At a party a while ago, I had a conversation with a guy from HP's printer division. As it turns out, these guys profile the snot out of their own papers. HP knows, for HP-brand paper, precisely how much ink it can absorb and how fast. The more expensive papers are more expensive precisely because they can handle more ink. (Modern ink jet "photo" paper has a fancy clay surface.) When you print to something that's not HP-brand paper (or, in your case, not Epson-brand paper), then the driver has to guess. You could try all the different settings, ranging from "plain paper" onward to see how well they work. You could also try letting the ink dry, perhaps overnight, to see if that makes a difference.

To some extent, any ink-based system is going to be smudgeable. The only "real" solution is to print with something else, like toner or silk screening or perhaps to find some kind of spray-on preservative layer.