Refactor 

• Remove repeated calls to $self->columns

my $para      = '';
my $columns   = $self->columns;
my $cols_left = $columns;
my @words     = $text =~ m/(\S+)/g;

while(@words) {
  my $w  = shift @words;
  my $lw = length $w;
  if($cols_left > $lw) {
    if($cols_left < $columns) {
      $para .= ' ';
      $cols_left--;
    }
    $para .= $w;
    $cols_left -= $lw;
  }
  # etc