Tyler

I bought one once and I reamed it without it on the stem. That way you didn't worry about stripping the screw in part.

I would say you can do the alcohol treatment with removing the bowl from the stem. I don't believe it would mess up the aluminum but when I did it I removed it.

Spit and a cotton rag or something of the like is the best way to get the junk off the top of the rims. The only other way is to sand it off but that is very risky. It takes some elbow grease but eventually the pipe will look great if you take the time to spruce it up.

Good luck!