sn said..>>> report back if there is a kaboomy flash with a bit of smoke

Didn't quite follow your script. But as I bent the pipe open some of the blue stuff flaked off, so sprinkled it onto a hard metal surface and whacked with hammer. Complete anti climax, glad I didn't go the trouble of getting a band in to play the 1812! Even smaller pieces of blue just flew out from the hammer and quietly settled on the ground.

so you can see the pliers teeth marks on the side, and the flaky bits that fell off at the bottom.
Here's it a bit closer

The black background does look a bit grainy, and different where the blue stuff has fallen off. Not sure if it's more grainy or less, but it's definitely black. does this indeed indicate sulphide reducing bacteria? If it is doesn't seem to have done much damage, the copper looks thick enough, keeping in mind that the edge above is mainly bur from the diamond cut off wheel.
The other interesting thing, the blue stuff is in a line, all along the pipe, as if it's been deposited on the bottom of the pipe by slow moving water.