That was almost too detailed, Andrew. You really tried that didn't you?
Ha. No, of course not! Mmmmmh, not exactly. Well, kind of.
OK, It's like this.
Many years ago, I was house & dog sitting for a friend. It was an older house and there were water pipes that rattled Very loudly the whole time when you had cold water running. After a couple of days, it was driving me crazy and I finally investigated down in the basement.
A cold water pipe running to a laundry room sink was run too close to another cold water pipe. It looked like it was added after the initial build and it was connected via a plumbed split right at the tank. I looked all around for something to shove in between them and couldn't even find an old rag. At some point I kicked an old hockey puck on the floor and had the idea.
I took it to my buddy's scroll saw and made a hole slightly off center with a slot to shove the pipe in through and also cut a pipe sized, half circle out of the other side. (I didn't think slotting two holes would leave it structurally sound enough not to split.)
With some tweaking at the scroll saw, it fit nicely on the pipes as a spacer and the annoying rattle was gone. It has to be 15 years ago and the puck is still there. I like to check now and then.
Final Note:
No paper cups involved. Although I probably had a Timmies before I started the job.