It may be grease over the years with any kind of fibrous material it can form a surprisingly solid and smelly blob. Unfortunately the last time proprietary de bungers did not clear it, I had to get a plumber in though take it all tobits, and to add further issues the bottom of the trap could not be removed, it was stuck, being plastic, so ended up with a new trap and some trimming of the original pipe to make it fit,No trouble since, but I did the other day try to remove the trap bottom, but its stuck again so keeping fingers crossed. I think you have to get it really hot to unglue the pipes, the seal that went on mine was not the pack seal but the one to the metal pipe through the wall.
I don't like pipework. The last problem I had was one of those slightly bendy convoluted cold water pipes used to feed taps so the flexing does not cause a leak, we had a pin hole in the hot one which made the cupboard very messy. Brian