diff --git a/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/data_sink.hpp b/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/data_sink.hpp
index 68b99a8..02ecb9a 100644
--- a/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/data_sink.hpp
+++ b/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/data_sink.hpp
@@ -96,6 +96,12 @@ class DataSinkBase
 
   void stopThread();
 
+  void stopAcceptingSnapshots();
+
+  void processQueuedSnapshots();
+
+  void startAcceptingSnapshots();
+
 private:
   struct Pimpl;
   std::unique_ptr<Pimpl> _p;
diff --git a/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/sinks/mcap_sink.hpp b/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/sinks/mcap_sink.hpp
index 1de2361..55ad425 100644
--- a/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/sinks/mcap_sink.hpp
+++ b/data_tamer_cpp/include/data_tamer/sinks/mcap_sink.hpp
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ class MCAPSink : public DataSinkBase
   /// Stop recording and save the file
   void stopRecording();
 
+  /// Stop taking snapshots, finish the existing queue, then `stopRecording`
+  /// will block for at least 250 us to ensure the queue is empty
+  void finishQueueAndStop();
+
   /**
    * @brief restartRecording saves the current file (unless we did it already,
    * calling stopRecording) and start recording into a new one.
diff --git a/data_tamer_cpp/src/data_sink.cpp b/data_tamer_cpp/src/data_sink.cpp
index a1b4a41..9c13b85 100644
--- a/data_tamer_cpp/src/data_sink.cpp
+++ b/data_tamer_cpp/src/data_sink.cpp
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ struct DataSinkBase::Pimpl
 
   std::thread thread;
   std::atomic_bool run = true;
+  std::atomic_bool accept_snapshots = true;
   moodycamel::ConcurrentQueue<Snapshot> queue;
 };
 
@@ -41,7 +42,33 @@ DataSinkBase::~DataSinkBase()
 
 bool DataSinkBase::pushSnapshot(const Snapshot& snapshot)
 {
-  return _p->queue.enqueue(snapshot);
+  if(_p->accept_snapshots)
+  {
+    return _p->queue.enqueue(snapshot);
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+void DataSinkBase::stopAcceptingSnapshots()
+{
+  _p->accept_snapshots = false;
+}
+
+void DataSinkBase::startAcceptingSnapshots()
+{
+  _p->accept_snapshots = true;
+}
+
+void DataSinkBase::processQueuedSnapshots()
+{
+  Snapshot snapshot_copy;
+  while(_p->queue.try_dequeue(snapshot_copy))
+  {
+    this->storeSnapshot(snapshot_copy);
+  }
 }
 
 void DataSinkBase::stopThread()
diff --git a/data_tamer_cpp/src/sinks/mcap_sink.cpp b/data_tamer_cpp/src/sinks/mcap_sink.cpp
index 2a7e5ad..4e79895 100644
--- a/data_tamer_cpp/src/sinks/mcap_sink.cpp
+++ b/data_tamer_cpp/src/sinks/mcap_sink.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <mutex>
 #include <string>
+#include <thread>
 
 #ifndef USING_ROS2
 #define MCAP_IMPLEMENTATION
@@ -151,6 +152,22 @@ void MCAPSink::stopRecording()
   writer_.reset();
 }
 
+void MCAPSink::finishQueueAndStop()
+{
+  // stop accepting new snapshots
+  stopAcceptingSnapshots();
+
+  // finish any that are queued
+  processQueuedSnapshots();
+
+  // sleep and process any that were missed by previous processing
+  std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::microseconds(250));
+  processQueuedSnapshots();
+
+  // now stop the recording as normal
+  stopRecording();
+}
+
 void MCAPSink::restartRecording(const std::string& filepath, bool do_compression)
 {
   restartRecordingImpl(filepath, do_compression, true);
@@ -175,6 +192,9 @@ void MCAPSink::restartRecordingImpl(const std::string& filepath, bool do_compres
   {
     addChannel(name, schema);
   }
+
+  // start accepting snapshots again in case they were stopped
+  startAcceptingSnapshots();
 }
 
 }  // namespace DataTamer
diff --git a/data_tamer_cpp/tests/dt_tests.cpp b/data_tamer_cpp/tests/dt_tests.cpp
index f3cd546..6d42a1d 100644
--- a/data_tamer_cpp/tests/dt_tests.cpp
+++ b/data_tamer_cpp/tests/dt_tests.cpp
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #include "data_tamer/data_tamer.hpp"
 #include "data_tamer/sinks/dummy_sink.hpp"
+#include "data_tamer/sinks/mcap_sink.hpp"
 
 #include <gtest/gtest.h>
 
+#include <filesystem>
 #include <variant>
 #include <string>
 #include <thread>
@@ -291,3 +293,33 @@ TEST(DataTamerBasic, LockedPtr)
   // now expect that our assignment to the locked pointer took place
   EXPECT_EQ(logged_float->get(), val2);
 }
+
+TEST(DataTamerBasic, FinishQueue)
+{
+  auto channel = LogChannel::create("chan");
+  auto const temp_path =
+      std::filesystem::temp_directory_path() / std::filesystem::path("data_tamer_test."
+                                                                     "mcap");
+  auto sink = std::make_shared<MCAPSink>(temp_path.string());
+  channel->addDataSink(sink);
+
+  double const value = 1.;
+  auto id_value = channel->registerValue("value", &value);
+
+  EXPECT_TRUE(channel->takeSnapshot());
+
+  sink->finishQueueAndStop();
+
+  // now we shouldn't be able to take more snapshots
+  EXPECT_FALSE(channel->takeSnapshot());
+
+  // restart the recording
+  sink->restartRecording(temp_path);
+
+  EXPECT_TRUE(channel->takeSnapshot());
+
+  sink->stopRecording();
+
+  // since we just stopped recording but not snapshots, we'll still be able to take a snapshot (but it won't be written to disk)
+  EXPECT_TRUE(channel->takeSnapshot());
+}