If you want to feel relaxed, happy, and experience various health benefits, you’ll certainly want to get the best out of the weed you buy. On the other hand, with bad quality marijuana, you’ll just realize that you’ve thrown your 50 bucks out of the window. In order to prevent situations where you’re staring at the empty bowl wondering why there was no hit, we’ve prepared some tips on assessing your bud.
Phases of Evaluation
You are supposed to smell it, touch it, and take a closer look – that will allow you some educated guesses on how your plant is going to smoke and taste, but this is only the first phase of evaluation. The second has to be the actual consummation where you’ll completely experience the effects of the plant.
Furthermore, you shouldn’t mix quality with potency. If you want to know exactly how much of THC (and other cannabinoids) is in the substance, you’ll have to go for lab testing. Cannabis lab testing are done in professional testing labs, but you can also buy some basic testing equipment and do it yourself at home.
That cleared up, let’s take a look at evaluation methods outside the laboratory.
Dense & Fat, But Crunchy
The first thing you can pay attention to is visual weight – if the dealer gives you a bigger bag than you’ve expected, that’s not a good thing. It means that marijuana inside is loose and fluffy and a lighter flower is the indication of poor quality. Buds should always be dense and fat, but should also make a crunchy sound when you squeeze them.
An Immediate Hit of Familiar Smell
Once you open the bag the smell should hit you that very instant – if you need to put your nose inside than it’s probably not worth smelling at all. Different strains have different smells – due to the large variety of terpenes and terpenoids – but the scent should be a familiar one. The aroma should be lingering and pungent – if it has lost most of its scent or smells like hay, that marijuana is poorly cured.
Vibrant & Even Color
You’ll want to examine the color next. This is one of the most important factors regarding the healthiness of the plant. Color largely depends on genetics but there’s also a factor of how the plant was grown. It’s usually mint green, but some strains can also turn purple when exposed to low temperatures during flower. The dried pistils of the flower can also bring shades of orange and red. Since there can be various shades, the best indication for high-quality is color which is vibrant and even. You should avoid anything with grey splotches and brown and yellow shades are a good indicator that the treatment of leaves was not done.
Leafy is The Sign of Carelessness
While a quality bud is mostly about good genetics, growing the flower is not the end of the job – the effort is also needed after the harvest, especially with trimming. If you see that the buds are too leafy, that’s the sign of carelessness. Leaves don’t get you high so there’s no point in paying someone who doesn’t care properly for the plants.
Sparkling & Shining
In order to provide you with various health benefits, your buds should be packed together with ripe trichomes. They’re supposed to be sparkling and shining, resembling crystals. If buds don’t look frosty that means they haven’t been grown through natural processes and you should avoid them. Another good indicator of good-quality cannabis is that it’s super sticky due to the fact that ripe trichomes are gooey.
Even & Gray Ash
In the end, pay attention to the ash of the joint. It needs to be even and grey, indicating there’s no trace of chemicals or some other impurity. If it burns unevenly and the ash is black then the weed’s probably too humid. Not only will it give you headaches, but it will also add weight which means you’re actually paying for a lot of water.
To sum up – start by assessing visual weight, and the familiar scent should welcome you right after you open the bag. The color should be even and vibrant, you should spot small crystals sparkling, and buds shouldn’t be too leafy. Even and gray ash is there to seal the deal.
