Your plumbing system has a vent stack that runs up through your roof. It lets air into the pipes so water can flow freely via gravity (the same reason you poke a second hole in a juice box). If that vent is partially blocked by a bird's nest, leaves, or ice, the drain line goes into negative pressure.
When you flush a wad of paper, it enters the trap way—that S-curve at the base of your toilet. This is the choke point. If the paper is packed too tightly, water flows around it, but the paper itself acts like a wet rag. It doesn't dissolve; it congeals. To understand why a blocked toilet with toilet paper is so stubborn, you need to visualize what is happening inside the pipe. blocked toilet with toilet paper
When you flush, the water wants to go down, but there is nowhere for the air to go. The air pushes back against the water. The paper, being light, gets caught in the air/water turbulence and sticks to the sides of the pipe. Over a few weeks, those small paper deposits build up until one day, one flush triggers The Great White Plug. Do not reach for the plunger yet. Plungers are for solids. For paper, you need hydration and patience. Your plumbing system has a vent stack that
But "breaks down in 20 minutes" is very different from "breaks down in 2 seconds." When you flush a wad of paper, it