Now the "mate" is ready to receive the "bombilla". Many people choose to pour warm water into the "mate" before adding the "bombilla", while others insist that the "bombilla" is best inserted into dry "yerba". 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"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s slope with the "bombilla"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s filtering end, which makes the overall form of the "yerba" within the gourd more resilient and solid. Dry "yerba", on the other hand, allows a cleaner and easier insertion of the "bombilla", though care must be taken so as not to overly disturb the arrangement of the "yerba". Such a decision is entirely a personal or cultural preference. The "bombilla" is inserted with your thumb on the upper end of the bombilla, at an angle roughly perpendicular to the slope of the "yerba", so that its filtering end travels into the deepest part of the yerba and comes to rest near or against the opposite wall of the gourd.