[Footbag]

I find that while nose exhaling that if you let nearly all of the smoke out, 95%, but then draw 5% back in, it mellows the smoke significantly and lets me get more of the nuances out of the smoke.
That said, I think each person is going to have their own technique. If I didn't use this technique, and let out 10% of the smoke, it'd be burn city.

As for the 1-2-3 method, it's 1-2 for me.