Neil, i don't soak them. i do peel off the first few layers of husk, pull off the silk poking through the top, and break off any excess stalk from the bottom. after that i rinse them real good and do try to make sure i get water in the top of it where i just ripped off the silks, sometime if i remember i'll rinse them (just to get them wet again) right before i put them on, but other then that i just let them go. i did have a friend come over the other day and she peel back all the husks and rubbed the corn down with olive oil or butter (i don't remember) and put some whole sprigs of rosemary around the corn and then pulled the husks back over. grilled it over medium heat (the top rack of my old chargriller) while i did some burgers on the bottom, and those came out great too