OK, so I like tubulars lately. A nice clean taped tubular is just nice to ride, looks good, and is generally very reliable.
The wheels are generally very good bargains, because, "tubular" is almost a 4-letter word.

I have them on several older bikes, in skinwall:
Teledyne Titan on polished box sections. Built by speedevil
Centurion Comp TA on polished slightly aeros. Builit by Otto Rax
Raleigh Competition on anodized box sections (8/9/10 DA 7403, from a BF member)
Guerciotti on anodized box section (NOS Ultegra 6700/Mavix Reflix, $100 on CL)
Cinelli Equipe Centurion (Clean DA 7800/Ambrosio Montreals, from a BF member).
Classy and C&V. And very reasonably priced because you say "tubular" and people run.

I had them on two "newer bikes," in blackwall:
Trek Y-Foil on DA C35 carbon wheels, bought brand new, with tires mounted, from a shop for about 1/4 the original price.
Cadex CFR-1 on Zipp 404/303 wheels, a one-season set, with tires, about 1/3 MSRP.
They are light, fast wheels on light fast bikes. Same deal with the pricing, used. "Tubular" seems to kill a wheel sale.

The only flat I've ever had on a tubular was a bad valve, a Tufo Carbon Composite tire. $130 tires should not have flats, but I forgave it. It was old.
I discussed this with a friend, and he said "put 2 oz of sealant in your tubulars, and just ride." I did. Seemed OK.

So, this brings me to posting on "Totally Tubular."

I keep my Y-Foil in St. Louis, where I visit every weekend, thereabouts. it's geared for the hills we often ride, and comfortable enough for the indoor sessions during the winter, in a shop "studio" with other cyclists. The pre-ordained rpm, wattage, and ascent/descent settings are designed, I'm sure, to kill me. It runs carbon DA C35 wheels, tubulars. The cycling simulator uses a tension setting calibrated by pressure at the rear wheel, more or less based on your weight and performance levels.

My first flat in this studio was on a different bike, on clinchers mounted to tubeless-ready wheels. Of course, I pinched the tube getting the tire back on. In front of 10 other riders. So, I dropped the clinchers and put tubeless tires on those wheels, which are hard to wrap my head around, so I changed to the Y-Foil for my "go-to" bike at my home away from home. I figured the tubular tires on the Y-Foil would also end the problem with flats.

It didn't. The tubular messing with me saga begins. Two Saturdays ago, I flatted my rear tubular, on the carbon rim, in the studio. You only have an hour on the bike, so I jumped off, inserted Tufo sealant, and pumped it back up. Voila! I'm a genius. The class is impressed. Hell, I'm impressed. The next day, it was down a bit, but I pumped it up, and rode indoors for 3 hours, about 55 miles. I figured the sealant (added to the 2 oz already there) was doing it's job. And it sort of was.

I'm back in St. Louis this past Saturday morning, the 1 hour ride is at 8:30, and at 7 am I'm in the basement, cussing. The rear tubular will not hold air. I can't get sealant into it. Worse, there is a hard ball of something, in the tubular, right at the valve. I surmise it's sealant, trying to fill some hole in/at the valve. I pull the core, and the valve extension, and dislodge it with a coat hangar, then re-insert all pieces and re-inflate: Nope. Won't hold air. Then I also notice the tread separating, peeling right off the casing, likely from the heat and pressure of the tensioned trainer. For emergency purposes, I swap in a 10-sp wheel from my friend's backup bike onto my 11-sp bike and go ride the 1-hour session (hill repeats!) in the studio. Shower up, and begin the search for a tubular tire and tape. It's going to be in the 60's the next day, and we're going outdoors, and I need a freaking tire. I notice one in the shop, but it's $123.95, and I'm kind of hoping to do better. It's a big city, I should find one. Right? Right?

I call my friend's "go-to" shop, a truly great bike shop filled with C&V racing classics and at least 2 excellent mechanics. They know tubulars. They have none in stock. In an era of low margins and just-in-time supply chains, this is not uncommon, since they can usually get stuff in a couple of days. This reflects their market. I leave and call 4 other shops, none of whom know what I'm talking about. Almost all think I'm talking about tubeless. The first guy would hand the phone to an older guy and he'd know what a tubular tire was, then would say "we don't have any."

As I was running up against a deadline, I was actually thinking of buying an orphan clincher rear wheel, throwing a tire on it,and putting that into play the next day (a real bike fashion faux pas). I check CL and leave a couple of texts/emails/messages. I call back to the shop that has the studio, and man, it's $123.95, but I needed a tire, ASAP. I tell them I'm on the way. I get there and ask about tape. Here we go again. They search through their supply of stuff and find a double roll of tubular tape, $39.95. Shout out to Big Shark Bikes, because while the tire and tape were expensive, it's not like these are discounted volume items, and they did have them. With tax, I'm now $178 into being able to ride the next day IF I can get the flat off. The original installer went heavy on the glue, so it didn't look like fun, but I had a few hours.

While in the shop, a couple of my CL hits respond. A guy with Bontrager Aeolus 5's responds, and he wants to meet me at the shop I was actually in. I weighed the afternoon of trying to remove a stuck tire and mount a new tubular, vs. just swapping in a set of wheels. We meet, and the Aeolus wheels have tires mounted, Gatorskins. I buy the wheels, relay my story, and he tells me how much he hates tubulars, having had 3 flats in his last half-Ironman. Now, I realize I'd just spent $178 on a tire and tape, and another $350 on a set of swap-in wheels. Returning the tire and tape would be wrong, and the shop found it for me, stores my bike between Sat/Sun studio sessions, and with my luck, I'd need that tire and tape eventually.

My girlfriend still wants to go to her go-to shop, and it's always a nice visit, so we head to Billy Goat Bikes and they swap my cassette over, free, and I buy a small tube of Mastik, because I figure if I need a tube of cement, some time, somewhere, in the area, better have it on hand. The Y-Foil now wears the Aeolus wheels, Gatorskin 25's, and rides a bit ponderously, but there's air in them there tires. I put the Dura Ace wheels, the new tire, the tape, and the Mastic in the back of the car, in time out to consider the error of their ways.

A great ride ensues the next day, a metric century in St. Louis in February, who'da thunk it? The Gatorskins make the bike feel like it's wearing combat boots, but hey, no flats.

I get home, finally get the tubular (Vittoria Corsa CX) off the rim, ripping the cloth, of course. The valve extender had broken, down in the valve body. The sealant attacked the leak, and tried to plug it up, causing the "ball" of sealant inside the tire. Whenever I tried to pump it up, this dislodged the sealant, so there was no hope of filling it with air. $900 MSRP wheel, $130 MSRP tire, and the $3.50 MSRP valve extension was the culprit. Too much glue at the onset of the mounting ended up being an issue, as well. Can't save the tire, anyway. Face tread peeling off, bungled valve, and ripped cloth liner. Better in a studio than the side of the road.

My new $123.95 tubular? I get home, and it doesn't match any of my other tubular tires. The weekend cost me $528, but I come away with a 1-year old set of Bontrager Aeolus 5's (Gatorskins mounted), a new Vittoria Graphene tubular, a double roll of tubular rim tape, and a small tube of Mastic. I did find a new Tufo Carbon Composite in my box, so the Dura Ace C35 tubular set is once again full of air and ready to go.

I'm not putting sealant in any tubulars any more, unless it's "on the spot" with a flat.
I'm also double-checking my tubulars the day before a ride. I shouldn't have to, but need it, for a while.

Give me a nice C&V set of tubular rims, a new set of nice tubular skinwalls, tape, and a clean rim any way, and I think I'll be OK.
Just not on a tensioned trainer, and no sealant. And probably no more modern tubular wheels. Until I see the next smokin' deal, ha!

There, rambling done.