Well, coughing is very very very unpleasant and hard to stop untill you are more of a seasoned toker and learn to control it (something my friend and I have now mastered)

However, Many people say it gets you higher, I would reccomend smoking AFTER coughing because the cough reflex makes the bronchioles dialate more (my terminology may be a bit off) meaning more of the good stuff can be absorbed into the blood flow.

-this is theoretic and not necersarily 100% sure,

All the best,
Jonny