While it's often been mentioned to not remove the stem while the pipe is hot (rubbish, in my experience), I've seen nothing about how to remove the stem. The folks at Wilke in NYC, many years ago, advised turning it clockwise while gently pulling to remove, and again clockwise while re-inserting. I've been doing this forever, and have never damaged a pipe or stem that way.
Others? What do you do? I can see that pushing—or even pulling at an angle— alone might cause problems, but I've never done that.
Others? What do you do? I can see that pushing—or even pulling at an angle— alone might cause problems, but I've never done that.