Trouble Gaining Base Girth

I have been experimenting with pumping recently and I have discovered that when I pump that my skin feels an intense stretch!

I have also been doing other manual girth exercises and I feel the skin stretch but to a lesser degree.

I am wondering if my skin is extremely tight and that in order for me to make girth gains, I must stretch my skin first, thus allowing my girth to grow into the new skin.

Anybody else experience this?