Hey everyone! Long time lurker, new member
! I have a white label PNWT from eBay that, from what I can tell, works perfectly. My SOLO+PNWT induced rambling to follow might give that away
. Several have posted about leaks and from what I can tell from pics and my own tube is that there are a couple different versions. Sounds like some have tubes with holes in the perc while others like mine have slits. The slits on mine are symmetrical and resemble an S with the top and bottom cut off. I'd be interested to know which versions people have that are leaking. Looks like mine was made from a tube that had the slits cut all the way to the end and then heated and welded to the 14mm. I can see where some of these tubes might could have not been welded properly in those spots which might lead to the leaking some are having. Just a thought.
When I say mine works perfectly, I mean that I have very little water in the top(less than 1/8") and I can pull harder than needed without taking a drink. I do think I have less in the top using distilled vs tap water, but that's probably to be expected with the small slits. Neither type of water splashes me though.
I'm using mine with a Solo and a PVHES GonG. I can pull hard enough to get a couple drops but that's pulling harder than you should. Never when I'm pulling normally.
Overall it's an awesome accessory for my Solo. So much so that my bent stem has other duties now:
I picked up a #6 stopper from the local home brew store while getting some PBW(excellent stuff BTW). Drilled a 5/8" hole with a wood spade bit(not a pro job by any means). It was a fairly clean cut through the middle and allows you to pop the bent solo stem through the hole for a relaxing sit back session on the couch. This also might help those of you with splash issues. No way to get any water up the bent stem
I bet a #5 or a 5.5 would fit even further down into the tube but the store was out of that size. Incidentally, they wanted .79 cents for a food grade stopper and the Lowes had a#7 plain rubber stopper for $2.09. Sometimes the local stores have deals too.