Cork grease is your best friend (after your dog)

I'll bet you that you don't use enough cork grease or use it often enough.

Dry tenon corks shrink, so tenons get loose in their sockets, creating leaks.

Dry corks deteriorate, split, and come off the tenon eventually.

Worse, dry corks require more effort to get a horn apart and put together. If you hold the top and  bottom joints as most people do (around the keys) when you assemble or disassemble, you put force on the keys and rods, and no matter how little force you think you're applying, little by little the keys and rods will bend, maybe even putting you out of commission until you can get  your horn to a tech.

Too lazy to apply cork grease every time you pull your clarinet out? You'll pay! (The last time I heard, some techs charge $45+ to replace one.)

Stay tuned to learn lots more about tenon corks and cork grease in other posts. Likely more than you ever wanted to know.

Over and out.