Re: Your stick preferences and why.
I have been on a long, strange journey over the last 25 years... to find a stick I really, truly, 100% like. I think I am just about there.
I need a stick about 5B diameter but with a medium taper, and preferably a stretch stick. I like the Vic Firth X5B for this. If I am playing a wood tip, I prefer it to be blended into the stick, like the Buddy or Gavin sticks, which seem to chip less quickly than do normal sticks. Otherwise, I stick with nylon for durability. I like something grippy (like Vic Grip or Pro-Mark's Pro-Grip), because otherwise my hands tire out from deathgripping the stick; but the Zildjian Dip gives me horrible blisters.
I have played Vic, Pro-Mark, Regal Tip, Zildjian, Ludwig, Slingerland, Hot Sticks, Vater, RimShot, and a few other brands not mentioned here. In terms of build and consistency I have been happiest with Vic Firth.
If Vic Firth made a Buddy Rich type stick with Vic Grip on it, I'd be 100% happy. As it is, I like my X5ANVGs.
I also enjoy a well-made maple stick. I like the SD1s pretty well - a big, light stick. There used to be a company called HeadHunters that made great maple sticks with grip grooves. They went underground/out of business many moons ago. Quite sad... I really dug their sticks. At one point I had two stick bags full of them!