Good Weed Vs Bad Weed: What’S The Difference? (For Newbies)
With more states legalizing marijuana, and cannabis products becoming not only more socially acceptable but also in more demand, people who are new to cannabis are looking to learn more about what distinguishes good weed from bad weed.
Now, the best place to learn about the difference between good weed and bad weed is from your local licensed cannabis shop. Your budtender can show you what to look for in good weed, which typically falls into three sensory experiences: look, feel and smell. It goes deeper than that, but for people who are new to cannabis, sensory experiences are a good start.
Let’s start with basics: What does good weed smell like, feel like and look like?
What to Look For In Good Weed Vs Bad Weed
The Scent of Good Weed: What Does Good Pot Smell Like?
Premium and high quality (top shelf) cannabis has a strong smell with various aromas and is commonly associated with a dank and pungent nose, but there are exceptions. For example, our Strawberry Cream does not have a pungent or sharp scent. In fact, its aroma is often described as a strawberry milkshake, and yet it’s potent with 30% THC. Again, this is where a good budtender can help you understand the quality of your flower purchase. It also pays to read the labels when shopping for flower online or in-store.
It’s worth noting that when you smell weed and don’t like the scent, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “bad”. It could be that the flavor just isn’t for you. Aromas are highly personal — one small survey tested 11 strains of weed, 60 people who participated came up with 48 words to describe the 11 strains. Indeed, it can be a very personal experience. There is a close link between our taste and smell senses, so if you look for a strain that you enjoy the scent of, you’ll probably enjoy the taste of it too.
The Feel of Quality Buds
The feel of cannabis is one of the most telling ways to assess the quality of flower. Subpar flower is light and easily crumbles in your hands. It feels airy and brittle — kind of like your grandma’s dried flowers that have been sitting on the mantle for decades. Touch them, and you see them produce a lot of “shake,” which is fine leftovers at the bottom of a stash. Good, fresh weed doesn’t produce a lot of shake.
The feel of good weed depends on the strain. Sativa tends to be fluffier than indica, which is a denser and tighter plant. Also, good buds are usually hand trimmed to preserve the integrity of the nug’s structure. When you hold good nugs, they should feel substantial like they have density to their body.
The Look of Premium Bud: What Does Good Weed Look Like?
Above we have photos of what good weed looks like. You should see mostly buds, which are the dried flower part of the cannabis plants. It’s also the part of the plant that has the most THC. You want to avoid weed that has a lot of visible stems and seeds.
Quality cannabis has a healthy green color and can have touches of red, orange, and purple all depending on the strain. Bad buds look old — it’s a muted green, brown, tan or even yellow, and if you spot anything that looks like mold, don’t buy it.
Good buds are tight, fresh, and ideally glisten from having an abundance on trichomes, which we explain in a related post called What Are Trichomes Found in Cannabis? Trichomes, in short, are the parts of the plant that hold the cannabinoids and terpenes. You might hear some people refer to trichomes as sugar dusting because their crystal-like appearance gives the plant a sugar-dusted look.
Is bigger better when it comes to nugs? Does bud size matter? Smaller buds — also known as popcorn buds — come from newer growth from the base of the plant or closer to the stem. They have fewer trichomes than full size nugs, because they have less light exposure. You can still get an excellent buzz from popcorn buds. No, nug or bud size doesn’t necessarily matter, unless you want it to. Bud size mainly is a personal preference.
The key to visually evaluating good versus bad weed is to look for a good stem/seed-to-substance ratio. You want to have far more substance (leaves and flowers) than stems and ideally zero seeds.
Terpenes, Cannabinoids and Good Weed
As you become a savvier cannabis consumer, you’ll start to hear your budtenders and friends mention more technical terms like terpenes and cannabinoids.
Terpenes are hydrocarbons (like those that are found in essential oils) that give cannabis plants their flavors, scents, and their potential effects (such as pain control, stress relief, etc.). Because terpenes are not visible to the naked eye, you won’t necessarily be able to look at the plant and determine the plant’s terpene profile. If your pot purveyor doesn’t disclose terpene and cannabinoid profiles, ask.
The most common cannabinoids are THC and CBD. THC is the abbreviation for tetrahydrocannabinol, which produces the high. CBD is cannabidiol, which has health properties that reduce inflammation, fight and prevent cancer, and lower pain. CBD has no psychoactive effects.
How much THC is in good weed? That is a highly subjective question. There are some strains that have levels of THC as low as 5% to 10% that produce very nice highs, and there are some that have more than 30% and produce excellent highs. The amount of THC to make weed good equates to your own personal preference. THC is not necessarily a barometer for good weed versus bad weed.
What about CBD? How much CBD is in good flower? This, too, depends on what effect you are looking for in your cannabis. Read the small print, try different strains and blends, and talk to your budtenders for products that suit your needs. We disclose THC and CBD profiles on every product we sell, so you know before you buy.
Good Pot vs Bad Pot: The Vernacular
Learning about cannabis is like learning a new language, isn’t it? There are more than 700 strains, 150 terpenes and more than 100 cannabinoids (according to Science Direct), plus all the slang terms that differ, depending on where you live. We’ll close this article with a list of terms you might hear cannabis connoisseurs use when they talk about good weed and bad weed.
Good weed is also often referred to as:
Chronic
Dank
Endo (or indo, as in indoor grown)
Fire
Headies
Killer bud
Kind
Loud
Piff
Premium
Private reserve
Top shelf, top-shelf bud
Low-grade weed is also referred to as:
Bottom shelf
Brick
Bunk
Dirt weed
Ditch, ditch weed
Reggie or regs
Schwag
What about the middle?
And in the middle, you’ll find “the mids,” which are middle-of-the-road strains that are neither premium quality nor below-bottom-shelf bad. Some people say the mids are good for people who are new to cannabis.