>I don't know of a man who would take a soldering
>iron right to the tip of his member.
Well, now you know OF one, at least. Like I wrote in the initial post, the pain is very brief because within about a second, the nerve ending is gone.
I just read a post on here from a young man ("life3short") who attempted suicide twice because of herpes! So it would appear that herpes can inspire quite a desperate degree of anxiety/depression. One's choice to burn (small spots, remember!) just depends on how badly s/he wants to be rid of it.