Congratulations!
I had a soft bottom cob that lasted just about 2 years before I burned through the SIDE. Go figure. I always break in my cobs with a few bowls of stout burley, and after smoking I'll use my pipe tool to jam some of the ash into the bottom and around the shank insert. Kinda like pipe mud but without the fuss of actually making something lol.
Time to upgrade to those fancy cobs with the hardwood bottoms