Asklemmy

This is pretty easy to search, but also intuitive when you consider crack is most often smoked vs cocaine being absorbed through your nasal mucosa. Here are a few highlights from this comprehensive review, which also covers the very real socioeconomic differences in use patterns:

By virtue of its hydrophilicity, cocaine hydrochloride is generally consumed by ‘snorting.' ‘Crack’ cocaine is generally the only form of cocaine that is smoked—this is due to the fact that cocaine hydrochloride has an elevated boiling point and does not vaporise at the temperatures of combustion.

(R)outes that involve the respiratory system...allow for the stimulant to reach the brain circulation in around 6 to 8 s; the inhalation route presents higher peak plasma concentrations that are reached faster when compared to intranasal administration. It should be noted that, for the intranasal route, the vasoconstrictive properties of cocaine slow down the drug’s own absorption, causing a 60-min delay of peak plasmatic concentrations. In terms of bioavailability, the inhalation route has the greatest bioavailability, which surpasses 90%, while the intranasal route has roughly 80%.

The abuse and dependence of cocaine is strongly related to the drug’s capacity to induce the release of dopamine within the mesocorticolimbic circuit (also known as the reward system). As the user continues to consume cocaine, desensitization occurs and so larger doses are necessary to induce stimuli of the same magnitude as before, as well as to minimize withdrawal symptoms.

Another difference of inhalation vs intranasal:

Smoking ‘crack’ leads to the formation of another biomarker of exposure, AEME, which is the main product of cocaine’s thermal degradation. In vitro and in vivo studies show that AEME appears to have effects on the cardiovascular system, by acting as a muscarinic agonist. Furthermore, neurotoxic effects were also reported for this metabolite.

Faster it hits you the more addictive it is. IV heroin is more addictive than smoking heroin too.

I'm over 40, have ADD, have extensive experience, and am grieving two close friends who died of fent in their coke in the last few weeks. You'll likely conclude the same thing I did, that it's way overpriced and you need a whole lot more to get the dopamine dump that makes it worthwhile.

You asked, I answered. Knock yourself out (but please, test your shit. Fent strips are cheap and often free. Check with dancesafe.org or others for best practices on testing. I'm not worrying about you, but I'm sure you have people in your lives that love you dearly, and I hope they never go through what I'm going through right now.)

It's chemically different

"Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3, common baking soda) is a base used in the preparation of crack, although other weak bases may substitute for it.[7][8] The net reaction when using sodium bicarbonate is Coc-H+Cl− + NaHCO3 → Coc + H2O + CO2 + NaCl With ammonium bicarbonate: Coc-H+Cl− + NH4HCO3 → Coc + NH4Cl + CO2 + H2O With ammonium carbonate: 2(Coc-H+Cl−) + (NH4)2CO3 → 2 Coc + 2 NH4Cl + CO2 + H2O"

You're removing a Hydrogen and a Chlorine ion respectively. I'm not a chemist but I'd guess that makes the base cocaine molecule more bioavailable. I think the confusion stems from the fact that conventional cocaine is not true-cocaine (it's Cocaine Hydrochloride) in the sense that crack is. An alternative commonly used name for crack is "freebase cocaine" which would suggests it's more exact nature.