diff --git a/hieradata/common.yaml b/hieradata/common.yaml
index 77fddd3..7e4f7ee 100644
--- a/hieradata/common.yaml
+++ b/hieradata/common.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 ---
+lookup_options:
+  profiles::packages::base::add:
+    merge:
+      strategy: deep
+  profiles::packages::base::remove:
+    merge:
+      strategy: deep
+
 profiles::ntp::client::ntp_role: 'roles::infra::ntp::server'
 profiles::ntp::client::peers:
   - 0.pool.ntp.org
@@ -12,23 +20,54 @@ profiles::base::puppet_servers:
 profiles::dns::master::basedir: '/var/named/sources'
 profiles::dns::base::ns_role: 'roles::infra::dns::resolver'
 
-profiles::packages::base:
+profiles::packages::base::add:
   - bash-completion
+  - bzip2
   - ccze
   - curl
   - dstat
+  - gzip
   - htop
+  - inotify-tools
+  - iotop
+  - jq
+  - lz4
+  - lzo
   - mtr
   - ncdu
   - neovim
+  - p7zip
+  - pbzip2
+  - pigz
+  - pv
   - rsync
   - screen
   - strace
+  - sysstat
   - tmux
+  - traceroute
   - vim
   - vnstat
   - wget
+  - xz
   - zsh
+  - zstd
+
+profiles::packages::base::remove:
+  - iwl100-firmware
+  - iwl1000-firmware
+  - iwl105-firmware
+  - iwl135-firmware
+  - iwl2000-firmware
+  - iwl2030-firmware
+  - iwl3160-firmware
+  - iwl5000-firmware
+  - iwl5150-firmware
+  - iwl6000-firmware
+  - iwl6000g2a-firmware
+  - iwl6050-firmware
+  - iwl7260-firmware
+  - puppet7-release
 
 profiles::base::scripts::scripts:
   puppet: puppetwrapper.py
diff --git a/site/profiles/manifests/packages/base.pp b/site/profiles/manifests/packages/base.pp
index 807c8a8..f7d51cf 100644
--- a/site/profiles/manifests/packages/base.pp
+++ b/site/profiles/manifests/packages/base.pp
@@ -1,21 +1,21 @@
 # This class manages the installation of packages for the base profile
 #
 # Parameters:
-# - $packages: An array of package names to be installed (optional)
-# - $ensure: Enum of present, absent, latest or installed (optional)
-#
-# Example usage:
-# class { 'profiles::base::packages':
-#   packages => ['package1', 'package2', 'package3'],
+# - $add: An array of package names to be installed
+# - $remove: An array of package names to be removed
 #
 class profiles::packages::base (
-  Array     $packages = lookup('profiles::packages::base', Array, 'first', []),
-  Enum[
-    'present',
-    'absent',
-    'latest',
-    'installed'
-    ]       $ensure = 'installed',
-){
-  ensure_packages($packages, {'ensure' => $ensure})
+  Array $add    = [],
+  Array $remove = [],
+) {
+
+  # Ensure packages to add are installed
+  ensure_packages($add, {'ensure' => 'present'})
+
+  # Ensure packages to remove are absent
+  $remove.each |String $package| {
+    package { $package:
+      ensure => 'absent',
+    }
+  }
 }