I tried it, and it seemed to work at first. However, there was a temperature sensing glitch. That went away; it was possibly due to an oxidized connector at the PCB. Then I noticed that there was something rattling in the wand. Turns out there’s a glass (?) insulator around the element, and part of it is broken up.
Sparkfun sells elements, but it doesn’t appear that they sell the outside insulator. Do we want to try to find a replacement part, or replace the entire unit?
Update: McMaster sells quartz tubing in the right diameter. I’ve put in a purchase request for a piece. It can operate at up to something like 2000F so it can certainly handle the heat.