In an apparatus and a process for preparing a flock-air mixture which is fed by a pulping device through a feed conduit to a flock-laying device for forming an absorbent pad, the feed conduit includes a dispersing device for loosening up lumps of flock within the mixture. To achieve a high level of efficiency in loosening the flock lumps, as independently as possible of the through-put of the mixture through the feed conduit, the dispersing device is in the form of a pneumatic dispersing device which loosens up the lumps by accelerating the mixture with lumps therein to cause the lumps to burst or tear apart.