Light 50-60 GSM vs heavy 100-120 GSM honeycomb paper: the real differences

Light honeycomb paper (50 to 60 GSM) gives you more metres for every kilo you buy and folds closely around small, curved items, but its cells crush and tear sooner. Heavy honeycomb paper (100 to 120 GSM) gives stiffer cells, fewer tears and fewer turns on heavy items, but each roll weighs more than twice as much and it can feel stiff on small products.

Most buyers end up in the middle.

Knowing the two ends well is the best way to choose that middle with confidence.

We make honeycomb paper from 50 to 120 GSM in Jaipur, and we check the GSM of every lot we produce, so both ends of the range run on our own lines. GSM simply means grams per square metre of the flat paper. Everything below follows from that one number.

What a roll weighs at each end

This is plain arithmetic, so you can check every line. Paper weight of a roll = GSM x flat width in metres x flat length in metres. The die-cut slits do not remove paper, so the weight stays the same after cutting.

These figures are for the paper only. Add the core and the wrapping to get the weight on your scale.

Roll length is fixed in flat metres, and with our cut a 250 m flat roll opens to about 400 m. Heavy paper does not give you more wrap per roll.

It gives you stronger wrap, at a higher weight.

What changes on the packing table?

The light end:

1. The paper folds tightly around small and curved items like jewellery boxes, small jars and cosmetic tubes.
2. Each roll is light. A packer can lift a 380 mm roll of 50 GSM onto a dispenser easily, many times a day.
3. It is more likely to tear at the start of a pull, especially if the dispenser brake is set tight.
4. Its cells flatten sooner under a heavy product, so you need more turns.

The heavy end:

1. The cells stand up firmly and spring back after a knock.
2. It resists tearing at the slit ends, even when packers pull hard.
3. It needs a firmer pull to open, so the dispenser brake usually needs setting differently.
4. On a small item it can feel stiff and stand away from the product instead of hugging it.

I think the last point is the one people miss. Heavy grade is not automatically safer. A wrap that does not sit close to a small product lets it move inside the wrap, and movement is what breaks things.

The fair way to compare them

Do not compare one turn of 50 GSM with one turn of 120 GSM. That is not a fair fight, and I would never choose a grade on it. Compare equal paper weight instead.

Four turns of 60 GSM puts about 240 grams of paper per square metre around the product. So do two turns of 120 GSM. Same paper, very different behaviour. The thin version gives you four rows of small, soft cells. The thick version gives you two rows of stiff cells.

Which one protects your product better is a question for a drop test, not for a table. Here is how I would run it.

1. Wrap your product once with 4 turns of the light grade, and once with 2 turns of the heavy grade.
2. Pack both in the same carton with the same void fill.
3. Drop each 5 times from waist height: flat, on an edge, and on a corner.
4. Open both and look at the product and the paper. Crushed, flat cells tell you the paper was too light for the load.
5. Time how long each wrap took. Fewer turns is faster, and on a busy day that matters too.

Freight and storage

Grade changes the weight of everything you ship and store. When we load a container, the grade decides how heavy it gets.

Take our standard export roll, 380 mm x 250 m, which we pack 40 rolls to a pallet. At 50 GSM, that is about 190 kg of paper per pallet. At 120 GSM, it is about 456 kg. A full 40 ft container of 1,600 rolls holds about 7.6 tonnes of paper at 50 GSM, and about 18.2 tonnes at 120 GSM.

One caution. Heavier paper is also thicker, so the same 250 m makes a fatter roll. Before you plan a container of a heavy grade, ask your supplier to confirm the roll diameter and the rolls per pallet in writing. And check that the roll still fits your dispenser, using our note on core size and roll diameter.

When I would pick each end

I would pick a light grade for:

1. Small, light products where the wrap mainly stops scuffs.
2. Wrapping several small items in one parcel.
3. Sellers who want the most wrap per kilo and pack with plenty of turns anyway.

I would pick a heavy grade for:

1. Heavy glass bottles, stoneware and heavy home decor.
2. Products where packers wrap fast and pull hard, so tearing is a daily problem.
3. Benches where fewer turns per order saves real time.

For everything in between, a middle grade is usually the answer. Our GSM guide helps you pick it by product weight, and our note on how much paper each order uses helps you price the difference per order.

A rule of the trade

Buyers compare grades by price per roll. I would compare them by paper per order. A cheaper, lighter roll that needs extra turns, or tears so packers wrap twice, often costs more per parcel than the heavier roll it replaced. Buyers who switch to a weaker roll to save money usually come back to us for exactly this reason.

If you want to run the equal-weight test, ask for a light and a heavy sample through our contact page. Our quality page shows the GSM, moisture and roll weight checks we run on every lot.