On the wet/dry part of the question, it seems to depend a lot on the tobacco. The OTC Five Brothers always seems
really dry to me, and even with a new pouch, it burns fast. But it remains like that. It's just a good, strong, rather
quick smoke. Some aromatics, like Black Cavendish of various kinds, remain fairly damp, but smokes well anyway.
Some complain about the "goopy-ness." I think you have to pack it a little looser, because it tends to smoke slow
anyway. The same is true of how tight to pack tobacco. You always have to have some air draw through it. But
some tobacco, like Virginias cut small for example, burn better if they are fairly tight. Some ragged leaf likes a lot
of room in a bigger bowl. So much depends on experience with particular pipes and various tobaccos, so you get
to know them. It's one reason to keep your smoking rotation within possible limits, maybe a few dozen pipes, and tobaccos
down to a mere twenty or so (at a time) so you can keep track of what's going on. Some of these oldtimers probably
do fine with a few hundred pipes and scores of tobaccos, if their memories keep working.