If you are smoking AF then there is really no wrong way to pack it. The only thing is that you need to make sure to get enough in the bowl. I have never been able to overpack AF in the phunnel. If you pack it up to the rim, filled really well, you should get huge clouds and about 3 and a half hours out of the bowl. As for the mod, I have never used one or felt it necessary. And to TwoApples, im sorry to tell you but the phunnel is far superior to the standard Egyptian bowl in many ways.