single layer of paper material having a high internal resistance (in other words, the resistance to delamination of the paper layer must be greater than or equal to the bonding strength of the layer to the cover 4B and/or to the label 8).

In view of the above, it will be noted that, without additional measures, both the connection zone A1 of the cover 4B with the label 8 and the zone A2 connecting the label 8 with the cover 4B will be defined by non-absorbent materials, which will create problems discussed at the beginning with respect to the gluing of the two components.

To overcome this drawback, the wrapper solution described herein comprises a layer 50 of absorbent material specifically designed to at least partially define one or the other of the two connection areas A1 and A2.

Preferably, the area of the absorbent material layer 50 is equal to or greater than the area of one of the two attachment zones A1, A2. In other words, the adhesive 7 is arranged only at the layer of absorbent material 50.

Alternatively, the area of the absorbent material layer 50 may be smaller than the area of one of the two attachment zones A1, A2. In this case, the adhesive 7 is arranged partly at the layer of absorbent material 50 and partly outside said layer of absorbent material 50.

Preferably, the absorbent material layer 50 is capable of absorbing liquid; in particular, the layer of absorbent material 50 is capable of absorbing a liquid-based (in particular, water-based) adhesive 7. Advantageously, the layer of absorbent material 50 facilitates the drying of the adhesive 7, while allowing the position of the label 8 to be adjusted during the wrapper manufacturing method.

According to a preferred embodiment, the layer of absorbent material 50 is made of a paper material. Advantageously, the layer of absorbent material 50 allows the absorption of the adhesive in order to facilitate its drying and at the same time is economical. In particular, the absorbent material layer is a single layer of paper material having a high internal resistance (in other words, the resistance to delamination of the paper layer must be greater than or equal to the bonding strength of the layer to the cover 4B or to the label 8). Preferably, the layer of absorbent paper material is uncoated.

According to a first embodiment of the invention (see fig. 4A, 4B, 4C), the label 8 is arranged with a layer of absorbent material 50, the layer of absorbent material 50 at least partially defining the attachment zone A2, and the layer of absorbent material 50 is permanently coupled to a sheet of plastic material constituting the basic structure of the label (indicated by reference numeral 80 in these figures). Layer 50 is disposed on the side of sheet 80 facing attachment zone A1 (FIG. 5). Preferably, the absorbent layer 50 is composed of a paper sheet.

The absorbent layer 50 may cover the entire side of the sheet 80 (fig. 4A), or the absorbent layer 50 may cover only one or more predefined areas (fig. 4B and 4C).

In this regard, fig. 4A illustrates an example of an embodiment of the label 8 in which the layer 50 completely covers the sheet 80 of plastic material. On the other hand, fig. 4B illustrates an example as follows: wherein the layer 50 has a limited extension to define substantially only the attachment zone A2 and is proximate to an end edge 81 of the sheet 80 in which such zone is provided and is positioned along such end edge 81. Fig. 4C illustrates yet another example: wherein the layer 50 used in the example of fig. 2 is combined with another layer 50 '(preferably belonging to the same material as the layer 50) positioned on the opposite edge 81' of the sheet 81 and having the function of causing at this zone the total thickness of the label to be exactly the same as the thickness at the edge 81 where the first layer 50 is applied. This arrangement facilitates handling of the labels 8 during production of the packages, allowing in particular the production of label rolls having a regular cylindrical geometry as the usual rolls of material used in the field of interest herein. The same advantage is obtained with the label 8 illustrated by the embodiment of fig. 4A but by using more material.

In any event, it may be noted that the layers 50 and/or 50' exemplified by the embodiments of fig. 4A-4C may be coupled to the sheet 80 during a production cycle of a supplier of the sheet 80 or directly in a package forming machine.

In a preferred embodiment, the label 8 has a multilayer laminate structure formed by a sheet of plastic material 80 and a sheet of paper 50, the sheet of plastic material 80 and the sheet of paper 50 being joined (by means of a permanent adhesive) as a result of the lamination process.

In an alternative embodiment, the paper sheet 50 is instead an adhesive sheet applied to a sheet of plastic material.

As discussed above, the absorbent material layer 50 has the following functions: when this layer of absorbent material 50 is applied to the attachment zone A1 or A2 during the process of forming the wrapper in order to fasten the cover 4B and the label 8 to each other, the layer of absorbent material 50 absorbs the liquid component of the adhesive in order to allow activation thereof. Obviously, the structural characteristics of the layer 50 responsible for its absorption capacity (in particular, thickness and density) can be chosen according to the requirements of the individual application. By way of example, for some applications, the paper sheet is used at a thickness of between 30 microns and 80 microns and a density of between 25 g/m ² and 70 g/m ². Preferably, the paper sheet is an uncoated monolayer having a high internal resistance (in other words, the resistance to delamination of the paper layer must be greater than or equal to the bonding strength of the layer to the cover 4B and/or to the label 8).

Furthermore, with reference to the example of embodiment of fig. 4A, in which the layer 50 completely covers the sheet of plastic material, in any case the thickness of the layer 50 must be limited (but in any case in order to ensure the absorption of the adhesive 7) so as not to alter the elastic behaviour imparted to the label by the plastic sheet. Advantageously, the embodiment of fig. 4C is particularly advantageous because the central portion of the label 8 is not provided with an absorbent layer in order to maintain the usual flexible properties of conventional labels 8.

According to an alternative embodiment, not illustrated, the label 8 comprises a sheet 80 of plastic material, the sheet 80 of plastic material being completely (or almost completely) covered by the layer 50 of absorbent material (in particular, paper) in a similar way as the label 8 illustrated in fig. 4A. However, this embodiment, not shown, envisages that the layer 50 is attached (by means of a permanent adhesive) to the plastic sheet 80 only at the edges 81, 81'. Advantageously, in this embodiment, the elastic behaviour of the label 8 is not altered, since the central portion of the label 8 is not reinforced by the layer 50.

According to an alternative embodiment to the one described hereinabove (see fig. 6 and 7), the outer shell 4 has a layer 50 of absorbent material designed to define the attachment zone A1. In this case, the tag 8 may be made in a conventional manner and therefore be formed solely of a plastic (non-absorbent) material.

On the blank 100, the layer 50 is arranged on the face 100A, and in particular on the flap 104, to define at least one portion of the inner surface of the front wall 45 of the cover 4B in the formed shell.

According to this embodiment, it is preferred that the layer 50 is contained within the perimeter of the flap 104 so as to be invisible on the outer surface of the formed housing.

Similar to what has been described hereinabove, layer 50 is preferably a paper sheet. Layer 50 may be comprised of a sheet of paper applied to flap 104 of blank 100. The paper sheet may be adhesive or glued to the flap 104 of the blank 100.

Alternatively, the layer 50 may be constructed from the same cardboard base layer that makes up the blank 100, leaving only the flap 104 uncovered on the face 100A to define the attachment zone A1.

For this embodiment, it is preferred to use a blank consisting of a cardboard sheet with a coating of plastic material or metal material produced by means of a printing process, since this type of process easily allows to create empty areas in the coating in predetermined positions.

In view of the above, it may be noted that the package 10 according to the described embodiments does not require any particular modification of the package forming machine for its production, but only the supply of the machine with new material as described hereinabove.

According to another embodiment of the second embodiment of the invention (not shown), the layer of absorbent material 50 arranged to at least partially define the attachment zone A1 is obtained on the shell 4 by means of an additional folded flap carried on the flap 104, which additional folded flap is arranged so as to face the cardboard layer of the blank 100 towards the attachment zone A2. Unlike the previous examples, this additional embodiment obviously requires an additional folding operation directly performed by the package forming machine, as well as a different glue pattern.

Of course, without prejudice to the principle of the invention, the construction details and the embodiments may vary, even significantly, with respect to those illustrated herein by way of non-limiting example only, without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the annexed claims.

Claims

1. A smoking article wrapper (1) of the type comprising:

-groups of smoking articles (P);

-an inner wrapper (2) wrapped around the group of smoking articles (P) and comprising an opening (2') for extracting the smoking articles;

-an outer shell (4) containing the group of smoking articles (P) wrapped in the inner wrapper (2), wherein the outer shell (4) is made from a blank (100), the blank (100) being folded so as to define:

-a container (4A) which is cup-shaped and has an upper opening (4');

-a lid (4B) which is cup-shaped and hinged to the container (4A) so as to be movable between an open position and a closed position;

-a label (8) applied on the opening (2 '), and the label (8) is attached to the cover (4B) by means of an adhesive (7) in such a way that movement of the cover (4B) from the closed position to the open position and movement from the open position to the closed position simultaneously causes opening and closing of the opening (2') by means of the label (8), respectively;

Wherein the label (8) and the cover (4B) are mutually attached at opposite connection areas (A1, A2),

Wherein the adhesive (7) is a liquid-based adhesive,

The package is characterized in that it has a layer (50) of absorbent material, said layer (50) of absorbent material being provided on the label (8) or on the cover (4B) so as to at least partially define the zone (A2) of the label (8) to the cover (4B) or the zone (A1) of the label (8) to the cover (4B), and the adhesive being applied to the zone (A2) of the label (8) to the cover (4B) or the zone (A1) of the cover (4B) to the label (8).

2. A package according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive (7) is a water-based adhesive.

3. The wrapper according to claim 1, wherein the label (8) comprises a sheet of plastic material (80) and the layer of absorbent material (50) permanently coupled to the sheet of plastic material (80), the layer of absorbent material (50) at least partially defining the zone (A2) connecting the label (8) to the lid (4B).

4. A package according to claim 3, wherein the label (8) comprises a multilayer laminar structure made by a lamination process, the multilayer laminar structure being formed from a sheet (80) of plastic material and a sheet of paper.

5. A package according to claim 3, wherein the layer of absorbent material (50) is formed by a sheet of adhesive paper applied to the sheet of plastic material (80).

6. A package according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the layer of absorbent material (50) completely covers one side of the sheet of plastic material (80).

7. The wrapper according to claim 6, wherein the layer of absorbent material (50) is attached to the sheet of plastic material (80) entirely or exclusively along a first end edge (81) of the sheet of plastic material (80) and to the sheet of plastic material (80) along a second end edge (81') opposite to the first end edge (81).

8. A package according to claim 3, wherein the label (8) comprises: -said layer of absorbent material at or adjacent to a first end edge (81) of said sheet of plastic material (80) and along said first end edge (81), at least partially defining said zone (A2) for connecting said label (8) to said cover (4B); and a further additional material layer (50 ') located at a second end edge (81 ') opposite the first end edge (81) or adjacent to the second end edge (81 ') and along the second end edge (81 ') for defining the same thickness of the label (8) in which the absorbent material layer (50) and the further additional material layer (50 ') are applied.

9. A package according to claim 1, wherein the cover (4B) comprises a sheet of paper applied to the cover (4B) so as to at least partially define the zone (A1) for connecting the cover (4B) to the label (8).

10. A package according to claim 1, wherein the blank (100) comprises a base layer (101) of absorbent material provided with a coating (103) of non-absorbent material, and wherein the coating has an empty zone exposing the underlying layer of absorbent material, said empty zone at least partially defining the zone (A1) for connecting the cover (4B) to the label (8).

11. The package according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the zone (A1) of connection of the lid (4B) is positioned on a front wall (45) of the lid (4B) and on the inside of the front wall (45).

12. The package according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the blank (100) comprises a base layer (101) made of cardboard and a layer (103) of plastic or metallic material applied on the base layer (101).

13. The package of any of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein both the label (8) and the blank (100) comprise non-absorbent material.

14. The wrapper according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the layer (50) of absorbent material is liquid absorbent.

15. A wrapper according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the layer (50) of absorbent material is a paper material.

16. The wrapper according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the layer of absorbent material (50) is capable of absorbing the adhesive (7).

17. A method for packaging a smoking article wrapper (10), comprising the steps of:

-providing groups of smoking articles (P);

-wrapping the group of smoking articles (P) with a wrapping sheet for forming an inner wrapper (2), the inner wrapper being wrapped around the group of smoking articles (P) and comprising an opening (2') for extracting the smoking articles (P);

-folding a blank (100) around the group of smoking articles wrapped in the inner wrapper (2) so as to form an outer shell (4), the outer shell (4) comprising a container (4A) and a lid (4B), the container (4A) being cup-shaped and having an upper opening (4'), the lid (4B) being cup-shaped and hinged to the container (4A) so as to be movable between an open position and a closed position;

-providing a label (8) on the opening (2 ') and attaching the label (8) to the cover (4B) by means of a liquid-based adhesive in such a way that movement of the cover (4B) from the closed position to the open position and movement from the open position to the closed position simultaneously causes opening and closing of the opening (2') by means of the label (8), respectively;

The method is characterized in that it comprises the following steps: -preparing a layer (50) of absorbent material on said label (8) or on said blank (100) to at least partially define a connection zone (A2) of said label (8) with said cover (4B) or a connection zone (A1) of said cover (4B) with said label (8),

-Applying an adhesive (7) at least on the connection area (A2) of the label (8) and the cover (4B) or at least on the connection area (A1) of the cover (4B) and the label (8).

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the liquid-based adhesive is a water-based adhesive (7).