Hook up a tach and turn in the mixture screw untill you see a drop in RPM. Then turn it back to just before where it dropped, maybe a 1/4 turn at most. This is the lean drop method. If you get it TOO lean, you will get a miss, and some cylinders will not burn the fuel. This will cause you to have high hydrocarbons (un-burnt fuel).
Another trick I learned when I passed the sniffer, but failed when they noticed the breather hose was unhooked from the air filter. I just hooked it up , then I failed the sniffer. So you might just plug that hose up with a rag, and hook both ends back up so it will pass the visual inspection. This will help you to keep from failing do to excessive blowby.