Pipe smells wet

[Thelonious monkfish]

20 smokes is still practically new especially if your just now seeing cake develop. It also could be the type of briar, I've had Italian briar that took ages to break in. .

Yeah, less than 100 smokes is a brand new pipe to me, maybe it's poorly cured Briar, or some engineering snafu, or it might be cursed. If you like the pipe enough keep plowing until it comes into it's own, which it might not. If it's still soaked and smells funky afterwards I would consider filling it with activated charcoal or setting it in a container of rice, just because it couldn't hurt.

It very well could be green brisr.

Green wood is a good possibility considering that it seems to stay damp and smell after a smoke for days. The odds of this go up knowing it was handmade, not everyone making pipes has a backlog of Briar that's been curing for years and it's quite common to get Briar that still needs to be seasoned before being worked, sometimes it's still clearly wet but without access to a large aged supply there will be pieces made with Briar that's to varying degrees still green at times. It happens. If it's green pushing through will eventually get it cured, once you've driven all the excess moisture out one bowl at time.

[Whalehead King]

If you already think it's a good smoker, it's going to be a better one as time passes and you put it through its paces. Smoke it as you normally would and they two of you should adapt to each other. I predict this pipe will be a trusty companion if you give it time to know what you expect and you take the time to learn it's capabilities and limits.