With all due respect to SB, his comments on this were his opinion, and probably based on Mr. Brandt's claim (theory) that the embedded shard type of flat never happens, and glass or flints either puncture immediately, or not at all. OTOH, there's plenty of evidence that some (maybe not a major percentage) flats come from embedded shards that don't immediately push through, and flats can be prevented by flicking them out before they work through.

Who knows who's right, but those of us who wiped their tires clean after riding through a glass field, either with tire savers, an old credit card, or our gloved hands seemed to do better that those we rode with who didn't. Even though I made and sold tire savers for years, I'm agnostic. When I rode tubulars in the city, I have tire savers mounted, but couldn't stand the noise, so I had them off the tires and would push them down for a second or two when I thought it would help.

Since I was selling them, I might add that what killed the business was the massive shift to mtb, during which dealers shifted 95% of their product mix to that category, and road stuff was relegated to the fringes. The other cause was a change in dealer attitudes, wherein they changed from being advocates who sold stuff, to places where people could get what they asked for. That model doesn't support fringe product, because people don't ask for things they don't know exist.