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If you add water to your bourbon, do you adjust by taste or is there a 'starting' point?

Maybe some ice chips, or a couple of drops.

I ask because I just got a copy of Murray's whiskey bible and he states to never use water.

Just curious what folks typically do.

So far, I've never put ice/water in my bourbon. On the cheaper stuff, I've added coke or ginger ale, coke is alot better to me. Yeah, just put some ice slivers, a cube, whatever you want. I guess it also depends on how much bourbon is in the glass.

There are just some nights that a higher proof bourbon comes off as too hot for me. On those nights, I'll add about an inch of water in a straw to start with. It always surprises me how much that will change the flavor profile of a bourbon.

I've only been drinking bourbon for 2 or 3 years and I used to think adding water was bad, so I would force my way through a bourbon on the nights where it just didn't hit. Now I recognize the advantage that an occasional squirt of water gives and enjoy the flavors that are in the whiskey.

It depends.
If I'm drinking a "nice" bourbon that I want to "think about, I very rarely add water.
Right now, my daily pour is Early Times (non-thinking bourbon). I'll take a tumbler, fill with ice and then cover the ice with ET.

sheik I add water (and ice) to taste and haven't paid attention to Murray in years. The classic British formula (to which Murray is heir) is 'half and half' which is to say equal amounts of whisky and water.