I think most people avoid smith charts because they think it will be akin to learning calculus.
This is one part of the radio hobby that can be learned with just a picture book. Some really basic rules control how inductors, capacitors, resistors, transformers, coax etc move the chart. Its like a slide rule for complex numbers and one doesn't even need to understand complex numbers to use it.
People shy away from complex numbers because they assume it is difficult. Smith charts were invented specifically to make it easy for everyone to solve matching problems without a calculator. Its the ultimate cheat sheet. Edit: and if your eyes are bad, you have simsmith, you can do it on the screen.