How to Identify High Quality Cannabis
Knowing how to distinguish between good quality and bad quality cannabis isn’t to be underestimated. This is especially the case because your health and experience are at stake.
Good quality cannabis ensures a satisfactory and pleasurable recreational experience. On the other hand, poor quality cannabis can often contain chemicals and pesticides or even mold that isn’t healthy to inhale.
So how exactly do we differentiate between good quality and poor quality cannabis? Determining the quality of cannabis can be difficult, especially for occasional cannabis users or those still ‘laymen’ of the plant material.
Fortunately, this post outlines the traits of high-quality cannabis. Read on to discover more about cannabis safety and quality.
Traits of High Quality Cannabis
If you want to get good quality cannabis, you need to look beyond strains and THC levels. Here are other traits to consider when selecting cannabis:
Smell
A cannabis flower cultivated and cured to the highest standards typically gives off an intense and pleasant aroma. A cannabis flower emitting a powerful fragrance is often referred to as having a ”loud” or ”dank” odor, indicating the flower’s overall quality.
Different terms are used to describe the aroma that high-quality cannabis gives off, including skunk, pine, and diesel. The common denominator is that a flower’s pleasant smell is distinct, pungent, and unmistakable. The stronger the fragrance of a cannabis flower, the more potent and nuanced the experience is likely to turn out.
Flower Structure
Sativa-leaning flowers that have been skilfully cultivated and curated tend to be light and fluffy in shape and composition. On the other hand, good-quality indicas tend to be denser and tighter.
The structure of a flower can affect its taste—A rock-hard flower could indicate that plant growth regulators were used for cultivation, leading to an unpleasant taste. Conversely, highly fluffy flowers could signify that the plant wasn’t cultivated to its full potential because of inadequate light intensity.
A good dispensary will have top-shelf flowers in its merchandise, but you should remember that good quality flowers come in various shapes and sizes and have different nicknames.
Look
Just like with a fresh, healthy produce, a high-end cannabis flower provides some visual hints to help you determine its quality. However, whereas all good cannabis flowers are visually appealing, top-shelf strains display vibrant colors that make them stand out. For instance, a high-quality flower often has a deep-green color with flaming red or orange hairs. They can also come in deep purple or bright blue.
Another critical visual attribute of high quality cannabis is the volume and viability of trichomes. A trichome is a tiny appendage that resembles glimmering crystals. It is found on a plant’s surface and holds the compounds responsible for the flower’s flavor, smell, and effects.
An excellent way of determining whether a flower has good therapeutic and intoxicating potency is when you can see the frosty trichomes on the flower with your naked eyes. But if you have poor eyesight or you want to get up close, you can use a magnifying glass to get a better look at a bud’s trichomes.
Feel
Gently touch or squeeze a cannabis flower between your fingers. Suppose it feels a little bit sticky and spongy; you have a high quality product in your hand. The bud should be relatively easy to break apart, and the stems should snap, but it shouldn’t dry or completely crumble in your hands.
Also, the buds shouldn’t be highly soft or wet to reduce the chances of containing or developing mold or mildew. Remember, mold and mildew can reduce the quality of a flower and is also harmful to consumers.
Terpene Profile Diversity
Terpenes are the primary compounds responsible for the aroma and flavor characteristics of cannabis flowers. Together with cannabinoids, terpenes create a synergic and/or entourage effect and enhance therapeutic benefits, especially aromatherapy.
There are at least 100 terpenes that have been identified in the cannabis plant. Variations of terpene profiles contribute to the different fragrance and flavor phenotypes that affect consumer preferences.
Suppose you number chase when buying cannabis; you should not be looking at the THC content but rather the terpenes, specifically particular terpenes. This is because the higher the terpene count in a cannabis flower, the better.
Simply put, flowers with a diverse terpene profile are of higher quality. As a good practice, you should ask for a certificate before buying a product. The certificates usually outline the list of terpenes and cannabinoids in a product and any possible contaminants, such as pesticides or heavy metals.
Cultivation Process
Another attribute that determines the quality of cannabis is its cultivation process. Determine whether the cannabis was cultivated ethically. Ethical cultivation entails using living soil, avoiding synthetic fertilizer, and using sustainable agriculture. Preferably, you should consider buying organic products or clean green certified ones. Also, ensure you purchase products from producers who use regenerative agricultural practices.
Conclusion
Identifying high quality cannabis can be challenging. In fact, even the most experienced users occasionally end up with a bad strain on their hands. Despite being a connoisseur, cannabis can sometimes be misleading, and strains that seem of the highest quality might be a bit lackluster or fail to meet your standards. For a quick recap, the things to look for in cannabis flowers to ensure you are getting the best quality include:
- Choose a flower with a strong fragrance
- Consider the flower structure of the cannabis
- Go for cannabis flowers that have a sticky and spongy feeling when you touch or squeeze them between your hands
- The higher the terpene profile diversity, the better
- Flowers with deep green colors tend to be of higher quality
- Buy cannabis flowers that have been cultivated organically
In addition to these factors, you should ensure that the company producing the flower has an ethical reputation. Most often, the most ethical companies are family-owned. But you shouldn’t limit your selection criteria to that; focus more on the quality of their products.
Looking for cannabis that can give you the ultimate pleasurable and satisfying experience? You can find high-quality cannabis at Medizin, your elegant cannabis dispensary in Las Vegas. Order here or shop in-store for the best cannabis products.
