The Complete Handbook of Tissue Paper

Chapter 1: Understanding Tissue Paper

What Tissue Paper Actually Is

Tissue paper is a lightweight, creped paper made from paper pulp. Its defining physical characteristic is its basis weight, which typically falls between 14 and 32 grams per square meter (gsm). For comparison, standard office printer paper is about 80 gsm, and a common paper grocery bag is roughly 50 gsm. Tissue paper is intentionally thin, but its mechanical strength - the way it holds together under tension - is not a simple consequence of that thinness. It is engineered.

Manufacturers produce tissue by pressing pulp fibers into a sheet on a wire mesh, pressing and drying the sheet on a large heated cylinder called a Yankee dryer, and then scraping it off with a doctor blade. This scraping process, called creping, is what gives tissue its characteristic soft, slightly crinkled texture and its ability to stretch under load. A creped sheet can elongate by 15-25% before breaking; a non-creped sheet of the same basis weight will tear almost immediately under the same force. This stretch absorption is why tissue paper can cushion an item dropped inside a gift bag, whereas a carefully folded sheet of printer paper would not.

The fibers themselves are usually a blend of virgin hardwood (for softness and opacity) and softwood (for tensile strength), or of recycled fiber and virgin fiber. The proportion determines the sheet's cost and performance. A 100% virgin-fiber white tissue at 18 gsm will feel crisp and have a high tear