Can you do anything to make power tubes last longer ?

As Roger Modjeski well understood, the SOE safe operating envelope for a specific tube is not a few points… hence a deeper understanding of both amplifier design with a dual focus on reliability and sonic engineering… the now ancient RCA SOE diagrams and tables yield much for those who do not think only in terms of points.. see RM-10 for imo a phd “ amp camp “ level demonstration of what is possible in terms of output, reliability and sonics.. RAM tubes and the testing…few if any can do contribute significantly as well… RIP… i miss him, could hardly wish for a better mentor, sensei, spirit guide…

i find the deep dish pizza to be he$$ on the white gloves….

Yes, the concern over skin oil has to do with light bulbs, not tubes.  The oil deposited on a high intensity, high temperature light bulb will carbonize from the heat.  That leaves a black spot on the bulb.  The light from the bulb is absorbed by the black spot instead of passing through and that makes the black spot MUCH hotter than the surrounding part of the bulb causing that spot to fail.

Another piece of advice is to grip tubes which have a base by the base and don't push and pull on the glass envelope.  The concern is accidentally separating the base from the glass envelope.  

Also, if you do a lot of tube rolling, be aware that tube sockets have a limited life in terms of how many insertions and removals before the connection becomes less reliable.  An old time technician told me it can be as little as 30 insertions and removals for a socket to fail (i.e., cannot be re-tightened reliably).  If you do a lot of trials, consider using socket savers while you are trying to find the right tubes.

Alright, I will join you in the abandoning the ritual of using white gloves while handling tubes. And the grip is indeed worse than bare hands.

Having extra set of all needed tubes is of course always a good idea, well, some tubes are really expensive and hard to find, at least from reputable sources.

I am not going to use any new reissues, only interested in vintage tubes. I see no reason to just waist money on inferior sounding and less reliable tubes. But if you need 20 power tubes, yeah, you just might be forced into that. I only need a quad.

Paper towels ftw