Yeah honestly I was on your side until I watched them run it live with a real detour failure, that kinda shifted my take.

Superglue and zip ties. Never had a tape job hold over 40 degrees.

Nah man, michael_jenkins39 is spot on about the cost and hassle. That plenum rated cable is a pain to pull, especially in tight spaces. I get why the code exists, but it feels like they wrote it for perfect world scenarios where money and time don't matter. A lot of us are out here trying to get jobs done fast because that's what the boss expects. The real danger is from bad wiring or overloaded circuits like he said, not the jacket on a cable sitting in a duct. I'd bet half the installs in older buildings aren't plenum and nobody knows or cares.

Guess the expensive mud knife is cheaper than therapy.

Did one of my buddies tell you that story? He swore by the cheap bags for years until he pulled out his Stan Lee signed books and they looked like they'd been through a house fire. Now he keeps a humidity gauge in his long boxes like it's a hostage situation.