I'm sure this is a newb-type question, but I did a search & didn't find much...

I'm kind of anal about organization; I've got a spreadsheet that lists everything in my humi - an inventory list that includes what used to be there. I'm keeping notes about each stick I smoke on another tab of the sheet. One of the columns I filled in was a mild/medium/full rating for each stick (based mostly on what cigarsinternational has listed on their product pages).

I smoked a 5 vegas gold (mild) the night before last, and a 5 vegas series a (full) lastnight - both churchill sized. Now maybe I'm too green to notice these differences, but these were VERY similar to me... The smoke from the supposed full stick stung my eyes when the wind would blow & there was more to this stick than the gold (I remember thinking as I was smoking that the gold was kind of bland), but I don't know what made this a full-bodied smoke vs the mild stick.

The fuller bodied stick also gave me a buzz - I can't say for sure if the mild stick did or did not as I was drinking a bit of crown with it. I enjoyed the 5 Vegas Series A (apostle) more than I did the Gold.

I'm trying not to get into my single-sticks (from samplers) until I've got a few others under my belt. I've got 10 each of the 5 vegas gold, classic, and series a... I've also got multiples of a few others (cohiba & astral robusto), so they're 'practice' (I can go back and resmoke these later).

What makes a cigar mild vs medium vs full? I wouldn't say the flavor was that much different between the mild & full I smoked, so is it the 'kick'?

I'm smoking a brisket today (bbq), so I'll have a smoke or two while I'm tending to the fire .