Method and apparatus for removing cigar wrappers from the web of a bobbin

A method and apparatus for providing cigar wrappers for a cigar wrapping machine. The cigar wrappers are stored in a bobbin which is a continuous web of porous sheet material which is wound into a roll with the cigar wrappers positioned upon one surface of the roll and compressed between the adjacent surfaces of the respective layers or turns in the roll. The web is drawn from the bobbin to a transfer zone in the wrapping machine along a continuous path. The web is diverted from the path around a knife edge which forms the upstream edge of a gap between two plates. The web passes from the knife edge around a roller and then back through the gap. The cigar wrappers are peeled from the web by the sharp turn of the web around the knife edge and they pass over the narrow gap directly onto the web which is moving back through the gap from the roller. This overcomes a serious difficulty which was encountered in removing the cigar wrappers from the web.