Sponged disappearing from inventory

(Probable) Steps to reproduce: in survival mode.

Dry sponges in several furnaces

Collect them all with the Shift key

Move all sponges from toolbar to inventory with Shift key

Open a barrel and move an item into it with Shift key

The next time the inventory is opened, the sponges are gone.

 

I wrote probable, because by the time I realized that these steps are making my sponges disappear, I ran out of sponges, so I cannot reproduce it.

UPDATE

They turn up in the smoker and definitely didn't put them there.