EMT shears!

+1 for the kitchen shears. We have the Fiskars ones with the seratted edges. Those serations help "hold" onto the plastic while cutting.

I usually use my Wave also, but the serated edge, not the straight one. Doesn't always cut in a straight line, but it does get the thing opened. A side note, if you are not careful, you can get one heck of a "paper cut" from the cut edge of the plastic...

We use kitchen shears here too.

I agree EMT shears work great. When I don't have those I find the serrated blade on my leatherman wave does the best job. Although I must admit if I had access to it, there are many times I would, like the other poster said, gladly use c4 to get the dang things open!

-Kurt

Why are they called "blister" packs? Is it because you get blisters trying to open them?

I use my pocket knife because I know it's sharp. If the knife is sharp and the person holding it knows anything about knives it's fairly safe...it's when the knife is dull and/or wielded by a careless person that accidents happen.

When I don't have my knife handy, kitchen shears work fine too.

My trick is to cut the 'blister' part and not where the two halves are joined as the blister has the thinnest plastic and the edges are thick and heat fused together. This also allows me to cut through only one later of plastic instead of having to cut both around the edge.

I would prefer to just torch 'em. Instead I use heavy duty scissors. I cannot use the serrated blade on my Leatherman Crunch due to the fact that it is made for a right-handed person. I'm a lefty. That is why I stay away from those serrated blades. They are essentially like carbon paper oof old: only good on one side.

Does anyone know why they're called "blister packs"?

The super shears you can get at the hardware for cutting heavy plastic & light sheet metal. Either them or paramedic's scissors.