diff --git a/lading_payload/benches/opentelemetry_metric.rs b/lading_payload/benches/opentelemetry_metric.rs
index 2211fe71d..5b8db6ea0 100644
--- a/lading_payload/benches/opentelemetry_metric.rs
+++ b/lading_payload/benches/opentelemetry_metric.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ fn opentelemetry_metric_all(c: &mut Criterion) {
     let mb = 1_000_000; // 1 MiB
 
     let mut group = c.benchmark_group("opentelemetry_metric_all");
-    for size in &[mb, 10 * mb, 100 * mb, 1_000 * mb] {
+    for size in &[mb / 2, mb] {
         group.throughput(Throughput::Bytes(*size as u64));
         group.bench_with_input(BenchmarkId::from_parameter(size), size, |b, &size| {
             b.iter(|| {
diff --git a/lading_payload/proptest-regressions/block/rejectset.txt b/lading_payload/proptest-regressions/block/rejectset.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f6c5c4fe2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lading_payload/proptest-regressions/block/rejectset.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+cc 4183d3139a28ce3202c686dcf968cf8ae6a502207e5e31fbd1925cf97a58063f
diff --git a/lading_payload/src/block.rs b/lading_payload/src/block.rs
index ee4d4828d..40a23db60 100644
--- a/lading_payload/src/block.rs
+++ b/lading_payload/src/block.rs
@@ -5,11 +5,14 @@
 //! from that, decoupling the create/send operations. This module is the
 //! mechanism by which 'blocks' -- that is, byte blobs of a predetermined size
 //! -- are created.
+mod rejectset;
+
 use std::num::NonZeroU32;
 
 use byte_unit::{Byte, Unit};
 use bytes::{BufMut, Bytes, BytesMut, buf::Writer};
 use rand::Rng;
+use rejectset::RejectSet;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use tokio::{
     sync::mpsc::{Sender, error::SendError},
@@ -478,6 +481,8 @@ where
     let mut block_cache: Vec<Block> = Vec::with_capacity(128);
     let mut bytes_remaining = total_bytes;
     let mut min_block_size = 0;
+    let mut rejectset = RejectSet::new((max_block_size / 32).min(1));
+
     info!(
         ?max_block_size,
         ?total_bytes,
@@ -500,6 +505,10 @@ where
         // max_block_size).
         let block_size = rng.random_range(min_block_size..max_block_size);
 
+        // Skip block sizes that are known to fail
+        if rejectset.is_rejected(block_size) {
+            continue;
+        }
         match construct_block(&mut rng, serializer, block_size) {
             Ok(block) => {
                 bytes_remaining = bytes_remaining.saturating_sub(block.total_bytes.get());
@@ -515,6 +524,7 @@ where
                 // by -75% -- an arbitrary figure -- and set that as the new
                 // minimum block size.
                 min_block_size = (f64::from(block_size) * 0.25) as u32;
+                rejectset.reject(block_size);
             }
             Err(e) => {
                 error!("Unexpected error during block construction: {e}");
diff --git a/lading_payload/src/block/rejectset.rs b/lading_payload/src/block/rejectset.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..120747ba5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lading_payload/src/block/rejectset.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
+//! A rejection set for u32 ranges.
+use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet};
+
+/// A `RejectSet` that excludes the full [A..=B] span when |A − B| <= eps.
+/// Outside that, failures sit as singletons until more neighbors arrive.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub(crate) struct RejectSet {
+    /// "Density" threshold for clustering failures into one interval.
+    epsilon: u32,
+
+    /// All individual failures not yet absorbed into an interval.
+    singles: BTreeSet<u32>,
+
+    /// Disjoint, merged intervals of rejected values. Key is the start of the
+    /// interval, value the end.
+    intervals: BTreeMap<u32, u32>,
+}
+
+impl RejectSet {
+    /// Create a new `RejectSet`
+    ///
+    /// `epsilon` defines the maximum gap that this structure will consider
+    /// intervals to not be "clustered".
+    #[must_use]
+    pub(crate) fn new(epsilon: u32) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            epsilon,
+            singles: BTreeSet::new(),
+            intervals: BTreeMap::new(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Returns true if `x` is present in the set.
+    #[must_use]
+    pub(crate) fn is_rejected(&self, x: u32) -> bool {
+        if self.singles.contains(&x) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if let Some((&start, &end)) = self.intervals.range(..=x).next_back() {
+            return x >= start && x <= end;
+        }
+        false
+    }
+
+    /// Record a failure at `x`.
+    pub(crate) fn reject(&mut self, x: u32) {
+        // Okay. We first insert into `singles` so we're sure to record `x`
+        // directly. We then use `epsilon` to determine the search interval for
+        // 'collison' with existing intervals, search whether both ends are
+        // within `epsilon` of an existing epsilon to merge.
+        //
+        // We define our interval as [x-eps,x+eps]. If this proves to be
+        // unintuitive we could define `x` as the midpoint of an interval
+        // defined like [x-eps/2, x+eps/2] but I'd like to skip the divison if
+        // we can avoid it.
+        self.singles.insert(x);
+
+        let low_bound = x.saturating_sub(self.epsilon);
+        let high_bound = x.saturating_add(self.epsilon);
+
+        // Calcualte the low, high next singletons.
+        let low_single = self.singles.range(low_bound..=x).next_back().copied();
+        let high_single = self.singles.range(x..=high_bound).next().copied();
+
+        // If the two ends are close enough, form an interval from them.
+        if let (Some(ls), Some(hs)) = (low_single, high_single) {
+            let diff = hs.saturating_sub(ls);
+            if hs >= ls && diff <= self.epsilon {
+                // TODO can I avoid this Vec?
+                let to_absorb: Vec<u32> = self.singles.range(ls..=hs).copied().collect();
+                for v in &to_absorb {
+                    self.singles.remove(v);
+                }
+
+                // merge [ls..=hs] into intervals (coalescing neighbors)
+                self.insert_interval(ls, hs);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Insert an interval into the set, merging as needed.
+    fn insert_interval(&mut self, mut start: u32, mut end: u32) {
+        // merge with any low interval that touches
+        if let Some((&lstart, &lend)) = self.intervals.range(..=start).next_back() {
+            if start.saturating_sub(lend) <= self.epsilon {
+                start = start.min(lstart);
+                end = end.max(lend);
+                self.intervals.remove(&lstart);
+            }
+        }
+        // merge any high intervals that touch
+        while let Some((&hstart, &hend)) = self.intervals.range(start..).next() {
+            if hstart.saturating_sub(end) <= self.epsilon {
+                start = start.min(hstart);
+                end = end.max(hend);
+                self.intervals.remove(&hstart);
+            } else {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        // insert the new coalesced interval
+        self.intervals.insert(start, end);
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use proptest::prelude::*;
+
+    // Property 1: For all x, after reject(x), is_rejected(x) == true.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_reject_self(eps in 0u32..10, x in 0u32..1000) {
+            let mut rs = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs.reject(x);
+            prop_assert!(rs.is_rejected(x));
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Property 2: For all x, y, if |x − y| ≤ epsilon, after reject(x) and
+    // reject(y), all z in [min(x, y), max(x, y)] are rejected.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_interval_formation(eps in 1u32..10, x in 0u32..1000, offset in 0u32..10) {
+            let y = x.saturating_add(offset.min(eps));
+            let mut rs = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs.reject(x);
+            rs.reject(y);
+            let (lo, hi) = (x.min(y), x.max(y));
+            for z in lo..=hi {
+                prop_assert!(rs.is_rejected(z));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Property 3: For all x, y, if |x − y| > epsilon, after reject(x) and
+    // reject(y), is_rejected(z) == true iff z == x or z == y.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_no_overabsorption(eps in 0u32..10, x in 0u32..1000, offset in 11u32..100) {
+            let y = x.saturating_add(offset + eps);
+            let mut rs = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs.reject(x);
+            rs.reject(y);
+            for z in [x, y] {
+                prop_assert!(rs.is_rejected(z));
+            }
+            let mid = x + ((y - x) / 2);
+            if mid != x && mid != y {
+                prop_assert!(!rs.is_rejected(mid));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Property 4: For all x, after reject(x) twice, the set is unchanged after
+    // the first.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_idempotency(eps in 0u32..10, x in 0u32..1000) {
+            let mut rs = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs.reject(x);
+            let before = rs.is_rejected(x);
+            rs.reject(x);
+            let after = rs.is_rejected(x);
+            prop_assert_eq!(before, after);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Property 5: For all x, y, z, if x and y form an interval, and z is within
+    // epsilon of that interval, then after reject(z), the interval expands to
+    // include z.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_interval_merging(eps in 1u32..10, x in 0u32..1000, offset in 1u32..10) {
+            let y = x.saturating_add(eps);
+            let z = y.saturating_add(offset.min(eps));
+            let mut rs = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs.reject(x);
+            rs.reject(y);
+            rs.reject(z);
+            let (lo, hi) = (x.min(z), x.max(z));
+            for v in lo..=hi {
+                prop_assert!(rs.is_rejected(v));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Property 6: Order independence. Inserting the same values in any order
+    // yields the same result. This is implied by Property 6a and 6b.
+
+    // Property 6a: Determinism. For any sequence of insertions, the result is
+    // always the same for the same sequence.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_determinism(eps in 0u32..10, vals in proptest::collection::vec(0u32..1000, 1..10)) {
+            let mut rs1 = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            for &v in &vals {
+                rs1.reject(v);
+            }
+            let mut rs2 = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            for &v in &vals {
+                rs2.reject(v);
+            }
+            for probe in 0u32..1024 {
+                prop_assert_eq!(rs1.is_rejected(probe), rs2.is_rejected(probe));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Property 6b: Commutativity. Inserting two elements in any order yields
+    // the same result.
+    proptest! {
+        #[test]
+        fn prop_commutativity(eps in 0u32..10, x in 0u32..1000, y in 0u32..1000) {
+            let mut rs1 = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs1.reject(x);
+            rs1.reject(y);
+            let mut rs2 = RejectSet::new(eps);
+            rs2.reject(y);
+            rs2.reject(x);
+            for probe in 0u32..1024 {
+                prop_assert_eq!(rs1.is_rejected(probe), rs2.is_rejected(probe));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}