geesh - that all sounds dangerous that you need to suck on it so hard - nothing comes apart so that you would accidentally aspirate something would it?
"take the center out of the filter and drag" I'd be careful about tampering with the thing - given the filter is probably there for a reason! Certainly they test marketed this thing for problem like this - no? They've been around fro YEARS - started in Europe - and ended up here - you certainly can't be the guinea pigs for this thing!