I'm not sure if smearing the outside has much if anything to do with the center being creamy or not.
My understanding is that you do this to help form an outer seal to keep nasties from getting inside the cheese.
Yes, I poked a lot of holes in this one. My last one didn't have as much veining as I wanted so I decided to go extreme the other way. If anything I would think letting more air into the center would remove more moisture causing the center to dry out.
I'm no expert just my thoughts.
Neil