The best technique is a raspy breath from your diaphragm. You will feel you stomach push the air up when you are doing it right. It is warm, moist, and has a desperate whisper sound verging on words. Begin at the shell-like crevices above the auditory canal and let the breath rush down the skin to the delicate hairs inside. Do not push, it must flow or will cause an unintended tickle.

Licking the delicate ridges of the outer cartilage of the upper ear, make sure to caress the upper 'hills', but not the valleys. Again, the tickle factor is not desirable at this point. It is too soon to be playful. Your goal is to align the body to “You Are Here” at this point.

When you hear an exhalation of breath, giggle, or other subconscious that your lover is responding to the attention to the area, you may become playful. Being playful before this point suggests that you will be moving on soon. Once that expectation is lost you can begin the delight.

This is the point where you have to gauge your need to cause pain and balance it with your lover's need for pleasure. Gently cover the earlobe with both lips, using the bottom lip pressing upward to make sure that the back of the ear is curved up by the pressure of the lips. This works with the breath is moist but the lips are slightly dry. Drag the lips across the surface, letting the ear pop out at the last moment. Do not keep an even pace. As the ear begins to pull free, release it immediately. After a few times, add a sharp nip with the teeth, lip a puppy bite, neither damage but certainly not gentle. Recovery is luring the lover into thinking this was the only time or that your bites will be predictable. This technique, used sparingly, can move on to the harder cartilage of the upper rim.

Somewhere during this time the muscles of the neck will tense, and remain so. This is a sign, your lover is primed for the move from sensual to sexual.

This is the point where to take something truly squeamish and turn it into an act simulating sex. With your tongue in your mouth, collect as much saliva as will fit on the tip of your tongue. Place as much of the ear as will fit in your mouth with the teeth lightly scraping the flesh, then push the saliva into the ears. This is revolting to both parties: the lover receives the wet tickle that begs to be dried to remove the sensation and you taste ear wax and feel the hairs as well. Keep the ear in place with a light bite of the teeth and holding your lover by the muscles behind the collarbone on the opposite and use the other hand to cup the back of the head. At this point, the tongue is now a phallus and the ear canal a vagina. Continue the motion in a similar manner as you would your preferred pace of sex. Allow yourself to embrace the feeling without thinking about how awkward it will be to clean. Close your eyes if necessary.

Foreplay is not a prelude to sex. It is merely the re-alignment of reality from 'what I need to do' to 'what I must have'. To miss out on this this is akin to eating ketchup and leaving the French fries.