It was a fibrous composite, but I don't believe it ever contained asbestos. It was never fire proof. From Wiki:
Orangeburg pipe was made of wood pulp sealed with liquified coal tar pitch in inside diameters from 2 inches to 18 inches, with a perforated version for leach fields. Joints were made of the same material, and, because of the residual stickiness of the coal tar, were sealed without adhesives. Orangeburg was inexpensive, lightweight, albeit brittle, and soft enough to be cut with a handsaw.
Orangeburg was a low cost alternative to metal for sewer lines in particular. Lack of strength causes pipes made of Orangeburg to fail more frequently than pipes made with other materials. The useful life for an Orangeburg pipe is about 50 years under ideal conditions, but has been known to fail in as little as 10 years. It has been taken off the list of acceptable materials by most building codes.
I remember installing this product as young man in electrical trade, in duct bank(s) @ new Powerhouse facility site in N. Carolina. This was about same time "Shaw of Iran" was being overthrown in his country. As I remembering looking conduit up in reference, being called "fiberduct" and so referenced American Electrician Handbook (Authors of Croft & Carr & Watt).. Back then, text being "one of three" books owned earlier yrs in trade.
This product baffled me as kid early years of craft and remember discussing product with my site Foreman, who having just returned from Brown & Root project in Iran, while exiting country w/ his life.
The product was "lite" working with & handling, 10ft long & the shorter section(s) cut, you tapered conduit ends manually w/ tool having rubber stopper insert, mounted on tool which inserted into end of pipe, manually turning handle w/ bladed tool, cutting bevel onto conduit ends for mating w/ coupling(s). No glue involved, or tighten of coupling, just bang it together w/ piece of wood product.
* I'd be personally interested if the original poster would return, and informing form members further into outcome, involving installation fix method as proposed in this thread.