Yeah, even though i smuggle from the other side of the fence(namely artifacts) i have to tell it is severly lackluster.
-The pay is crappy if you stick to inRP pathways(no lanes or gates for a Corsair afteral)
-if you are "good" at what you do you will never ever encounter anyone which makes it quite boring if you have no escort to chatter
So in the end i started to deliberatly smuggle "bad" by crossing lanes, stations and planets which caused me to get caught exactly 3 times in the whole last year- and i do earn my gaming cash either by smuggling or piracy, so i smuggle quite often...
Smuggling: poorly paid and boring, that s why there are so few smugglers out there