I didn't feel there was much to add to this thread, but I got a PM asking me to post something on it, so here goes:
I only allow a few thousandths between the dowel and core size. If the dowel slips through dry easily then it is enough. I also cut grooves around the coring dowel about every 1 inch or so to hole some more glue. Sometimes instead of the grooves I take a triangle thread file and lay it on the dowel in the lathe and cut a spiral line up the cue. I put the Gorilla glue on the dowel itself and not in the core. I ball up a wet paper towel and shove it through the core to moisten it. Then I run the coring dowel through read quick. If you stop half way it can freeze and ruin both pieces. Also I plug both center holes in the ends of the coring dowel with little balls of paper towel so I preserve the centers. Then I clean the ends off and remove them before the glue dries. I used to be pretty negative about coring, but it has caused less problems than I thought it would, so I do some coring now myself.