A group of independent studies suggest that labels for dozens of products do not match the reality of the potency stated, often containing 20 per cent less THC than listed
Where’s a good resource to learn more about what numbers/details ARE significant? The industry has changed eo much and I never know how to select properly
If your state has terpene amounts and types listed its probably better to pick based on those. You can find guides with terpene types and purported effects online. When you’re researching how to choose flower look for articles that mention entourage effects as these are the interactions between terps and thc. Also, the guys who are really into this stuff talk about type 1 and type 2 flower so there’s something else to look up. Take it all with some salt and watch out for people that use science words to replace magic and you’ll be on your way. The fun part is trying all the flower and seeing which terps work best for you!
For me it’s rarely about the hard numbers and more about the lineage of the strains, the reputation of the growers, and the reviews of other cannabis users. I like to cross reference resources like Wikileaks, Leafly, Weedmaps, and local reviews to narrow in on strains that help me.
If I walk into a store and can talk to the budtender about what I’m looking for in a product and what I’m using it to treat and they recommend a strain or two I already know works for me, I’m much more likely to listen to their other recommendations I haven’t tried than those of someone who doesn’t. Over just the last few months of being a licensed patient in Oklahoma, I’ve found 3 different dispensaries I’ll go to for recommendations because they’ve been consistently on point.
And at all 3 of those independent locations, they tell me not to look at the THC but at the terpene profiles. I find that the presence of Caryophyllene and Limonene and Myrcene are all great indicators that a particular strain will be good for my needs.
Caryophyllene and Limonene and Myrcene are all great indicators that a particular strain will be good for my needs.
Those are actually three of the most common terps in cannabis. Even if they’re not in the top few, pretty much all cannabis has all three of these terps. I’m curious, as a budtender myself, what you would say are your overall preferences in cannabis? If you’ve found that combo to be reliable, I’d guess hybrid user with situational specific preferences. It’s (very roughly this is a Will and Grace reference >_>) Karen’s party mix: Limonene for the upper, Myrcene for a downer, and Caryophyllene candy corn!
Peesonally I almost always want that sleepy shit and look for Myrcene, Humulene, Nerolidol, and Linalool.
You are fairly spot on with your assessment of me. It may all be gobbledygook and placebo but I’ve found that bud that is heavy in the Caryophyllene is very effective at helping reduce pain and inflammation when I’m dealing with a flare up of an as yet undiagnosed gastrointestinal issue, allowing me to function under conditions that would otherwise leave me huddled in agony on the toilet all day. The limonene heavy strains are great for jogging me out of depression induced apathy, and yeah the myrcene does great knocking me out when I’m having trouble staying asleep.
Tbh I’m quite jealous of people who just enjoy that sort of default blend. Too much Limonene makes me incredibly anxious, like I have a head full of sick bees. My wife is kind of that way. I can keep an eye on her moods and bring home weed that’s just right for her, but she’ll never be entirely unhappy with a big stash of weed. She’ll just need more of something that is less specifically ideal in the moment. There are cannabis products that will induce a panic attack in me if I take too much and cannabis products that will make me feel heavenly every time. If the top two terps are 1.5% Limonene and 0.98% Terpinoline, that’s a pretty green panic attack waiting to happen. If you have digestive issues, you should look into CBG and Humulene heavy strains. CBG is known for helping with pain and digestion and inflammation. Humulene is known for reducing appetite and counteracting the munchies, and I find that it settles my stomach if it’s not unsettled from being too empty.
Thanks for the tips! I’m very grateful for how cannabis interacts with my brain chemistry. I am predispositioned to stress induced anxiety and panic attacks and consuming pretty much any flower that isn’t absolute garbage will at the very least “take the edge off” and the act of preparing and smoking the flower provides an excellent opportunity for relaxation and bringing the stress levels down before even taking the effects of the weed itself into account. I’ll definitely have to start looking out for good Humulene and CBG heavy strains.
What sort of effects do you like/are you looking for in cannabis? If you let me know what we’re looking for, maybe tell me a little about yourself, I can probably point you in the right direction to start experimenting. Consultation is my favorite part of my job <3
Let me throw this out… My GF’s aunts and uncles want to have a “first time” party where they all try pot for the first time. I’ve made cookies and brownies in the past, with varying degrees of success, I guess depending on the quality of the effective ingredients.
Do you have any tips on what products would best be used for cooking/baking edibles like cookies or brownies? We’re just looking to have a laugh, get the munchies, and fall asleep. :)
On the one hand, I’d recommend RSO/FECO. It’s a full spectrum product that is already decarbed in a format that makes it very easy to do dosage math. It typically comes in a glass syringe with portions marked on the side. It would allow you to make very reasonable new user doses without worrying about overwhelming new users. A good starter dose is 5~10mg for most people, so very low in the grand scheme of things to an experienced user.
On the other hand, if you have dispensary access, you could just ask for their best tasting 5mg or candy bar. A good budtender will know what’s good in their dispensary. I could promise you tasty edibles from mine.
@TemporaryBoyfriend I would recommend buying some edibles, so they are all starting at a measured and mellow dose. Throwing them right into smoking flower would be an awful idea, so I’m glad that isn’t on your path. Cookies and brownies still risk having wildly different dosages though, so probably not the best idea.
Its MUCH less about numbers and details than it is about the entorage effect. From my understanding, the entorage effect is a change in how you perceive the high depending on what kind of terpenes are present in the strain / phenotype.
For example, a really terpy, stinking strain with low THC% could produce a better high (for you) than a high THC flower with less / unideal (for you) terps. In my experience, THC% has little to no effect on how the bud actually hits, and is just juiced up as marketing lingo.
Put simply, and I know this is vague, but experiment and find what terpenes / flavor profiles you like, you’ll find similarities in high between strains that have similar terps (i.e., knowing you really like lemon strains, citrus strains, etc.) Then buy what fits your tastes!
EDIT: I agree with WhiteOakBayou, its about finding the terps for you.
This is why I only get live resin cartridges vs distillate. It never fails to kick my ass lol. Some of the better bud I’ve had has been around 13-16% THC
I wouldn’t say that it means almost nothing, but it means a lot less than most users think. I know what terps and minor cannabinoids I like and how they affect me, but I also know that flower under ~20% THC will leave me too lucid to reliably get to sleep, which is my primary medical use. But you definitely can’t go off that number alone like so many customers. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I think of it kind of as the THC percentage being the base magic power of the flower/character, while the terps and minors are the spells and elements and shit that you actually use. That measure is both essential to the effects of the flower and next to useless by itself, like the magic stat on a character with no spells. A flower with high THC and low terps is like a character with high magic power fueling low level spells.
What is absolutely correct is that the worst, laziest consumers don’t know about any other number and refuse to listen or learn. People who know that they matter, who enjoy them all and tell me to pick them something good, I respect. People who tell me “CBD doesn’t do anything for me!” and insist on the flower with the one big number when I suggest a CBN edible to help with their insomnia I do not respect. “I need the highest for the lowest” is worse than “I only smoke an unstable dihybrid cross from the 70s” but they frequently go hand in hand.
THC potentcy means almost nothing, and anyone who takes that number into account is being a lazy consumer.
Where’s a good resource to learn more about what numbers/details ARE significant? The industry has changed eo much and I never know how to select properly
If your state has terpene amounts and types listed its probably better to pick based on those. You can find guides with terpene types and purported effects online. When you’re researching how to choose flower look for articles that mention entourage effects as these are the interactions between terps and thc. Also, the guys who are really into this stuff talk about type 1 and type 2 flower so there’s something else to look up. Take it all with some salt and watch out for people that use science words to replace magic and you’ll be on your way. The fun part is trying all the flower and seeing which terps work best for you!
For me it’s rarely about the hard numbers and more about the lineage of the strains, the reputation of the growers, and the reviews of other cannabis users. I like to cross reference resources like Wikileaks, Leafly, Weedmaps, and local reviews to narrow in on strains that help me.
If I walk into a store and can talk to the budtender about what I’m looking for in a product and what I’m using it to treat and they recommend a strain or two I already know works for me, I’m much more likely to listen to their other recommendations I haven’t tried than those of someone who doesn’t. Over just the last few months of being a licensed patient in Oklahoma, I’ve found 3 different dispensaries I’ll go to for recommendations because they’ve been consistently on point.
And at all 3 of those independent locations, they tell me not to look at the THC but at the terpene profiles. I find that the presence of Caryophyllene and Limonene and Myrcene are all great indicators that a particular strain will be good for my needs.
Those are actually three of the most common terps in cannabis. Even if they’re not in the top few, pretty much all cannabis has all three of these terps. I’m curious, as a budtender myself, what you would say are your overall preferences in cannabis? If you’ve found that combo to be reliable, I’d guess hybrid user with situational specific preferences. It’s (very roughly this is a Will and Grace reference >_>) Karen’s party mix: Limonene for the upper, Myrcene for a downer, and Caryophyllene candy corn!
Peesonally I almost always want that sleepy shit and look for Myrcene, Humulene, Nerolidol, and Linalool.
You are fairly spot on with your assessment of me. It may all be gobbledygook and placebo but I’ve found that bud that is heavy in the Caryophyllene is very effective at helping reduce pain and inflammation when I’m dealing with a flare up of an as yet undiagnosed gastrointestinal issue, allowing me to function under conditions that would otherwise leave me huddled in agony on the toilet all day. The limonene heavy strains are great for jogging me out of depression induced apathy, and yeah the myrcene does great knocking me out when I’m having trouble staying asleep.
Tbh I’m quite jealous of people who just enjoy that sort of default blend. Too much Limonene makes me incredibly anxious, like I have a head full of sick bees. My wife is kind of that way. I can keep an eye on her moods and bring home weed that’s just right for her, but she’ll never be entirely unhappy with a big stash of weed. She’ll just need more of something that is less specifically ideal in the moment. There are cannabis products that will induce a panic attack in me if I take too much and cannabis products that will make me feel heavenly every time. If the top two terps are 1.5% Limonene and 0.98% Terpinoline, that’s a pretty green panic attack waiting to happen. If you have digestive issues, you should look into CBG and Humulene heavy strains. CBG is known for helping with pain and digestion and inflammation. Humulene is known for reducing appetite and counteracting the munchies, and I find that it settles my stomach if it’s not unsettled from being too empty.
Thanks for the tips! I’m very grateful for how cannabis interacts with my brain chemistry. I am predispositioned to stress induced anxiety and panic attacks and consuming pretty much any flower that isn’t absolute garbage will at the very least “take the edge off” and the act of preparing and smoking the flower provides an excellent opportunity for relaxation and bringing the stress levels down before even taking the effects of the weed itself into account. I’ll definitely have to start looking out for good Humulene and CBG heavy strains.
It’s like picking a whiskey based off of the ABV, but sometimes the lower THC can get you higher due to the cannabinoid differences.
Play around and find what gives you the benefits you want.
What sort of effects do you like/are you looking for in cannabis? If you let me know what we’re looking for, maybe tell me a little about yourself, I can probably point you in the right direction to start experimenting. Consultation is my favorite part of my job <3
Let me throw this out… My GF’s aunts and uncles want to have a “first time” party where they all try pot for the first time. I’ve made cookies and brownies in the past, with varying degrees of success, I guess depending on the quality of the effective ingredients.
Do you have any tips on what products would best be used for cooking/baking edibles like cookies or brownies? We’re just looking to have a laugh, get the munchies, and fall asleep. :)
On the one hand, I’d recommend RSO/FECO. It’s a full spectrum product that is already decarbed in a format that makes it very easy to do dosage math. It typically comes in a glass syringe with portions marked on the side. It would allow you to make very reasonable new user doses without worrying about overwhelming new users. A good starter dose is 5~10mg for most people, so very low in the grand scheme of things to an experienced user.
On the other hand, if you have dispensary access, you could just ask for their best tasting 5mg or candy bar. A good budtender will know what’s good in their dispensary. I could promise you tasty edibles from mine.
@TemporaryBoyfriend I would recommend buying some edibles, so they are all starting at a measured and mellow dose. Throwing them right into smoking flower would be an awful idea, so I’m glad that isn’t on your path. Cookies and brownies still risk having wildly different dosages though, so probably not the best idea.
Its MUCH less about numbers and details than it is about the entorage effect. From my understanding, the entorage effect is a change in how you perceive the high depending on what kind of terpenes are present in the strain / phenotype.
For example, a really terpy, stinking strain with low THC% could produce a better high (for you) than a high THC flower with less / unideal (for you) terps. In my experience, THC% has little to no effect on how the bud actually hits, and is just juiced up as marketing lingo.
Put simply, and I know this is vague, but experiment and find what terpenes / flavor profiles you like, you’ll find similarities in high between strains that have similar terps (i.e., knowing you really like lemon strains, citrus strains, etc.) Then buy what fits your tastes!
EDIT: I agree with WhiteOakBayou, its about finding the terps for you.
+1
This is why I only get live resin cartridges vs distillate. It never fails to kick my ass lol. Some of the better bud I’ve had has been around 13-16% THC
I wouldn’t say that it means almost nothing, but it means a lot less than most users think. I know what terps and minor cannabinoids I like and how they affect me, but I also know that flower under ~20% THC will leave me too lucid to reliably get to sleep, which is my primary medical use. But you definitely can’t go off that number alone like so many customers. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I think of it kind of as the THC percentage being the base magic power of the flower/character, while the terps and minors are the spells and elements and shit that you actually use. That measure is both essential to the effects of the flower and next to useless by itself, like the magic stat on a character with no spells. A flower with high THC and low terps is like a character with high magic power fueling low level spells.
What is absolutely correct is that the worst, laziest consumers don’t know about any other number and refuse to listen or learn. People who know that they matter, who enjoy them all and tell me to pick them something good, I respect. People who tell me “CBD doesn’t do anything for me!” and insist on the flower with the one big number when I suggest a CBN edible to help with their insomnia I do not respect. “I need the highest for the lowest” is worse than “I only smoke an unstable dihybrid cross from the 70s” but they frequently go hand in hand.
LMAO I totally agree, and very valid point with the medical use, I only use recreationally so I hadnt even thought of that angle.
The consequence is that those lazy buyers are shaping the markets in a lot of states towards producing as much “high for the low” as possible.