As an owner of one of the same,....I'm pretty sure your pipe has been soaked in beeswax during construction.
I just fished a stick of beeswax out d'bay that I'll be using in the next few days to "re-wax" my little meerschaum of mine for the first time in a year.
There are a few websites that feature pages with suggestions for routine maintenance of a meerschaum pipe.
One, if I remember correctly, says to rub some pure beeswax on the pipe like lipstick and then hit with a hairdryer to melt it in, while using a Q-tip to work the melted wax into an even film. I think it was the same site that also warned against holding the bowl with grubby paws for fear of transferring hand gunk into the pores of the bowl.
p.s. I'm pretty sure the lipstick/hair-dryer method was posted by one of the owners of SMS.