There's also a huge variance between different types of cane- delrin versus rattan versus fibreglass versus a leather wrapped version of one of the others all leave different sensations and different degrees of hurt.

Caning is one of my favourite activities, and part of the reason behind that is that it is so flexible in the type of sensation you can achieve with it. While a lot of people see caning as one of the heavier types of impact play (and it certainly can be, if you do it in the right way), a good caner can impart any degree of sensation from the gentlest tap to the hardest smack. Sounds like you had a domme with excellent control. If you try it again, she may well go harder.