A rod's sensitivity depends upon the amount of slack in the line and the weight, resistance and elasticity of the line before any other variables. The guides, rod blank and rod grip can not relay what the line does not transmit.

Just some thoughts to add to this discussion.
If guide weight was so much more important than the type of ceramic insert (smoothness?) than wouldn't minma or recoil guides be the ultimate in distance casting guides?
During a cast the amount of tension the line exerts against the guides may be less than that exerted during the fighting of a fish but the speed of the line during a cast is probably many times what is achieved when fighting even the fastest of fish. I'm not a physics prof but I know that your palms will heat up weither you press them hard against each other and rub slowly or press them lightly together and rub them really fast. This argues that the smoothness of a guide is probably just as important on a cast as it is during a fight.
Another reason a lure flies so far when the line breaks is that it is freed from the resistance of pulling line off the spool of a spinning reel and pulling it through a guide train.

David has hit on the most apparent (and maybe most important) advantage of TORZITE®. It's downsizing the frame and maintaining the ID of the next largest ring size. This can lead to weight savings as high as 20 to 30% in the upper (running guide) sections of the rod, Some people will see the value there, some won't. TORZITE® will never be the day-to-day guide choice of most builders. It raises the bar. The fact that some find the gains difficult to justify against the price has little to do with the argument. When a TORZITE® customer walks into your shop...you'll know it. And you'll order TORZITE® because that guy won't settle for less.

We're here to make sure there is a premium quality guide for every application AND every pocketbook. The new CONCEPT "O" guides put an improved yet inexpensive aluminum oxide ring into Fuji's BEST Concept frames. For day-to-day builds on economy blanks it is perfect. But if you happen to be "that guy"...we have TORZITE® too.