Abstract: In a cigarette manufacturing machine of the double rod type, two fillets of tobacco carried by two first conveyor belts are deposited onto two second conveyor belts, positioned beneath the first and carrying two respective strips of paper. Permeable to air, the four belts operate in conjunction with suction devices, ensuring that the tobacco and the papers remain pinned firmly against the respective belts, and are looped round top and bottom supports encompassing a void which is flanked on either side by the belts and exposed thus to suction; at least one of the two supports incorporates a passage by means of which the void is maintained at a pressure substantially identical to that of the environment surrounding the belts and the supports, thereby neutralizing the partial vacuum that otherwise would be created in the void with suction generated continuously through the belts.