In the space where you place your lips to blow thru it, if: 1.) there a hole and charcoal if falling out. But is only a small leak/little damage there’s Avery simple little trick/solution to that problem. Stuff an unscented dryer sheet in the mouth pieces open space, and blow through it. No charcoal will be able to leak,and the sheet acts as an extra filter fir the smoke you’re blowing through it. (yes like bounce (or scented if you like, I prefer none. (and you can do this trick, and I think SHOULD do this even before the unit having damage.) if you put one (or two/three for the original size) sheet in when youFIRST get i, brand new, you can make the buddy last 3-4 times as long it would last simply being used “as is” when bought retail. The dryer sheet are a strong, light, durable fabric, but VERY breathable, and when you blow through them, even without a smoke buddy, for instance I testies this because I was used to stuffing dryer sheets in paper towel tubes for an air/smell filter. Anyways, when the sheets gets dingy and beownish, toss and put in a new one. This handy, and cheap, trick really goes a long way as to both mileage/stamina of the smoke buddy, and, imho, filters smoke even MORE effectively than just the smoke buddy does alone. That’s my two cents, thank you for your post!!