H2SO4 with ethanoic acid reaction? Earlier today I was preparing an ester (propyl ethanoate) and I noticed that instead of putting the propanol, ethanoic acid and $\ce{H2SO4}$ in the test tube and warming it (taking time and external energy) I could instead mix sulfuric acid with the ethanoic acid, which made the test tube go very hot, and then by adding the propanol and shaking it split into two layers. On pouring this into water I ended up with an immiscible layer which appeared to be an ester (it was sweet smelling and considering the reaction it would be likely to be an ester). 

I cannot think of which reaction was causing the heating up initially. The test tube was clean so the only reactants were the sulfuric acid and ethanoic acid, and it appeared that a gas was being given off (as shaking it with a rubber cap on caused it to pop out of the tube, but no effervescence could easily be seen). Can anyone help? Furthermore, would the eventual product be propyl ethanoate or something else (it was suggested that it was dehydrogenating the ethanoic acid so the actual product would be something like propyl ethenoate, but from a quick look on the internet this would seem to require an iron catalyst (or another catalyst) and a high temperature, neither of which was present)?
I suspect that the ethanoic acid contains a residual amount of water and that the concentrated sulphuric acid is reacting with the water. Since this is a very exothermic reaction the test tube gets heated up which evaporates some of the ethanoic acid, causing the bung to pop off. If it's just slight evaporation this would also explain why you couldn't see any effervescence.