Wetting the "yerba" by gently pouring cool water into the empty space within the gourd until the water nearly reaches the top, and then allowing it to be absorbed into the yerba before adding the "bombilla", allows the preparer to carefully shape and "pack" the "yerba"'s slope with the "bombilla"'s filtering end, which makes the overall form of the "yerba" within the gourd more resilient and solid.
