The present invention provides methods and apparatus for dispensing accurate portions of highly viscous material wherein a flowing string of viscous material is metered from a nozzle (10). After a desired amount of the highly viscous material has been delivered from the connecting nozzle (10), the delivered material is exposed to one or more heat pulses sufficient to lower the viscosity or the surface tension or both of a small area or cross-section (15) of the string (12) and give a well defined separation between the dispensed portion (13) and the viscous material in the nozzle.
