How to Tell If You’re Buying Good Weed?

by Martin B. · March 7, 2022

Buying your first flower is always difficult, especially when you’re by yourself. You don’t know how to distinguish the quality of all the flowers available and might end up getting a cheap one just to try it out. But the truth is, a lot goes into determining the preferable quality of a weed flower when it’s your first time. Once you get into the habit of buying weed, you’ll be able to tell the good from the bad pretty easily. It is only the beginning that is tough, the rest is smooth sailing.

7 Factors That Can Tell You the Quality of Your Weed

To make the process easier, we’ve listed the 8 most important factors that any newbie should know about.

The Shelf System

Most dispensaries display their weed on shelfs, the higher the shelf, the better the weed quality. This is quite literally why we refer to good weed as top-shelf weed. The nugs stored at the top of the shelf will have all the factors we will discuss in the rest of the list. The buds in the middle might be good enough for intermediates and beginners that haven’t built up their tolerance. These will also be a tad bit cheaper in most cases. And lastly, the lowest shelf will have the least effective buds.

However, no matter which flower you choose, you need to carry an MMJ card to be able to buy cannabis at a dispensary. You can apply for an online medical card before visiting the dispensary so you don’t miss out on high quality flowers.

Stem and Seed Content

Too many stems and seeds in a flower are a complete no-no when you’re buying some weed. Why? Because they’re useless. All they do is add to the weight of the flower, which means you’ll be getting much less cannabis than what you’re paying for. In top-shelf weed, you won’t find any excessive stems, seeds or sticks. That is how you’ll know that you’re getting your money’s worth.

Note: Out of all the 3 S’s, seeds are the worst part of a low quality plant. These burst upon heating and can ruin the complete flower.

Color and Appearance

Now onto the third factor- the appearance. Whether it’s your first time looking at cannabis in real life, you probably have a basic idea of what it looks like. And for the details, we’ve got your back.

Starting off with the desired color: Your cannabis buds must be shades of green, with little hints of purples, blues and oranges.

Apart from the color, your bud should also have a glistening frosty top. This crystallized layer is what we call trichomes. Trichomes carry all the potent cannabinoids you’re hoping to consume and experience, so make sure the bud you pay for is covered in them.

Aroma and Taste

The aroma of a good quality bud can be very loud, you’ll smell it the moment it’s out of the box. On a general note, a top shelf bud must have a skunky, earthy, pine-like, citrusy smell and similar taste. This aroma and flavor is the result of hundreds of terpenes that can be naturally found in marijuana and hemp plants. Much like the cannabinoids found in these plants, terpenes also contribute to the overall entourage effect you experience. It is the combined effect of all these chemical compounds that we’re looking for.

Different terpenes present in cannabis have their own distinct aromas and benefits. For instance, pinene is the terpene that smells like pine (obviously) and has analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits. On the other hand, limonene is the terpene that has a citrusy aroma and has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic effects.

When multiple of these terpenes are present in a single bud, you get complex wafts of “skunky, earthy, pine-like, citrusy” smells and flavors.

When you get your hands on low quality buds, their stale odor and taste are a sure give away of its quality.

Bud Structure and Trim

How well your cannabis flower is trimmed tells you more about the quality of its maintenance rather than the quality of the strain. A bud that has been packed with all its leaves and stems will weigh more, even with limited cannabis content. In other words, you’ll pay more for less. This tells you the attitude of the company towards its consumers. On the other hand, a finely trimmed plant with no excessive stems or stalks means that the cannabis was grown and sold with care.

Contaminants

There are some contaminants that are visible to the naked eye, others aren’t. We’ll discuss the latter in the next section. For now, let’s focus on what’s in front of us.

A bud that has black or white spots, possibly mold, or web like threads going around the flower then don’t smoke it. The webs can be spider mites. Smoking a flower like this can be extremely harmful for your body, with your lungs being the worst stricken. The smoke from your weed is going to reach your lungs before it enters your bloodstream and the last thing you need is mold growing there.

Lab Test Results

Now for the other part of contaminants, there can be so much in a marijuana plant that we cannot see. Like the cannabinoids and terpenes, there are hundreds of other components to be found inside the bud. This is where you must look into the third party lab results of the product you want to buy.

First off, don’t buy a product that has no certificate of analysis (COA). Second off, avoid products that have an inhouse lab result. These can be biased or manipulated.

Only trust third party lab results as they are unbiased evaluations of every component present inside the product.

This includes,

All the cannabinoids
All the terpenes
And, all the contaminants.

Most of these lab tests check contaminants like: microbes, residual solvents, heavy metals, etc.

These seven major factors should give you an essence of whether the product you’re about to buy is worth your money or not. Even when you’re buying recreational flowers from any Online CBD Store, make sure to go through all these factors before paying.

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Martin B.

Ex-smoker, passionate vaper who loves to tell the world about the life-changing potential of vaping. Co-creator of Ecigclopedia with a background in Business & Finance. Prefers a dessert flavored vape and loves to innovate.