I use thistle seeds and I have never used water. I put mine in for 2 minutes. then take out and rotate the "U" bag, flipping it from outside to inside "u" shape and heat for another 2 minutes. This is the recommendation on the commercial one I bought. The ones I make , it works good. If I reheat it when it cools off, I reheat for 2 minutes more. By then I don't need it anymore. Jan