I have used a pipe cleaner folded double and stuck into the stem when doing an alcohol cleaning. That being said my understanding of a salt or cotton ball treatment would be for estate piped that are in really bad need of extreme cleaning. Have done this to remove the "ghosts" of strong tobaccos.
Have done business on eBay for 20 years and always keep my descriptions conservative. Unfortunately this is not the case with everyone and I have noticed "new accounts" are more problematic, As always, if it seems to be too good well watch out.
Keep my tobacco in mason jars and when get near the bottom the rest gets dumped into my "kitchen sink" jar. Periodically give it a good shake and let it age together. OzPiper nailed it with referring to cleaning out the fridge...