I will come out with my "there is a right way and every other way" speech now.
I suppose I should also mention that in a previous life I was a fully certified ASE master tech, and a tier III BMW tech. Most of the shops I worked in required we do final wheel torqueing with torque wrenches because even good impacts are inconsistent, and toque sticks are even worse.
So...
The worst possible way to check torque is to put a torque wrench on a tight bolt.
The only thing worse is to loosen a bolt with a click style torque wrench, DO NOT DO THIS! Ever!
I watched one Mr Fenner (I have huge respect for this man) on YouTube when he was trying to find how much torque to use when he was rebuilding a bearing block of some kind. This is a guaranteed way to simultaneously over torque the nut on re-assembly, and ruin the calibration of the wrench. I was not the only one to come down on him for that video in the comments, it is really bad practice. It will actually void a SnapOn warranty. Loosening a bolt can take several times the tightening torque. If you measure the amount of torque required to loosen a bolt, you can end up using several times the correct torque to put it back on.
Ok, enough rant...
The nut/bolt must be in motion when taken to torque. If the fastener is not turning when you reach torque, the reading is false. You should also make sure all the threads are clean, and lubed. Published torque specs take turning friction into account, and they assume the thread is clean and lubed.
The best way to check the torque when you do not have a calibration machine is to bring the fastener to torque, mark the position of the nut/bolt, loosen the fastener, and turn it back to the same position using a beam style torque wrench. You will be able to read the amount of torque off the scale. You could do this by trial and error with a click style wrench as well. Beam wrenches are by their nature far more accurate than click wrenches and they never lose their calibration.
I found that I could gage applied torque from an impact by the feel of the socket in my fingers. I could always hammer a bolt down to with in a few pounds of the specified torque just by feel. I have used many different types of impacts, they all produce inconsistent torque because all the variables that exist between pressure/volume and wear. If you want something to be at a certain torque, use a torque wrench. Impacts are for rapid assembly when torque does not matter or rapid disassembly.