My recollection of the paper tape used by Hewlett-Packard computers is

1" wide, yellow, .004" thick (20# stock is a good equivalent), and
_oiled_.  The stock put into the punches was a roll roughly 10" in
diameter, on a 1" tubing core.

The oil (not wax) was used to lubricate the tape punches.  The oil
cause some headaches when HP made high-speed optical readers -- they
would see oiled paper defects as holes!  These semi-clear "window"
defects would have been opaque to the optical reader if the tape had
not been oiled.

John Rhodes