Jury is out on whether they work or not, but I can tell you that the braided hose on the Forge is faux. It's a fabric sheath with jubilee clips cunningly disguised. An area to be more concerned with is an effective baffle structure, here the Forge seems to be OK. I'm sure others are too.
I have a Forge can and yes I empty loads of crud out of it. I imagine a fair proportion of it is water due to condensation forming in the can directly, especially in colder weather. Here's mine after 1200 miles back in the summer last year. You can differentiate between the oil and water.