Interesting thread.
On one of my Coleman X stoves, an Xpedition, I think, the hose would bend in an odd kink and it was nearly impossible to avoid. Eventually, the hose failed there. Coleman replaced the stove free of charge. This was before Jardin bought them out when Coleman was still in the backpacking stove business. I too noticed the black rubber stiffener at the connection points of the fuel hose. I suspect this was to prevent kinking.
In the case of the Spider that failed here, I have to wonder if any moisture could have gotten into the line in some fashion and contributed to the freezing. It sounded hella cold, based on the description. I wonder if it were actually sub zero (Fahrenheit). Boiling water to ice that fast sounds like negative digits to me.
Interestingly, for me at least, the old Optimus Nova had one of the best reputations for extreme cold temperatures (below -20C). When I say “old” I mean before Katadyn bought Optimus and moved production from Sweden to China and replaced the (truly excellent) CEJN connector with a cheap knock off and made some other truly boneheaded changes to the stove. I bought up a couple of the old ones before they became unavailable. Darned nice stoves albeit loud.
HJ
