The front of a picture tube in a TV is around 2" thick (to keep junior from blowing his head off when he hits it with a tonka truck....) which was a government regulation. The siphon tip on the rear of the tube however, is barely the size of a pencil lead and is designed to be broken off to safely release the vaccuum on the tube for disposal by qualified TV repair persons (although alot less fun!!) I was a TV Repair Guy in my misspent youth (and a slug from an AK will go right through the glass in the front by the way....)