That "mutes the acidity" thing reminds me of a guy at a diner who insisted on cold glasses for his orange juice. Said it tasted less bitter that way... I tried it once and honestly, it just tasted like cold orange juice. Maybe some people just feel the temperature more than the actual flavor.

We ran it at 300 for the heavy stuff.

You mentioned the spring could have hit his arm instead of the workbench. Do you know if he was using the proper winding bars, or just trying to make do with whatever tools he had on hand? I've read that using anything but the right steel bars is asking for trouble.

Watched a friend draw a card in Catan that basically said "all players must now speak in rhyme for three turns." The table went dead silent for a full minute. It completely broke the game's flow and turned a chill night into this awkward poetry slam. They never played with that expansion deck again.

Drew's right about the underwater cut, but @lilyb27's shock at three refunds shows the real problem. They're probably shipping stems that were cut days ago and have already sealed up. Fresh cuts right before packing are the only thing that fixes this.