diff --git a/src/dpy_webhooks/dpy_webhooks.py b/src/dpy_webhooks/dpy_webhooks.py
index 0ab6d4d..aedbebb 100644
--- a/src/dpy_webhooks/dpy_webhooks.py
+++ b/src/dpy_webhooks/dpy_webhooks.py
@@ -351,11 +351,18 @@ class DPYWebhooks:
 
     async def _restore_from_store(self, channel: discord.TextChannel) -> "Optional[discord.Webhook]":
         """rebuild a partial webhook from the stored record; on a rebuild fault, treat the
-        record as stale (clear + return None so the caller can recreate)"""
+        record as stale (clear + return None so the caller can recreate)
+
+        Webhook.partial does no token validation of its own and will happily cache a
+        token-less webhook, which then raises a raw ValueError (not HTTPException) on
+        send - bypassing the self-heal path entirely and getting stuck forever. reject a
+        non-str token here, before partial(), so that record is treated as stale too"""
         record = await self._store.get(channel.id)
         if not record:
             return None
         try:
+            if not isinstance(record["token"], str):
+                raise TypeError(f"stored token must be str, got {type(record['token']).__name__}")
             webhook = discord.Webhook.partial(
                 int(record["webhook_id"]),
                 record["token"],