if thats brass dont use it, its not good, if u use plastic it doesnt matter as long as its not directly exposed to the flame, u could probably put a hole in that bottle with a knife or maybe a corkscrew, good thing for a downstem is a metal pen tube, and for the bowl use a socket, some people say to use a screen with the socket, i usually dont just find one with a small hole so nothing goes through. Hope i answered all your questions