There is no supposed to! Both routes are great, and you can go half way- smoke it unfinished for 20 years, then have at it. More seriously, I have a handful of unfinished basket pipes from Wilke, Ries, Sherman that I did nothing to, except way later- decades later- had a carnauba finish buffed on and they shone like shellac!Hmmm, I had always thought that you were supposed to smoke them unfinished, like those done by Nording, and let them naturally patina.