It's interesting that you say that, because after I realized that the coupler wasn't going to come off, I thought that I had probably made the leak worse by my monkeying around with it. I tired to temporarily melt more solder around the joint to hopefully seal the leak a little better before I, or my plumber, got another wack at it. I heated the pipe up again and the solder wasn't melting when I touched it to the pipe.

How long do you guys normally hold a flame to a butt joint before it loosens for you? How much flame do you give it?