Cannabis is perhaps one of the most diverse compounds producing plants in the world. It can produce well over 100 phytocannabinoids, and in addition, several hundred different flavonoids and terpenes.

It is not uncommon for plants to contain these compounds, but what is uncommon is the sheer number of different compounds that any given individual plant contains once it becomes mature and is ready for harvest.

Although these compounds can be found throughout the plant itself from root to flower, the highest concentrations can be found in tinny resin sacks which cover parts of the leaves and typically the entire cannabis flower – the trichomes.

Here are answers to common questions about cannabis trichomes.

What is a trichome?

A trichome is a tinny, smaller than a pin, stock (almost like a hair, but stubby globules are also common), to which is attached a fluid-filled sac. This sac, as the plant matures, slowly fills with the above-mentioned phytocannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpene compounds. Typically a single trichome head is approximately 50-100 microns in size, but can each contain trace amounts of hundreds of different compounds, including THCA (THC in non-psychoactive acidic form) and CBDA (acidic non-binding form).

Do all trichomes produce the same compounds?

No. The compounds present, and the quantities they contain are unique to each individual strain of cannabis, and the individual plants themselves. This is what is measured when a plant is said to be a limonene terpene dominant strain, or a THC dominant strain, or any combination of other cannabinoid or terpene profiles. Although many strains contain many compounds, depending on the genetics and environment of the plant, levels and dominant compounds will vary widely.

What do the colour variations of cannabis trichomes mean?

Trichome colouration reveals the maturity of the plant, and when the right time to harvest comes about. There are four types of colour variations that you should look out for.

Clear – The trichome is not filled with many, if any, of the compounds. Essentially, a clear trichome head is nothing more than an empty sac of water.

Milky – A milky trichome is one that has begun to fill with phytocannabinoids like CBDA and THCA, terpenes like myrcene and limonene, and flavonoids that help with the taste and aroma of the cannabis. However at this stage, milky is still a fairly low content of each of these compounds.

Opaque – At this stage, trichomes have nearly been completely saturated by compounds and are typically ready for harvest. If 70% or above of the trichomes have become opaque, then your plant has reached maturity.

Amber – A darker red/orange colouration is a characteristic of an oxidized trichome – meaning it has either been ruptured and exposed to oxygen or has begun to degrade due to age. Once a trichome is amber-coloured, it is no longer chemically intact and most of the compounds have degraded into inert molecules.

When harvesting, a plant should be no more than 25%-30% amber trichomes. This ratio is roughly the time needed for all clear trichomes to become opaque. Beyond 30% degradation and the harvest may be considered the low yield or maybe ruined altogether. 

How do I check trichomes while a plant is growing?

The simplest method is to use a loop that is 30x magnification or greater. A jeweler’s tool would work well for this.

Can I create conditions that would alter a trichome to produce more of what I want – more THC for example?

The short and easy answer is no. But you can grow a plant in sub-optimal conditions for the type of strain which would result in a different trichome composition, but factors such as ratio, maximum concentration, and sent and flavor profiles are genetically locked to the plant you are growing. No amount of special tactics will get a weed plant to produce different compounds at different ratios beyond its genetic.

Conclusion

We hope this short Q&A guide has been helpful in giving you tips on trichomes! Now it’s time to test your knowledge! Visit our cannabis flower selection, choose your bud, and get your hands on a jeweler’s loop! 

Use the loop and the information in this article to test your newfound knowledge and see what the trichomes on our buds look like!

When we take a weed edible, we know what’s going to happen to our day. We’re going to be buzzed for most, if not all of it, and sometimes to a point of having to go to bed.

And yet, if we smoked the same amount of weed that was in that edible, the effects would be totally different.

Why is that? How could one drug, in this case, THC, be so different depending on how you take it?

We wanted to find out too. So we did!

Let’s dive into the two key reasons behind why edible weed and smoking weed are two very different experiences, even if the dose itself is the same.

Metabolic Differences in THC uptake

The first major difference to take into account when taking a cannabis edible is to understand how THC is metabolized when ingested, vs when it is smoked.

When we smoke weed, our lungs are capable of absorbing roughly 15%-30% of the available THC directly into our bloodstream, and from that 15%-30%, a percentage of it is stored in the body’s fat cells and isn’t active until it’s released by burning said body fat – and it remains delta-9-THC, the original form it was consumed in. The high comes on almost immediately after smoking because of the rapid uptake in the blood, which bypasses the standard food and drink metabolism.

When we eat activated weed from an edible, a very different process of uptake occurs. Our livers produce enzymes to break down anything we eat, drink, as well as ones that can break down pathogens. When it comes to THC uptake in the liver, the enzyme involved is called the CYP2C9, which has a unique property of converting delta-9-THC to a cannabinoid not found anywhere else in nature 11-OH-THC, which is then further converted by CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 enzymes into a much more active form called 11-COOH-THC. 

This form of THC is very different from its delta-9 precursor. It’s far more potent and psychoactive than THC, and fully saturates tissues with all the available THC that’s taken in, vs the 15%-30% intake ratio from smoking.

There are more enzymes and processes involved here, but this covers the basics you need to know to get a good idea of what is happening to THC in your liver, vs in your lungs. But if you happen to want to know more, Green Fleets has a well-made instruction video you can find here.

So if there’s more THC going into your bloodstream, why do edibles take so long?

The onset of Effects from Edibles

If you’ve had edibles before, you know they take a while to kick in, which can tempt you to take more after about an hour of waiting. DON’T. 

The uptake in the lungs may be below, but it’s instant, making it easy to guess how high you’ll be, and for how long, since THC in the lungs is easier for the body to clear out vs THC in the liver.

A standard smoking high is roughly 3hrs with the immediate onset and peak effects within the first 5 minutes, but because of all those complex breakdown interactions we listed above, an edible high takes longer to kick in, but lasts longer as the breakdown and activation of THC takes place over several hours rather than just a few short minutes.

That’s why an edible high is so much more intense, for longer than a smoking high. The type of THC, metabolic uptake, and psychoactive properties are entirely different from one another, essentially making the two different drug experiences altogether.

Summary 

THC can exist in several forms within the body depending on how it was ingested, and each has its own distinct set of properties.

If you’re looking for a quick and milder high, then smoke your weed.

If you’re looking for something more intense that lasts, have a pot brownie, but remember to review how long it takes to kick in, how much you can take without going too far, remember not to panic if you do. THC, in any form, is non-toxic and eventually wears off.

Did this article help you understand edible weed? Let us know in the comments!

They’re amazing, and they’re everywhere. Cannabis edibles were invented – as we know them today – came about in the 1980s as a creative individual’s answer to helping AIDS patients with narcotic-free alternatives to treat their pain.

In those days, there was only generally a single variety available to a select group of people, but today you can get just about anything, from any flower extract, in almost any potency.

With all this diversity, how do edibles make you feel?

The truth is, it’s different for everybody, but there are ways to help you predict what to expect.

Before we get into our list, Green Leaf has a great video on this topic we’d recommend you check out – How to Choose and Use Cannabis Edibles: Pros and Cons / Mandee Lee / Try This / Green Flower

Now, here are four factors that help you determine how edibles will make you feel.

1 – The Strain It Was Made From

The most important – and less verifiable – factor in how your edible makes you feel is what kind of strain(s) the raw material was extracted from.

As we commonly know, cannabis is a dynamic plant in the range of effects it can produce in our bodies. 

It’s more than just the differences between indica and sativa. Cannabis strains all have different cannabinoid and terpene concentrations and profiles – and each interacts with our physiology, well, differently. 

In today’s market, edibles from commercial sources are typically made from strain blends, which is why strains are rarely, if at all, listed on labels. 

As time goes one, this will likely be corrected, especially when it comes to medical edibles. But for now, even though this may well be the more important of the listed factors, we simply don’t have a way to tell what strain is in our edibles. Thankfully, this isn’t an issue for most people. What is an issue though is knowing how much you need to take based on how you want to feel.

2 – How Much You Take

How much you take is probably the most important factor – aside from strain – that most people are keenly aware of when they dose cannabis edibles. If you’ve done them before, you already know that the more THC you ingest, the higher, for longer you’re  going to be vs any other method of cannabis consumption.

The reason is that THC, when taken orally, is processed by the liver and altered in a way that smoking doesn’t do by a process of dephosphorylation. That means that the amount you’d take to get high from smoking, wouldn’t have the same effects as if you ate it. 

Smoking comes on quickly and tapers off in just a few hours, but eating an edible can take up to two hours to come on, and be active in your system for up to 8hrs+.

For a quick reference, a low dose is considered anything 10mg or less, medium doses are 15mg-30mg, and high doses are usually 35mg+.

3 – Environment

Knowing where you are and what to expect after you eat a weed gummy will by far reduce your risk of a bad experience if you accidentally take too much.

For example, taking a high dose of edibles in an active construction site surrounded by strangers might not be the best idea, but the same dose in a quiet room or in the forest with trusted friends could be just what you need to get the most out of what otherwise might have been a difficult high.

4 – Your Own Expectations

Last but not least, expectation – what you’re looking for in an edible high. Expectations loop in everything we’ve already talked about, and adds your intentions to the mix.

A good way of looking at it is; a medical user might just want a low dose to help with pain or mood or some other form of medicinal benefit; while a recreational user hanging out with friends on the weekend might want something a bit stronger and more invasive to the senses.

Based on what you expect to get out of it, your method for dosing is going to widely vary.

Cannabis also has the known property of amplifying whatever state a person might already be in, and bring into reality whatever somebody thinks will happen to them while high.

So having a clear expectation of what you’re going for will usually help you get exactly what you want from your edibles.

Conclusion

Now that you know more about strain variances, how much edible THC to ingest based on what you want, where to be when you take it, and the importance of expectation, we want to hear from you!

Did we miss anything important you want to share with us?

How do edibles make YOU feel?

Leave a comment below, then visit our Edibles Shop to see what snacks we have waiting, just for you!

With medical and recreational cannabis being more useful and popular than ever, many people who may be new to it are starting to give it a shot to help them with a variety of medical issues. 

But with new users, come questions and concerns of how it could impact their daily life if used improperly. One of the most common questions asked is – how long does a weed high last? 

It’s a great question, but it doesn’t have a straightforward answer. 

There’s a few things that each person needs to consider if they want to answer this question for themselves with a reasonable degree of accuracy. 

Here are three key factors that will determine how long your weed high will last.

Potency

Cannabinoid – specifically THC – content of whatever strain or concentrate you’re smoking is the first thing to consider.

Naturally, the more of anything that gets into your system the more you’ll feel the effects, and the more buildup of it in your system there will be. If you smoked a cannabis flower with a low THC content (10% or less), then your high will taper off faster, and won’t be as intense. A strain with CBD in it will further help this taper off effect because CBD helps with dialing down the psychoactive effects of THC.

The second part of potency is frequency. It’s important to loop these into the same category because if you smoke a hit of the 10%, let’s say every half hour, the potency compounds and THC levels in your body rise, and so will your high – which means it will take longer to taper off once you call it quits.

Your Biochemistry

Next we have you – or rather how your body works. 

The first factor in this category is your sensitivity to THC. There are tests for this that some companies offer. One of the most effective ones is included in your genetics report that tests that as part of a screening. A great one is selfdecode.com

Next, we have your metabolic baseline and body fat percentage. These two factors determine your body composition. THC and all other cannabinoids in weed are fat soluble, meaning they bind to the fat cells in your body. Generally, the higher your body fat percentage, the longer THC stays in your system.

This metric isn’t so much about being high, but how fast your body can break down THC. 

How High You Intend to Get

Finally, we have intent. How high are you expecting to get? The higher, the longer it will take to stop feeling the effects.

This is really just a combination of the other two factors we’ve gone over, but setting it apart is still important. If you’re looking for a quick and mild high after the work day while still wanting to go out and do something, that would affect how much you smoke, or what kind of weed or concentrate you pick.

Summary

The potency of your preferred bud or product, your own body and tolerance, and finally your intent, are the factors that you should consider if you want to guess, with some accuracy, how long your weed high will last.

Looking for something that fits your smoking goals based on what you just learned?

Don’t forget to visit us! We have a vast selection for every kind of cannabis enthusiast from recreational to medicinal!

Do you have any additional tips to share about this topic? Leave us a comment! We’d love to hear from you! 

Additional Resources

How Long Does A Weed High Last?, by weedmaps

How long does cannabis stay in your system? | Weed Easy

Shatter is in the running for the top spot when it comes to cannabis concentrates. Everybody wants it, and everybody is on the hunt for the next best made. It has a golden/amber hue and the status among cannabis users to match. It’s perhaps the most potent cannabis extract ever produced, sometimes boasting a cannabinoid content of THC/CBD (together or isolated depending on the strain) of up to 98%+. That’s high – as will you be.

Here are the top 5 best ways for how to smoke shatter. 

Sprinkled Into a Joint

The most basic method is to sprinkle it into a joint. Because shatter has a sticky, glass-like consistency, you may want to use tweezers or some type of small pin or other grasping device to place it neatly into your weed joint. Otherwise it will stick to your fingers, making the odds of dropping your joint more likely, meaning all that work grinding and filling the paper has been wasted. And if you already are, it might be harder to start again.

An Oil Rig

An oil rig is by far the most common method to smoke shatter for more experienced concentrate aficionados. Most rigs are made of glass, and have a near solid steel (or some other metal depending on the design) bowls that differ slightly from traditional bongs. 

The bowls are made like a solid bowl without a hole in the bottom, and feature slits around the edges that allow for air to flow freely. As you inhale, the smoke from the shatter is sucked into the side slits as the now liquid shatter burns in the bowl and evaporates.

This design makes for a much safer way to consume shatter as there is virtually no risk of hot burning material to shoot into the glass bong and into your lungs – OUCH!

Dry Herb Vape

Shatter can also be used in a dry herb vape, since it tends to leave little to no residue when it’s burned (or in this case evaporated).

The reason it burns so cleanly is because all the plant matter has been taken out in the manufacturing process, leaving for a very clean product, and a clean device when you’re done smoking it.

The key to doing this well is to set your vape to the highest temperature it can go too, and only use a tiny dab at a time. Remember, a pinhead’s worth is still 98% THC – so take it slow. It hits harder than you think it could and it’s easy to overdo it.

Hot Knife

Now we go into the realm of the less pro, but still viable methods of smoking shatter. The hot knife method has been around for a long time. We’ve all had that time where we had either hash or leftover resin we wanted to smoke, but didn’t have papers or pipes handy.

The solution? Heating a butter knife on the stove, and keeping one cool one, and keeping your fingers clear of the heat.

Place a pinhead worth of shatter on the cool knife, and use the stove element (or any suitable heat source) to heat the other knife to near red hot. Once you see it’s hot enough, place your face a few inches above your two knives, press them together and suck in the smoke coming off of them from the shatter. 

Crude, but effective.

Glass Pipe

Finally, we have our humble glass pipe method. This is perhaps the easiest method out of all the others we listed, with the exception of the oil rig (although the pipe is typically more cost effective).

The best way to do this is to again take a roughly pin-sized amount of shatter, place it on the edge of the bowl (not in the hole, since it might send superheated material into your mouth), and use a small torch lighter. 

Simple, and effective. 

Conclusion

Can you think of any other good methods besides pipes, joint spinklings, oil rigs or hot knives for how to smoke shatter?

Leave a comment and let us know!

When looking at cannabis grading systems, it’s easy to get lost in the mess of understanding what the characteristics of  A-AAAA+ grades are. 

The reason that it’s so confusing is that it has very little to do with the buds, the strain of the plant, or the grade of the last crop of the same seed. Factors related to growing conditions and post processing are the greatest contributors to a bud being put in the low category of desirability.

What are these factors you ask? 

Anything from environmental temperature, to humidity, to light cycles, to ventilation, to contamination of pests, to soil used, to watering frequency, to curing and trimming – are all factors that contribute to the assigning of a grade to cannabis in both the medical and recreational industries.

Let’s look at a brief outline of each grade to learn a little more about them, and what they mean.

A Grade Weed

This grade of cannabis bud is the lowest of the low. It’s so low in fact, it would be difficult to find it anywhere on the open market.

The characteristics of an A grade bud are a distinctly misshapen flower, limited count of trichomes, high CBN / low THC contents, faint (or no) aroma, dull or browned coloration, poor trim quality, small bud size, and low cannabinoid and terpene content. 

All is not lost on these misshapen misfits though. They are the buds most used when producing extracts, and concentrates – which is why they occupy so little of the retail space as whole buds. This greatly reduces the waste materials from crops that may not have made the cut, and they can now be repurposed. Shake, distillates, isolates, edibles and other such variations of cannabis products will often be made with A buds as once the extraction process is finished, the end product will be of the desired potency – making imperfections in the flowers irrelevant. 

This is not an absolute rule however. There can be other grades of flower used for these products, this example is simply to suggest what can be done with grade A cannabis buds.

See examples of AAAA+ strains here.

AA Grade Weed

The next grade up is the AA cannabis bud grade, which is considered to be lower end, but acceptable enough to be sold as standard cured bud. Much like the A grade, this grade of cannabis isn’t top quality, but it doesn’t suffer from as pronounced a set of penalties. 

For example, AA buds tend to be better cured than A buds, and better trimmed too. This is usually more by accident than by design. The improved curing process preserves more of the terpenes and cannabinoids making for a slightly more alive looking bud with some aroma, flavour, and a few visible trichomes. The general shape is also generally better than A grades, but not always. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the old saying goes.

Like A grade buds, this can also often be used for production of concentrates, edibles and extracts.

See examples of AA strains here.

AAA Grade Weed

AAA grade cannabis buds are considered to be the most popular,and most available grade of higher quality cannabis bud on the consumer market.

AAA is considered so good in fact, that is it even an accepted grade of medical cannabis. Because it’s the industry standard, it’s hard to really say anything about this grade that isn’t already widely known. It will have a typical aroma and flavour profile, a vibrant fuzzy look and texture with visible coloured hairs, and will be a packed, solid nug.

Pro tip: You don’t need an expensive operation to produce AAA buds. What you need is good information on how to grow cannabis, good seed, good curing practices, and a small setup that’s up to the job. But being an expert does help your chances quite a bit for being able to achieve a AAA grade bud. 

This grade of bud is less common to use to make concentrates and extracts. Why not showcase this bud’s beauty, right?

See examples of AAA strains here.

AAAA+

Now we come to the royalty buds. AAAA+ bud is the truly exceptional grade of cannabis that exceeds all expectations and makes AAA grade look like AA grade. 

To make a bud AAAA+ grade, it needs to check all the boxes – twice. These cannabis buds tend to have an extremely bright color palette of greens, purples, reds, oranges, yellows, blues, violets and everything in between. They also feature the highest visible trichome count of any other grade (maybe even grades AA and AAA combined). 

These buds are also precision cured and trimmed to ensure an even, tar free burn due to a cure of 5% moisture content or less, which causes blunts to burn white ash rather than black tar.

The cannabinoid and terpene content of these flowers is also unmatched in the industry. This ensures potency, strong aromas and flavour profiles and extremely low CBN content (degraded THC).

This grade is more rare on the market than AAA and demands a higher price point, but the cost is no object when considering all the quality control that has gone into the AAAA+ grade flower.

See examples of AAA+strains here.

Summing up

As we discussed, a great deal of care and attention to detail goes into grading cannabis, yet most of these efforts are relatively unknown to most consumers. We hope you enjoyed this informative overview of cannabis grades and have gained a new appreciation for the craftsmanship that goes into making sure the right buds end up in the right price points – ensuring you know exactly what it is you’re getting.