Cake Building Strategies

I'm pretty much with goat there. But, I'm on the college of leaving the ash in the bowl after a smoke. Especially if it's a fine ash, I'll tamp it down then mix it up with the draw poker a little, close over the lid and shake it up to pepper the sides of the bowl, then dump out what's left. Not sure if it helps or not really, but it makes me feel like I'm contributing something other than just smoking it!