I stuffed a Syrup tin as full as I could get it, and put it ontop of a washed out baked bean can. The first time I just crammed the bark in any old how and I got maybe 2 cms worth at the bottom of the tin. The next time I carefully coiled the bark as tightly as I could get it and kept wriggling more into the can until it was absolutely 'heavy' feeling. That time I got about 4cms worth.
I know it was a fair amount of bark, but it felt dry, it kind of astonished me how much tar I got out of it.
Problems........it's a mess of a process to get it out of the tin
In the end I just stirred ground charcoal into the mix in the tin and took a small flat stick to scrape it out while it was still wax hot. I rolled it into olive shapes.
The first time I tried it I heated it until it was really thick and then scraped it out onto some birch bark that I rolled up around it like a very thick leaded pencil. It set, but with any heat it runs and melts where I want it.
The birch bark tube thing works well, but because the tar is just tar, it'll go really sticky on a hot day and leaves a hell of a mess if I'm not careful where I keep it.
cheers,
Toddy