It doesn't even sting if you have the crappy one like I had, too skinny to allow food to flow without pumping and prone to clogging -- Had no balloon on the end; when I gently pulled on it to see if I could get a better flow position, all 17" of it came out (I just couldn't help it!<g> -- Removed it four times total for cleaning, but had lots of difficulty reinstalling it the last time, so when it clogged again and I had been swallowing liquids for several weeks, I just removed it one more time.

I put a small piece of dressing and tape over it and it was closed in two days (I wish my trach stoma had closed that quickly!).