The Smith-Waite card stock is thicker than the Vanessa and my other Rider-Waite decks, and it has a slightly waxy feel to it, which may lessen with use. Shuffling is difficult as the thicker card stock does not bend easily. If you are willing to work with it I think the deck will wear-in nicely over time.
Here's a comparison with four published versions of the deck:
top left: the 2009 Smith-Waite (printed in China);
top right: the 1993 Original Rider-Waite (printed in Belgium);
lower left: the 1971 Rider & Co. Tarot (printed in Switzerland);
lower right: the current U.S. Games Rider-Waite (printed in Italy).
You can see them more clearly at my blog (because of the size limit here) but I don't think I'm supposed to link there. Nor can I figure out how to imbed the image in the post so you can see it directly.