Point and nock wrap materials

The wood shaving is called sangsa and goes just in back of the point; traditionally, often cherry or birch bark were used.  The cellophane paper takes the place of what had also been traditionally some type of bark--possibly also cherry or birch.

"Cellophane" was the closest thing I could find for what the fletcher was using.  Actually, it reminded me more of cigarette rolling papers...

That's what it is, but not the normal paper type. Maybe lost in translation, the cellophane is actually cellulose. Look up aleda smoking products, the clear cigarette papers are what you want.
They work very nicely 

http://www.koreanarchery.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=225

This is a set I made in the traditional fashion, the effect of the cellulose paper is similar to a shrink wrap over the sinew and once saliva is applied it becomes nearly invisible.

  Cross posting,
I just found the thread and edited my post. I agree, they seem a very strange concept for smoking but no burnt plastic smell as there is no plastic, cellulose is a natural product.

Saliva is adequate IMO to do the job, I didn't see any benefit from adding the coffee, in fact it loosened the bond.

I believe you're actually trying to describe "onion paper"... it's what a lot of large holy books are made out of to condense their size, and it fits your description pretty well.