Serious question, did I have the coal fire all wrong this whole time?

For 3 years I ran my forge with a big loose mound of coal and kept poking it down flat whenever the fire got tall, because that is how I saw it done at a demo in Scranton and I never thought twice. Then last month an old timer at our hammer-in told me to stop flattening it and build what he called a cave, wet coal packed around the sides with the hot spot in the middle, and my fire stopped spitting clinker every 20 minutes and my 1084 stock stopped getting cold spots. I ran it that way for two sessions in a row and the difference is not small, my heats last way longer and I burn less coal. So now I am second guessing every fire I ever built. Has anyone else made that switch, and do you pack the sides wet or dry?