diff --git a/lib/Template/Grammar.pm b/lib/Template/Grammar.pm
index 845e05e4..81c6550e 100644
--- a/lib/Template/Grammar.pm
+++ b/lib/Template/Grammar.pm
@@ -123,69 +123,9 @@ sub new {
     }, $class;
 }
 
-# track usages of objects using the factory
-#	this is used to track how many objects are currently using the shared factory
-#	so we can safely clear it when the last user is destroyed
-my $factory_usages;
-
-sub DESTROY {
-	my ( $self ) = @_;
-
-	# on Grammar destruction check if we can safely trigger the destroy for the factory
-	$self->unregister_factory() if $self;
-
-	return;
-}
-
-sub unregister_factory {
-	my ( $self ) = @_;
-
-	return unless $self && defined $factory && ref $factory_usages;
-	return unless "$factory" eq $factory_usages->{CURRENT};
-
-	if ( $factory_usages->{HOLD_BY}->{ "$self" } ) {
-		delete $factory_usages->{HOLD_BY}->{ "$self" };
-	}
-
-	if ( ! scalar keys %{ $factory_usages->{HOLD_BY} } ) {
-		# avoid a memory leak from factory
-		undef $factory;
-		undef $factory_usages;
-	}
-
-	return;
-}
-
-sub register_factory {
-	my ( $self ) = @_;
-
-	return unless $factory;
-
-	$factory_usages //= { CURRENT => "", HOLD_BY => {} };
-
-	if ( "$factory" ne $factory_usages->{CURRENT} ) {
-		# we have updated the factory, should not care about the previous one...
-		$factory_usages->{HOLD_BY} = {}; 		  # reset who hold the factory
-		$factory_usages->{CURRENT} = "$factory"; # stringify it
-	}
-
-	$factory_usages->{HOLD_BY}->{ "$self" } = 1; # we are using this factory
-
-	return;
-}
-
-# update method to set package-scoped $factory lexical
-# note: only objects that call install_factory() are tracked for cleanup;
-# objects created via new() without installing a factory are not tracked
-# (this is intentional — only factory installers own the reference)
 sub install_factory {
     my ($self, $new_factory) = @_;
-
     $factory = $new_factory;
-
-    # register the current factory in order to clean it on destroy if possible
-    $self->register_factory();
-
     return $factory;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/Template/Provider.pm b/lib/Template/Provider.pm
index 52a59768..936176e0 100644
--- a/lib/Template/Provider.pm
+++ b/lib/Template/Provider.pm
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ sub _init {
     $dlim //= MSWin32 ? qr/:(?!\\|\/)/ : qr/:/;
 
     # coerce INCLUDE_PATH to an array ref, if not already so
-    $path = [ split(/$dlim/, $path) ]
+    $path = [ split($dlim, $path) ]
         unless ref $path eq 'ARRAY';
 
     # don't allow a CACHE_SIZE 1 because it breaks things and the
diff --git a/lib/Template/Stash.pm b/lib/Template/Stash.pm
index 494f0ef1..1290dc64 100644
--- a/lib/Template/Stash.pm
+++ b/lib/Template/Stash.pm
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ sub _dotop {
     return undef unless defined($root) and defined($item);
 
     # or if an attempt is made to access a private member, starting _ or .
-    return undef if $PRIVATE && $item =~ /$PRIVATE/;
+    return undef if $PRIVATE && $item =~ $PRIVATE;
 
     if ($atroot || $rootref eq 'HASH') {
         # if $root is a regular HASH or a Template::Stash kinda HASH (the
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ sub _assign {
     return undef unless $root and defined $item;
 
     # or if an attempt is made to update a private member, starting _ or .
-    return undef if $PRIVATE && $item =~ /$PRIVATE/;
+    return undef if $PRIVATE && $item =~ $PRIVATE;
 
     if ($rootref eq 'HASH' || $atroot) {
         # if the root is a hash we set the named key
diff --git a/lib/Template/VMethods.pm b/lib/Template/VMethods.pm
index 1a322824..1bec23c2 100644
--- a/lib/Template/VMethods.pm
+++ b/lib/Template/VMethods.pm
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ sub text_dquote {
 sub hash_item {
     my ($hash, $item) = @_;
     $item //= '';
-    return if $PRIVATE && $item =~ /$PRIVATE/;
+    return if $PRIVATE && $item =~ $PRIVATE;
     $hash->{ $item };
 }
 
diff --git a/t/zz-grammar-factory-leak.t b/t/zz-grammar-factory-leak.t
index de9c214c..29f40204 100644
--- a/t/zz-grammar-factory-leak.t
+++ b/t/zz-grammar-factory-leak.t
@@ -79,10 +79,13 @@ my $vars_with_stuff = {
 };
 
 {
-    # First call may allocate the grammar singleton -- run once to warm up
+    # Warm up: exercise all code paths so that one-time regex compilations
+    # and singleton allocations don't appear as leaks on older Perls.
     my $tt_warmup = Template->new();
     my $warmup_out = '';
     $tt_warmup->process( \$template_text, $vars_simple, \$warmup_out );
+    $warmup_out = '';
+    $tt_warmup->process( \$template_text, $vars_with_stuff, \$warmup_out );
 }
 
 # The second process call should not leak
@@ -132,7 +135,7 @@ no_leaks_ok {
 } "no leak when creating and destroying Template objects in a loop";
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Test 7: Factory is properly shared and cleaned
+# Test 7: Factory is a persistent singleton shared across Grammar objects
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 {
@@ -144,11 +147,8 @@ no_leaks_ok {
     $g2->install_factory($factory1);
 
     undef $g1;
-    # factory should still be alive because g2 holds it
-    pass("partial Grammar destruction does not crash");
-
     undef $g2;
-    # now factory should be cleaned up
+    pass("Grammar destruction with shared factory does not crash");
 }
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/t/zz-process-leak.t b/t/zz-process-leak.t
index 58da4971..4ecb5772 100644
--- a/t/zz-process-leak.t
+++ b/t/zz-process-leak.t
@@ -33,6 +33,25 @@ plan( tests => 6 );
 
 note "Searching for leak using Test::LeakTrace...";
 
+# Warm up: exercise all code paths once so that one-time regex
+# compilations and singleton allocations don't appear as leaks
+# on older Perls where qr// interpolation caches REGEXP SVs.
+{
+    my $warmup_text = <<'EOT';
+[% FOREACH item IN data -%]
+[% item.val %]
+[% FOREACH data IN item.stuff -%]
+... one item
+[% END -%]
+[% END -%]
+EOT
+    my $warmup_out = '';
+    my $tt = Template->new();
+    $tt->process(\$warmup_text, {
+        data => [ { val => 'x', stuff => [ { name => 'y' } ] } ]
+    }, \$warmup_out);
+}
+
 my $vars1 = {
     data => [
         {