Switc thinks that it could have been even better but the rxn got away from him a little halfway through the start. The FB rxn when doing a hot fast dry is a whole new ballgame compared to the HCl.
And my point is that if you use freebase pseudo in a wet reflux, you have none of the risk you detail above, along with minimal risks of byproduct formation, which will lead you to fewer failures and cleaner product in the long run.
I don't dispute that one can do the freebase reaction per Jacked's posts on doing them. I have done them successfully, in fact, I don't recall having a failure doing them that way, and watching the reaction start from the heat of the palm of your hand is rather fascinating.
Video Editor, intriqued by Jacked's work, experimented with using water to combat the exothermia encountered both in making the HI from rP and I2 but the exothermia which accompanies the freebase pseudo being converted to pseudo HI... another salt form of the pseudo... when the reaction becomes acidic with the HI produced. He noted no problems with "tender" freebase pseudo. I tried the freebase reaction wet, and found it foolproof, at least against this fool. I never felt compelled after that first reflux with freebase to return to the more difficult task of doing a dry reaction with freebase pseudo.
One other point I might make, and I don't make this for Jacked, who is more than able to express his points... his writeups on freebase reaction preceeded the swing of opinion to reflux type reactions. I don't know that he would advocate doing the reaction the same way if he were posting on doing freebase reactions today. I leave the answer to that question where it belongs, with him.
I will reiterate some advice I keep giving, which seems to be appreciated by a lot of bees who send me pm's saying thanks for steering them the way I did... and that advice is that the easiest, most foolproof way to make top quality meth with high yields while avoiding byproduct formation and the formation of incomplete intermediates and dimers is a long wet reflux. Take the time to do one, just one, and let it convince you that it is in every way far easier and more effective than any shorter, dryer reaction using rP and I2.