Pipe Jointing Compound contamination

[AnonymousImport]

Has anybody had trouble with this?. I bought a new house in 1992, had a lot of problems with the shower. Could not seem to get rid of what we thought was soap scum, but problem gradually disappeared afetr2 or 3 years. Because we had had a lot of problems with the tiling in the shower, leaking grout and tiles falling off caused by inferior quality shower tray flexing at wall joints, decided to start from scratch and replace the whole thing. On dismantling the old pipework and shower mixer I discovered that the hot water feed was almost choked solid with said compound. Have looked in other parts of hot water system and found similar contamination. Is it harmful? Can I get rid of it? Any Ideas?

 

[Hamiltonandy]

Never seen this before probably because most people use soldered joints. No problem re health as you are not drinking vast quantities but most unpleasant discovery for you.
Looks like amateur at work here with all compression fittings and using handfuls of the stuff at each joint. Bet its the oil based stuff which dries hard in air.
If really obstructing flow I would consider replacing with new copper piping and soldered joints with lead free solder. Look neater too!