Tips and information
Opening Packets
How do you open a Sugar Packet?
Use a sharp, thin blade such as a scalpel. Pierce only on the back and make a clean, small slit as close to the crimped edge as possible. Try not to tear or cut with scissors. Shake the sugar out and try not to wrinkle the packet. The cut should not show when mounted.
Wrappers which are glued, such as the French ones, need greater care and patience. Ease each one open gently with the back of a thin bladed knife, so that it does not cut the paper. Extract the sugar cubes as soon as possible and then each glued section can be gently eased apart with the fingers.
If it is only possible to open a packet by tearing, tear just a quarter of the way across and keep it whole. Try and keep all the pieces of a packet/wrapper as it is possible to repair it if a whole is unobtainable.
Different sorts of packets
The UKSC generally distinguishes four main times of sugar packet.
Lump - far fewer of these are produced today than was once the case. The sugar is in lumps and the wrapper is printed on only one side folded around the lumps. Generally the packet has two lumps. Some lump wrappers, in particular most Tate & Lyle ones, have a manufacturers reference number on.
Sachet - by far the most common today. The packet is usually sealed around all four edges by crimping. Some sachets are a single piece of paper folded along both edges. Sachets may have the same printing on both sides or be different. Sometimes there are minor variations on one side, such as printers marks and numbers.
Flat Stick - the same principle as a sachet but long and thin. They therefore have a crimped seal on all four edges and becuase of the relative size of the packet these take up far more of the space overall. As with sachets the two faces can be identical, subtly different, or completely different.
Stick - this is a tube shaped packet, although once empty it will lie flat. The tube is sealed at both ends and on the reverse. The reverse seal is usually in the middle running along the length and thus there is a folded flap. Generally only one side has significant writing or pictures on but the reverse often contains text given a name, website or other factual information.
However, packets can come in other shapes and sizes too, such as pyramids.
Buying and Selling
Does the Club buy or accept collections?
The club does not endorse the buying and selling of sugar packets as we wish to keep our hobby non profit making. For this reason no value is put on any packet and we will not pay for any collection. If you wish to sell the packets we suggest you use an Internet auction site.
If you just wish to dispose of the packets and would like to donate them to our club, we are happy to accept them for distribution to members. We will refund any postage for packets sent in the UK, if required.
Displaying
What is the best way to display packets?
Do not mount in such a way that will harm the packet, plastic sleeves are best, as used in cigarette card and coin albums and are available with 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 pockets per page and are ideal for collections as they show both sides of the packet.
Two articles were produced on this subject in Sweet Thoughts:
Organising a collection
As a person’s sugar packet collection grows they will need to organise it in some way. Whilst there may be different reasons people do this, three come to mind.
First, because it is what collectors do, it is probably in our genes, but generally we like to have such things organised and it gives us pleasure to see a well organised collection.
Secondly, because it makes it all the more interesting when we show other people (though sadly not all the people we show see it this way).
Thirdly, unless you have a photographic memory a collector needs to be able to check new acquisitions against the existing collection and this means having a system which allows us to know quickly where we would have filed a particular packet if we already had it.
The problem, of course, is that no matter what system you adopt there are always going to be packets which don’t quite fit or might legitimately be filed in more than one place.
See the article from Sweet Thoughts 53 to see the different ways people organise their collections.
The categories used on the UKSC SUGARCAT database are:
A Animals & Birds
B Plants (Trees, Flowers, Fruit & Vegetables)
C Sports
D Festivals (Christmas, Easter etc)
E Transport
F Facts & Sayings
G Places (Towns, Counties, Countries)
H Buildings, Statues & Landmarks
I Hotels & Pubs
J Restaurants & Shops' own wrappers
K Tourist venues & visitor attractions
L Catering Supplies
O Other Subjects
U Unidentified source or unknown category
Y Sugar companies own names
Z Generic names (“white sugar”, “demerara” etc)