E gels and the E gel opener - (Aug/29/2012 )

I have found the e-gel opener that is provided by invitrogen to be very difficult to use in cracking open the precast E-gels. Does anyone have any tips on how to crack it open without it? Or any other gels which are easy to open that are compatible with the E-gel base?

It's a pain. I'd recommend avoiding the situations where you are tempted to do it by designing your cloning strategies to eliminate the need for gel purification.