About a half an inch is good, and as the other person stated you will want to tip it up. If you don't you risk losing what you put on it. You will want to use copper chore. Either cut or pull a piece off, ball it up ( it should be about the size of a nickel), and then using tweezers or something similar burn the chore really good. Chore flakes off when it's burned and you don't want to inhale the flakes or the fumes. You don't have to pack it real tight, just put it in and push down on it a couple of times with a pen or pencil, don't sit there packing it as hard as you can. If you pack it real hard then yeah you'll have to really pull on it to get the smoke. As for tipping the pipe down, I never tip it down. I put a little on, use my lighter to melt it, and then put the lighter to again to smoke. I either hold the pipe straight or tip it up. The only way it could get to your mouth is if you put on 4 or 5 hits at a time. If you just put one hit on that won't happen. Also usually what clogs up a pipe is if the rock you have is loaded with crap and too much baking soda. When you smoke it, it should completely melt, if you notice a burnt substance on the chore then they loaded it up with baking soda, and you can actually fix that. Get a spoon put your rock in and water ( maybe fill the spoon 1/3 to 1/2, not too much!), then heat the spoon with a lighter. When you notice the edges starting to melt try to stir it ( I use and unfolded paper clip), then heat it again until it's mostly melted. Once it's melted, stop heating it. Stir it again and let it cool. The only bad thing is re-cooking it is going to shrink it, especially if it contained a lot of water and baking soda, but what you're left with will be a stronger so you'll only have to use a little bit. Just remember the more you heat it, the smaller it will get so I only do it if it tastes nasty, or it's really weak and full of baking soda. Oh you might notice baking soda spray out of it when you re-cook, that's supposed to happen. Only the melted part is the good part.