Salt and Alcohol Cracking

Hi there - I have used the salt and alcohol treatment on two pipes and both times it has caused cracking inside the bowl. Is this a common problem? I have since switched to using cotton balls and whilst they don't cause cracking I suspect that they are not so efficient at removing ghosting. Any thoughts?

I tried the salt and alcohol treatment on a pipe last week and for some reason afterwards I couldn't get the stem all the way in. It would get stuck halfway in and trying to fix it I ended up breaking the stem.

I've used the salt treatment on a number of pipes. I haven't used the cotton ball treatment but, I think they both achieve the same result. The cotton should also remove the ghosting...

I've used salt, but have settled on cottonballs, mainly because it's an easier clean-up. But I've never experienced any cracking with either method.
Are they hairline cracks or fissures? Are they in wood or cake?

Looks like the cracking is in the wood rather than the cake. I cleaned it out pretty well prior to doing the S&A. They are just small cracks so nothing serious.