Ah, the dreaded spit shine. Been there, done that. A lot. For water, use cold water. I used to put an ice cube in my water (in the lid of the Kiwi can of course) to keep it cool. As for "burning in" the polish, I had better luck with heating, but not setting on fire, the polish. Used my trusty Zippo (back when I smoked). But years later I finally discovered that the burning in polishing seemed to dry the leather more than not burning in, ruining the boot before its time. Must be the flame to the leather thing. Best cloth ever is a well used cloth diaper. Kinda hard to find in a barracks. Next best is a well washed high quality tee shirt cloth. Cotton balls are OK too, but you have to replace them often. Given the current rough-out boots and plastic shoes the military, even the USMC, is going to, spitshinning may be a dieing art...