Well hello there and a jolly spiffing welcome to the forum wot wot! Nic salts will help you with the cravings as they are absorbed quicker than freebase liquids and thus help take away any cravings more quickly but as you have noted, they are smoother and don't give that throat hit. Freebase would give you the throat hit but won't act as quickly. I use both so I can get the throat hit using freebase and use salts for any bad cravings.