Here’s the carnage! Was running a long print and saw this when I went to check on it. Was running the stock Ender 3 hotend with a Capricorn tube fix for nearly 5 years. Served me well. I haven’t yet been able to remove the white PLA. To see the full damage but, I’m pretty sure that the threads are gone.
Guess it’s time to upgrade the hotend.
I would suggest setting your hot end to 80-90 degrees. At that temp, PLA becomes rubbery and pliable without being a melty burned out mess. You can then clip and remove the blob with care and proceed with breaking it down.
For other types of filament, you want to be just above the glass transition temperature and below the melting point. (usually it’s a bit above your heated bed temperature.)