The wonderful thing about the internet is that there is a huge amount of information available. The bad thing about the internet is that a lot of that information is misleading, incorrect or flat out dangerous.
There are dozens of videos on youtube that advocate last-resort techniques as a solution for every minor problem that comes up. There are dozens more that show techniques that I would NEVER use on a pipe. The fact that someone posts a video on youtube doesn't prove they know what they're talking about, it only proves that they have access to a video camera and a computer. They MAY kmow a lot about pipes. They may have started smoking last week and are simply repeating something they were told.
I watched a video of a guy on youtube in which he did the salt and alcohol treatment on the bowl, and afterwards, he used a pipe cleaner doubled over to swab some alcohol on the inside of the bowl and actually lit the alcohol on fire and let it burn off. I dont know if this is such a great idea/if it even works, but he swears by it.
This is a great way to transform a nice pipe into a piece of firewood. In 45 years of smoking a pipe I've never had any reason to use the salt and alcohol treatment on a pipe. As far as swabbing the bowl with alcohol and setting it on fire, if you're lucky, the worst thing that will happen is that you singe your nose hairs. It'll really stink, but it won't do any lasting damage.
Start with the least invasive treatment that will treat the problem. In this case use alcohol, Q-tips and pipe cleaners to thoroughly clean the mortise and airway. Repeat if necessary. If that doesn't work you can always try something more drastic.
