Though i'd try to figure out why you're getting so much creosote in the joint. If it's one of those airtight stoves, you just have to clean it a touch more regularly. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
i wish...
as for the stove, you're right. nice to learn the lesson without a chimney fire...
it's not hard. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~