Can stale coffee cause choking/leaking???

Hi,

I just got back from vaca and used some stale coffee (about 3-4 weeks
old). I could tell Silvia was choking a bit, so I tried lightening the
grind and tamp, but I still ended up with a large pool of water on the
counter. I also noticed a little water leaking out the top of the PF,
which has never happened before on my stock doulbe basket Rancilio PF.

Could this have just been caused by the stale coffee choking Silvia?

n*

.