I made the mistake of power leveling smithing with my 2H warrior and things got VERY easy at high levels on master. My fault.

So I started a new assassin - thief who uses archery, 1 h, light armor, sneak, and alchemy. I am only going to use alchemy for poisons, restore potions, and invisibility. So far I love it. The game is HARD. I had to turn it down to expert. It takes me hours to get through most nordic ruins, and I have to sneak up on everything and run away and hide a lot. Most enemies would slaughter me if I went toe to toe.

I like it this way. However, I am wondering if I level smithing, but do not perk it at all (except for arcane blacksmith so I am improve magical armor) if it would make my game too easy. I won't be crafting new armor, and I will NOT use alchemy to improve my smithing. Will un-perked smithing make the game too easy?

It'll be even harder if you do not get any perks but level it only.

Smithing is basically useless without perks. And leveling it gains you some extra levels which makes enemies harder.