Tbg, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but my guess is yes it has something to do with reducing vibrations of the copper coupler. With that said, I have been using the Teflon plumbers tape like this for years, And it has always added better dynamics and blackness to the powercords I have used it on. The coupling( pardon the pun) of the two gives you the best of both worlds. It's only an inch long, but I'm sure life has taught us all every inch counts.