I'm not refuting what youre saying in any way; this is just a related suggestion for anyone using PiHole who occasionally runs into what you've described.

There's an Android app called flutterhole which can connect to and activate your pihole's 'pause blocking' feature. I have found this to be the easiest way around the scenario the poster above has mentioned. Doesn't help with figuring out PiHole is responsible obviously. HTH.