Single-ply labels run out of real estate fast. A 2-inch round label on a tincture bottle has maybe four square inches of usable area. Cannabis regulations alone can require warnings, ingredient lists, batch numbers, dosage instructions, and state-specific text, all in legible point sizes, and that's before the brand identity even gets a chance.
Peel-and-reveal solves this by adding a second printable layer underneath the front face. The consumer peels the top ply back at a hinge, reads the hidden copy, and presses the ply back down. Adhesive in the hinge zone is engineered to survive multiple peel cycles without losing tack.
The format is dominant in cannabis/CBD packaging, pharmaceuticals (where it's typically called a PIL, patient information leaflet, label), promotional instant-win game pieces, and sometimes premium spirits where extended provenance copy is part of the storytelling.
A typical peel-and-reveal has four functional zones stacked top-to-bottom:
The construction is built up at a converter. The customer sends two artwork files (top and base) plus the dieline. The converter laminates the layers together, applies the release coating, prints both layers, and die-cuts the finished label from a roll.
Where peel-and-reveal trips up prepress engines is the dieline. The PDF contains a Dieline layer with two structural paths:
| Path | What it cuts | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Outer | Full label die, cuts through all plies | The finished label size, what tooling is built for, what fits on the package |
| Inner | Peel score. Partial cut on top ply only | The boundary between the hinge zone and the release zone (where the peel starts) |
A naive engine that reads the first path as "the dieline" will pick up the inner path and report a label size that's smaller than the actual label. Often by 30% or more. The correct logic is: when two paths are present on the Dieline layer and the outer-vs-inner difference exceeds about 0.3 inches, treat the outer as the label and the inner as the peel score. The Preflight engine flags this with isPeelRevealDualPath: true and reports both dimensions separately.
Inner path mistaken for label size. The original symptom on a CBDistillery file: artwork text said "LABEL MEASURES 1.4375" × 8.8125"" but the engine reported 0.722" × 8.25", that was the peel score, not the label.
Hinge zone too small. The hinge needs to hold across multiple peel cycles. Too narrow (under 0.25") and the hinge tears off after a few opens. Templates from the converter (Primeflex, CCL, etc.) define the minimum hinge, don't override it.
Bleed inside the hinge. Artwork should not bleed into the hinge zone, the adhesive there is permanent, and ink interferes with the bond. The base ply needs a clean white margin where the top hinges down onto it.
Top ply artwork visible through release. If the top ply has heavy ink coverage near the peel score and the base ply is light, ink can show through during peel. Plan opacity carefully or add a white knockout under the dense areas.
Wrong layer used for base ply. Some templates have separate layers for top and base. Putting the base copy on the top layer means the regulatory text is hidden by the very ply it's supposed to be on, the customer never sees it.
Most peel-and-reveal jobs come from a template provided by the converter, Primeflex, CCL Industries, Resource Label Group, and similar specialty houses. The template defines the outer die, the peel score, the hinge zone, the safety margins, and which layers carry top vs. base art.
Don't redraw the dieline. Use the template's existing structure. The converter has tested the construction, adhesive type, release coating, hinge geometry, for that specific shape. Modifying the dieline means re-validating the construction, which adds days to the timeline.
If you need a different label size or shape, ask the converter to update the template. They'll send a new file with the correct dieline geometry, and you drop your artwork into the matching layers.
Preflight detects dual-path dielines, identifies the outer path as the true label size, and reports the inner path as the peel score, so dimensions are right the first time.
Check a file →