A testing method for evaluating the appearance quality of cigarette packaging materials is established to predict the surface printing suitability of cigarette packaging materials to improve printing efficiency. Taking the area of water mist as the main evaluation object for the appearance quality of cigarette packaging materials, the appearance characteristics of the printing surface of cigarette packaging materials were screened. The correlation between the surface roughness, smoothness, brightness, friction coefficient, roughness, surface topography of cigarette labels and water mist area is analyzed in this work. The results show that the appearance quality of cigarette packaging materials (water mist area) is related to parameters such as roughness and brightness, but not directly related to parameters such as smoothness and friction coefficient. Within the micro-roughness of 433-818 nm, the water mist area gradually decreases with the increase of the roughness. When the micro-roughness is greater than 818 nm, water mist does not exist. The micro-roughness based on white light interferometer can be used as a quantitative and qualitative evaluation index for the appearance quality (water mist phenomenon) of cigarette packaging materials. This method provides a useful theoretical support for solving the water mist problem in the cigarette packet printing industry.