Nah, "stacking cans" isn't rocket science. Just use common sense.

You ever try one of those handheld one-man augers with the Honda engine on it? I got mine used for about the same price you paid for that big box special, and it's been through three fence jobs in this same rocky Texas dirt without a hiccup. The key is keeping the blade sharp and going slow when you hit a rock, let the auger work itself through instead of forcing it. I also swapped the standard bolts for a proper shear pin setup from Tractor Supply, cost me maybe eight bucks. That little change saved me from wrecking another gearbox, and it's easy to carry spares in your truck.

Hang on though, I gotta push back on this a little. I've taken a $30 Ozark Trail bag down to the mid 20s a few times and slept fine. It's not that the bag is bad, it's that people don't treat cheap bags right. Most of those cheap ones rely on you wearing good base layers and using a proper pad with a decent R-value. If your buddy was just in cotton sweats on a foam pad, no wonder he froze. I've also found that if you stuff a cheap bag into a compression sack too tight for weeks, the fill clumps up and loses its loft. My buddy's Ozark Trail one actually kept me warmer than my old Kelty one time because I fluffed it out for an hour before bed.

Oh, "spice cabinet re-shuffle" is the perfect way to put it, though I have to gently push back on something. You mentioned it's a rub from that Texas pitmaster, but I'm pretty sure the limited edition one from last month actually had smoked paprika in it, not just regular paprika. That's a pretty big difference, honestly, because the smoked stuff gives it that campfire flavor you can't fake with anything in your pantry. I looked up the ingredients list after my own order (I know, I know, I should have checked first) and saw it was mostly a shortcut for people who don't already keep smoked paprika and onion powder on hand. Not worth $80 by a long shot, but it's not a total ripoff if you're missing those specific bottles. Your basic point still stands though, most of these fancy blends are just marketing with a higher price tag.

String lines and a good level will get you through most high pressure tube jobs just fine. Those fancy lasers are nice for big open floor projects, but they can get knocked out of whack and cause more headaches than they save. If you know how to pull a tight string and read a level, you're already ahead of half the guys out there.