Another good practice is to use several
carbon-composition resistors in seri$ 
Actually, that makes me curious.  Would a piece of pencil "lead" be a
workable substitute?  I could imagine taking a drafting/art pencil lead
(the kind that's some 2-3 mm thick) with clip-leads, one on each end.
(Preferably inside some kind of container, so the connection on the HV
end is not exposed.)
But I don't know whether its resistance would be too high (or too low,
though that seems unlikely)....
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