Thanks for the tip! I tried exactly this, using latest 0.1.11 library, but I could not discern a difference in sensor read reliability.
Setting the retries to “1” in the DS18B20 library example sketch for a single drop really shows how hit-or-miss the system is.
What’s the next suggested step for improvement? Should I submit an issue for the underlying OneWire library, based on @ScruffR’s thought that the underlying OneWire library could use some work?