In Canada, cigarettes are packaged and sold in packets of 20 and 25 cigarettes per package, generally in two distinctly-different types of package, with each cigarette usually having a length of 85 mm or 100 mm. For the 20 cigarette-size package, a hard-box hinge-lid package encloses the cigarettes and a cover hinged to a lower cigarette-retaining portion is used for opening the package to allow access to the cigarettes and for reclosing the package. The cigarettes are arranged in a single bundle or group in three parallel rows, the outer rows containing seven cigarettes and the middle row containing six cigarettes, with each of the cigarettes in the middle row engaging two of the cigarettes in each of the outer rows.
For the 25 cigarette-size package, however, the cigarettes are supported in an inner tray which is slidably-mounted in an outer sleeve so that access to the cigarettes is obtained by sliding of the inner tray part way out of the sleeve. The cigarettes are separated into two distinct bundles or groups, one group containing 12 cigarettes arranged in two parallel rows and the outer group containing 13 cigarettes arranged in two blocks of two parallel rows of three cigarettes each, separated by the odd cigarette, the respective parallel rows of the groups being in straight line alignment.
In some instances, 20 cigarette-size packages of the same type as the 25 cigarette-size package mentioned above are used, and in this instance, the two bundles of cigarettes have 10 cigarettes each arranged in two parallel rows.
One of the drawbacks to the current 25-cigarette packages is their bulkiness due to the two row arrangement of the cigarettes in the package, leading to the necessity of shirt-pocket storage and transportation with the package on its side. This storage arrangement, however, is possible only with 85 mm or shorter cigarettes since shirt pockets do not have a width dimention to accommodate longer cigarettes. Further when the package contains 85 mm cigarettes, and is stored in this way, their is usually insufficient residual room to allow storage of writing implements or matches as well in the shirt pocket.
Furthermore, storage and transportation of cigarettes on their side in this way leads to tobacco which has fallen out of the cigarettes being distributed over the cigarettes, leading commonly to tobacco particles on the outer surface of the cigarette filters, so that tobacco particles may enter the smoker's mouth unless the particles on the filter surface are carefully removed before the cigarette is placed in the smoker's mouth. Removal of these tobacco particles is a tedious chore for the smoker and entry of tobacco particles into the mouth is considered undesirable by many smokers.
Despite these drawbacks, a considerable number of smokers prefer to purchase cigarettes in units of 25 rather than 20, even though the 20-cigarette package may be stored and transported upright in a shirt pocket, so that any tobacco particles falling out of the cigarettes remain in the bottom of the package, and hence the filter-fouling problem does not arise.
Attempts to package 25 cigarettes in a hinge lid pack to take advantage of its unitary construction, compact form and lack of filter fouling by tobacco particles have not been successful since the increased width of package required to accommodate three rows of cigarettes in a single-bundle 25-cigarette array leads to the falling out of sight of cigarettes into the lower cigarette-retaining portion when only a few remain, giving the impression of an empty package and presenting difficulties in access to the cigarettes for removal from the package. This problem is more acute with the more-common 85 mm-length cigarettes as compared with the less-common 100 mm-length cigarettes. Where the tray-and-sleeve 25-cigarette package mentioned above is used, the accessibility problem does not arise, since simple sliding of the tray relative to the sleeve allows any remaining cigarette to be readily detected and removed. This package, however, has dimensional and other defects, as mentioned above.
Even in the case of the 20-cigarette package, when one or a few cigarettes remain, typically of 85 mm or less length, there is a falling out of sight of the cigarettes. Although access to these cigarettes is a minor problem as compared with the more severe problem of a 25-cigarette package, it nevertheless exists but has been tolerated by the art.
A further difficulty in packaging cigarettes in a three-row array in a hinge-lid pack arises from the need to have a cigarette located at each corner of the bundle for ease of wrapping of the bundle in foil paper to provide a cubic shape to the bundle. Thus, the outer rows of cigarettes must contain one more cigarette than the centre row and each cigarette in the centre row now must engage two cigarettes in each of the outer rows. These requirements allow only certain numbers of cigarettes to be provided in a single bundle, the number increasing by three for each increased size of bundle. The minimum number is five and the possible numbers of cigarettes include 20, 23 and 26, but not 25.
Thus, heretofore, there has never been provided a cigarette package of the hinge-lid type containing total numbers of cigarettes of 20 or more arranged in three rows and which allows all the cigarettes in the package to be visible and accessible irrespective of the number of cigarettes remaining in the package.