When in a bind, most of us still revert to the old tactic of asking a friend if we can buy some weed from them out of the jar in their living room. We all do it, and we’re all likely to keep doing it in the same way we share chips and drinks. It’s just in marijuana culture.

But nowadays, we have a lot more options available to us – options numbering in the hundreds and counting. With all the new data on the various components of cannabis plants and the effects of smoked weed or edible weed, being able to tell what you’re getting is becoming a critical bit of information that could accurately predict your cannabis experience with that bud.

There are two ways to be able to predict with relative accuracy what it is that you’re getting, once you’ve learned a bit about what to check for. 

These two ways include smelling the bud and paying close attention to the appearance of the bud.

What smelling your weed can tell you

As it turns out, how weed smells is more of a giveaway to what effects you can expect than any other form of identification including the name (let’s face it, names don’t tell us much anyway).

But how exactly does this work? 

When we use our sense of smell, a cascade of biochemical reactions occur in the body. These reactions affect everything from mood, to hormones, to memory, and even have an effect on basic instincts. Don’t believe it? Smell a skunk’s spray and take account of how you’re feeling. You’re likely to understand once you’ve consciously focused on your instinctual reaction to a smell.

What makes things smell the way they do, you ask? 

Most smells found in nature are all possible because of terpene molecules, which are produced by most plants and some animals. (More on terpenes in a future article).

Marijuana plants in particular contain some of – if not the most of – the variations as well as volume of terpene profiles out of any plant species in the world. Because of this, they also have a potential to cause a wide range of effects across consumers, with each being slightly different based on a strain’s terpene profile and the individuals themselves.

For example, a strain that smells like lemon or that has other citrus undertones is a strain dominant in the terpene limonene. When smelling a bud, take time to take it in like you’re smelling: flowers, spices, fine wine, or specialty coffee – then take notice of how you feel as the smell is processed. If you feel good, then odds are that bud is telling you limonene’s antidepressant and energy promoting effects are exactly what your body is craving. 

Smell however, is not an accurate indicator of cannabinoid (THC) content. For that, we turn to appearance.

What looking at your weed can tell you

In terms of how a weed bud looks, generally speaking, the more frosty the appearance, the higher the cannabinoid and terpene content, meaning if a bud looks like it’s been coated in powdered sugar, it’s likely a very THC potent strain and should be approached as such.

Another good visual indicator is the color of the hairs on the buds. Generally speaking these hairs leave clues to what strain the bud may either be, or resemble closely enough to be able to roughly tell what the effects might be.

If the hairs are in the red/orange/yellow color spectrum, you have a sativa dominant hybrid (pure sativas and pure indicas have become quite rare on the commercial market meaning most strains today are likely hybrids), which means you’ll likely experience more cerebral and uplifting highs. 

If the hairs are purple/dark blue/violet, then you are more likely to have an indica dominant hybrid strain and can expect a more body type high with sedation effect.

The color rules are not absolutes however. As with the smell test, there are always going to be exceptions to expected effects because everyone responds to cannabis differently based on personality and genetic factors.  

Try to name the nameless weed

A good way to get good at predicting what kinds of buds you just got from your friend who may not remember what they have is with the time honored tradition of practice. The more you repeat the steps outlined above and combine it with research, the better you will get at being a bonafide cannabis connoisseur. With enough practice and study, who knows? Maybe you could even become a local legend – a wellspring of cannabis knowledge.

In future articles, we’ll help this process by educating you further on terpenes and cannabinoids. But for now, learn to master the basics – the nose knows, and the eyes spies – and you’ll be on your way to being a cannabis expert.

We hope you enjoyed this brief cannabis identification guide! To browse our selection of buds and learn more about what kinds of cannabis are currently on the market, check out our bud shop page!

If you haven’t smoked it, you’ve surely heard of it. Hash in its various forms has been a staple in cannabis smoking culture for almost as long the very buds it’s made from themselves have been.

Hash originated in many different countries in both Asia and the Middle East throughout history, and until recently, most of them developed slight variations using essentially the same technique – hand rolling.

Today, with modern machines, advances in sifting technology, and new methods which use freezing, hash production has entered the 21st century and has brought with it fresh takes on an ancient classic.

Here are three ways that hash is produced in today’s open market, as well as some notable commonalities between them.

Hand Rolled Hash

Beginning with the oldest method in the world seems a good place to start. Hand rolled Hash has been produced by artisan Hash makers for thousands of years. But how does it go from bud to ball? Turns out it’s a little more complex than you’d think, and technique has evolved through the ages.

The first step is to either dry, or freeze dry fresh cannabis buds until they are at 5% moisture content or less. In the old days, and even today in certain parts of the world, artisans became so good at judging how dry cannabis buds were, as to very closely and consistently approach the 5% threshold simply by touch verification. Now that’s amazing. What follows is a dry sifting process where material is sent through various sifting grades until as much plant matter as possible has been removed. Historically, this was done completely by hand by using the palms to roll cannabis buds, allowing the sticky trichomes (what Hash is made of) to stick to the palms, while the dry plant matter gently falls away.

Once enough has been collected on the palms, an edged tool is used to scrape the hands clean of residue, which is then collected into large enough amounts to be rolled into hash balls by hand.

Machine Pressed Hash 

What is likely to be of no surprise, machine pressed hash is essentially any hash brick you would find on the market. Machine pressed bricks apply the same principles in their manufacturing, with the aid of modern technology. To make Hash bricks and other pressed products, you need to get buds cold. Like, really cold. Freeze-Drying cannabis buds is a great way to extract trichomes from cannabis plants. In this process, there are 2 ways to freeze the cannabis: either a deep freeze in a sealed bag then table sifted, or by throwing dry ice into a sifting back with the buds and shaking it.

A great deal of detail oriented work goes into the finishing process of making hash bricks. For example, different trains require different sifting grades because trichome size and shape are rarely the same from strain to strain. Once all the little details have been Hashed out, and the kief has been separated, a hand or machine press is used to compress it into the ready to buy brick concentrates. 

Bubble Hash

Finally we have bubble Hash. Odd name right? Well it turns out there’s a reason for that name that’s only obvious to those who make this Hash variety. To make this variety is a wildly different process than the brick or hand rolled Hash would be. Instead of first drying the cannabis, it is placed directly into sifting bags which are then filled with ice and a small amount of water. Once the ice and water are added, a Hash maker agitates the bag by vigorously mixing the contents, which slowly start to off-gas and create a soapy-like consistency – hence the term Bubble Hash.

Once the agitation is completed and the kief material has drained into a bucket in which the bag is placed, the contents of said bucket are then dumped out, spread thin, and allowed to dry. Once dry, the product can then be pressed, hand rolled, or compressed by any other means to form the desired end product.

Hashing out the last few details

When buying any of the three hashes listed above, it’s important to remember that these are highly potent concentrates, not treats. They may end up looking like chocolate in some cases but rest assured, they are not. Each type of Hash, depending on the bud from which it was produced, can have a THC content ranging from 40%-80+%, bringing it to a potency just shy of resin type extracts such as shatter.

But don’t take our word for it, stop by our shop and have a look for yourself! We stock all three varieties!

We hope you enjoyed this brief overview on Hash. Happy Hash hunting!

Welcome to part 2 of  our cannabis extracts series! In this final article, we’ll be going over some of the end product concentrates that each extraction method is able to produce. In order to make it easier to visualize, we’ve decided to list the extracts under the type of production method that was used to produce them, rather than by concentrate category. 

Supercritical CO2 extract products

The CO2 extraction process is believed to be the most customizable cannabis extraction process when it comes to producing specific balances of oil based concentrates. 

The most common extracts that can be produced with CO2 include any of the oil based extracts such as sauces, tinctures, resins, shatters, budders, high terpene full spectrum extracts (HTFSEs), and high cannabinoid full spectrum extracts (HCFSEs).

Because of the high degree of control, sc CO2 is the preferred method for use in the production of vape pens, as residual oils are more readily separated from the rest of the plant compound if so desired by the process operator. When it comes to vapes, NO OIL should be present in the final packaged product as it can cause severe infections and lung damage if burned lipids are inhaled, no matter how low the concentrations may be. CO2 is also becoming the preferred method to produce isolates. Cannabinoids like THC and CBD can be isolated at 99% or greater, and refined into a crystalline or powder – more on crystalline later.

Nearly all products produced with hydrocarbons, vapes being the exception, can be produced using CO2. There is a drawback to this method however. CO2 tends to yield lower amounts of cannabinoids in the finished product.

Hydrocarbons extract products

Hydrocarbon extracted products are the dominant extracts found on the market. Whether you’re looking for hash, oil, shatter, budder, crumble, resin, pull and snap, pie crust or any other oil based extract, it’s a safe bet to assume it was probably hydrocarbon extracted.

What are all these concentrates you might ask? Most are variations in consistency of the same product – the oils or desired balance of chemicals extracted from the cannabis plant or bud.

Let’s look at how some of these concentrates are made. It would take too long to list them all, so we’ll stick to the most common ones that are regularly seen in the market.

Live Resin

Live resin, also known as wax or BHO, is a cold extracted wax that was extracted with the goal of preserving the original profile of the cannabis strain used as closely as possible by preserving the terpenes. This allows for the flavour and aroma profiles of the cannabis to be preserved, along with the medicinal properties of the terpenes themselves. This makes for an enjoyable and flavourful dabbing experience – as long as your equipment is clean of course.

Budder

Budder is almost exactly what it sounds like. It is a consistency of cannabis resin concentrate that is whipped either mechanically, or by hand (this is difficult to do so mechanical is the best option) into a butter-like consistency. This type of concentrate is ideal for making cannabis edibles as it can easily be incorporated into baking, or candy making.

Shatter 

Shatter is made by using cannabis that has been freeze dried to a water content of 5% or less, then cold hydrocarbon extracted. The reason for this is to remove any waxes, lipids, or other compounds that may hinder the quality of the end product. Following the extraction, a vacuum oven purging process is used to further reduce the moisture content as well as draw out any air pockets or residual solvents so that the consistency of glass can be achieved as closely as possible. The oven is typically set anywhere from 75f to 105f, depending on the desired end consistency of the final product.

Sauce

Sauce is essentially live resin that has been further refined by a centrifuge spinning process in order to remove some – or all – of the cannabinoids in order to produce a terpene dominant resin. Depending on the desired potency, cannabinoids like THCa and CBD are readded in measured quantities in order to produce the desired potency of the sauce. 

Diamond

Diamonds are produced by leaving a small amount of solvent in a sauce mixture while it’s spinning so that THCa and other cannabinoid acids can be spun off and start to crystallize into sugar-like crystals. These crystals – also called crystalline – once fully constituted and separated, are called Diamond and can be equal to or greater than 99% of the isolated cannabinoid of choice. In terms of the demand in the market, the cannabinoids most commonly isolated into diamonds are THCa and CBD although this could be done for many other cannabinoids should the need arise.

Ethanol extract products

Ethanol extracted products are typically products that are made from crude oil, although there are some exceptions to this. What’s crude oil? Crude oil is made using an ethanol distillation process that uses older or less desirable cannabis flower that has maybe sat in storage for too long or is of a lesser quality.

The extracted oil itself is basically a cannabis sludge that needs many more refinement steps after being ethanol distilled in order to have a good end product.

Some of the products produced using this process are isolates, and distillates. Isolates are essentially the same as diamonds and crystallines, but distillates are a bit different from other extracts. When producing a distillate, older or low quality cannabis flowers that have very low terpene content are typically used. As a result, cannabinoids tend to be the only things distillates contain. The way they are refined from crude oil is via an evaporation process inside of a sealed chamber. Once the cannabinoids are separated, they are reconstituted from a vapor, back into a liquid state and then refined further to be used for various distillate products. On average, the typical cannabinoid (THC or CBD) potency for a distillate is between 75%-95%.

Solventless concentrate products

At last we come to our solventless products. These types of concentrates are the easiest to produce out of any other on this list. So easy in fact, most can be done at home safely. Common solventless concentrates such as classic hash, rosins, and even butters can all be made at home with heat, pressure, or a combination of the two. 

Live Rosin

Rosin for example can easily be made using a hair straightening iron and wax paper. Just let the iron get hot, grab a bud, place it between 2 pieces of wax paper, press for approximately 30 seconds and voila! You have a home-made concentrate. 

Classical Hash

Even traditional hashes can easily be made at home. Simply take the kief (trichomes that have been separated from the main bud via grinding and sifting) and begin to work it into a ball or any other shape by using a bit of pressure and an optional low heat source such as a hair dryer held at a distance. Before long, you’ll have a beautifully browned homemade classic hash brick or ball.

Cannabis Tea

Another but less common method of solventless concentrates is hot water extraction into tea. We briefly touched on this in the last segment, but it’s worth repeating since this method is not very common. By adding ground bud and even kief to hot water, it is possible to kickstart the reaction necessary to activate THC by converting it from THCa, without actually needing to burn it. The activation is low depending on the temperature, but the result is often a mild to low potency tea that can be enjoyed in the evenings as a way to relax and not get too high.

Summing up

This brings us to the end of our Cannabis Extracts series. We hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the cannabis extracts and concentrates world! We also hope you have been inspired to broaden your cannabis experience horizons by trying out new kinds of products!

If you’re feeling keen, stop by our store to check out our wide selection of concentrates and find a product that best fits your needs based on what you learned in this series.

References

Cannabis Concentrates Explained (Detailed Guide to 11 Products), by Helena Miles, 2020

Related The many types of solventless cannabis extracts, by Patrick Bennett, 2016

Your Guide to Ethanol Extraction in Cannabis by Mark June-Wells, Ph.D, 2018

Ethanol Extraction – The Pros and Cons of Ethanol for Cannabis Extraction, by Precision Extract Solutions Admin, 2018

Live Rosin vs Live Resin | Differences in Extraction Explained, by Precision Extract Solutions Admin, 2020

Related What Are CO2 Cannabis Extracts and How Are They Made?, by Patrick Bennett, 2018

Extraction Explained: How to Make Cannabis Extracts – Live Resin, Shatter, Craft Concentrates & More, by Nick Tennant of Precision Extraction Solutions, 2020

In the weed world, we have developed nearly infinite possibilities when it comes to consumption of the cannabis plant. Among those possibilities, no single category has seen such an explosion in diversity as that of cannabis concentrates. Concentrates represent a massive industry and extraction methods have evolved accordingly to meet the demand for diverse extracts. Of these extracts we have everything from resins, rosins, kiefs, sauces, distillates, hashes, waxes, budders, shatters, tinctures, oils and more. 

With such variety, comes a need for an array of different methods in order to produce them. 

In this first of a 2 part series of articles, we’ll go over the 4 main extraction methods as well as briefly touch on which method best suits the extracted product being produced. Part 2 will be more focused on extracts themselves. 

Here are brief overviews of the 4 most commonly used extraction methods used on the market today.

Supercritical CO2 (Solventless extraction)

Supercritical CO2 is very common as an extraction method in the food and pharma industries. Once heated and placed under high pressure, CO2 extraction is one of the most efficient ways to extract specific compounds from a wide range of materials. Everything from decaffeination of coffee, extraction of hops in beer making, to extracting different molecules from cannabis plants can be done with high pressure supercritical CO2. 

Some distinct benefits to this type of extraction are that it uses a closed loop system which allows CO2 to be filtered and recycled to be used again, making it an efficient process over all. 

One notable drawback however is the equipment costs and high pressures – upwards of 5,000psi -are needed for this process. Most smaller manufacturers of cannabis extracts simply can’t afford it, which makes the next extraction technique on our list far more common in the cannabis industry.  

Some of the best products made using CO2 include ranges of: oils, tinctures, and waxes. The key differences in CO2 are cost of production and the need for further refinement if you plan on producing something other than the concentrations outlined above.

Hydrocarbons (butane/propane/hexane)

Hydrocarbon extraction is the most common and versatile method of extraction currently used in the cannabis industry. Nearly all oil based extracts on the market can be produced using a hydrocarbon process. The most common gases used for extraction are butane and propane, however in rare cases, gases such as hexane may also be used. The main advantage to the hydrocarbon process is that it is highly customizable. By altering the properties of the gases – temperature and pressure in conjunction with solvent polarity – lab techs can select what cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids are collected based on molecular structure, and which ones are stripped away with the water content and excess plant matter to achieve the raw oil needed to produce any given extract from full spectrum, to broad, to isolate (CO2 can also achieve this).

Even though it’s the most popular method, it also requires more manual labor than other extraction processes, as well as more monitoring to get good product consistency. It’s also risky if done without the right knowledge or equipment. As the gases are inflammable and explosive, many safety protocols must be in place. The cost for the surrounding infrastructure and permits to use hydrocarbon is often greater than the equipment itself, but if everything is done right, the versatility of the process can produce nearly all the extracts available on the market in very large quantities, allowing for a fair ROI overtime.

There is a bias around hydrocarbons as some claim that some toxic residuals remain on the finished product. This can sometimes be true in illegal unregulated facilities, but this rarely, if ever, occurs in licenced facilities which use hydrocarbons. An evaporation phase is built into the process to remove any residual hydrocarbons to an industry standard of 50 PPM in the finished product or less. This amounts to less than the average hydrocarbon content of the air we breathe in a modern city.

Ethanol

Ethanol (alcohol) is pure, food grade alcohol at near 100% concentration which is known as an azeotropic substance, because it still contains a tiny amount of water. Ethanol extraction is one of the oldest forms of extractions known to history, coming in at a close second to solventless extraction. Ethanol extraction is a process that does not require high pressures or advanced post-processing techniques, making it a technique that is quite cost effective overall. In terms of a solvent, ethanol also enjoys the status of being the lowest cost solvent to purchase in bulk. 

As with any other method however, there are some limitations to ethanol’s utility. The first is you need a lot of ethanol due to the average rate of evaporation. There are federal regulations within Canada that limit the amount you can buy in one transaction,as opposed to no such restrictions existing in the USA. This regulation of sale may limit some mass production floors in Canada who may use ethanol to being small batch producers of extracts. But at a lower overall cost, this may be more economic for some smaller facilities. 

The type of raw extract that ethanol produces is called crude oil, and it’s exactly what the name suggests. A raw cannabis oil product that must be further refined into whatever extract is desired. Ethanol also destroys most terpenes and phytochemicals, leaving only cannabinoids behind – making it more ideal for the production of isolates. 

Solventless

Solventless extraction is a class that includes only a few simple methods: dry heat, grinding, hot water, and pressure. This form of extraction is likely to be the most ancient and easy to do. 

If you own a multi-chamber grinder, then you’re an active solventless cannabis extractor. The “fluff” that gathers at the bottom is essentially a concentrate commonly known as kief. This extract can be compressed and rolled into a hash ball, used as is, or heated on a hot pressure press to produce rosin (as can regular weed buds, but kief makes a much more pure and concentrated rosin).

Another way to produce solventless extracts is by using heat and pressure in the form of a heat press, or even a standard straightening iron normally used for hair. To do this, place your raw buds between 2 pieces of wax paper, squeeze and heat your buds for a few seconds, then scrape the rosin off the wax paper. Rosin can be smoked as is and is up to 80% more potent that the baseline of the type of cannabis it  was initially extracted from while also retaining the majority of its properties.

Finally, hot water may also be used as an extract to make cannabis teas. Yes, you read that correctly. If warm milk or some sort of binding fat is added, the fat extracts the ground bud into the water, while the heat begins to convert the cannabinoids into their non-acidic, active forms such as THCA into THC. This method is far less common, but may serve well those who are looking for a mild full spectrum extract that can be made at home with a cannabis strain of choice.

We hope you enjoyed this brief overview of how cannabis extracts are made!

Before you go, make sure to check out our wide selection of concentrates in our store. Now that you know a little more about how they’re made, you’ll be all that more impressed by what we have!

Stay tuned for our next post in this 2-part series where we go a little more in depth on extracts themselves.

References

Cannabis Concentrates Guide by PotGuide.com

The best cannabis concentrates for beginners Leafly Staff by Leafly Staff, 2019

Part One:Behind The Curtain Of Industrial Cannabis Extracts, Cannabis Science Podcast, 2019 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3c4GMXm9lzORuBPbyoLMf8?si=itdJwZdOQUC7f093ujWm_Q

Extracting Cannabis with Ethanol – Good Idea or Drunk on Fumes – Cannabis Science Podcast

Extraction Explained: Solventless vs Hydrocarbon – The Truth About Removing Residual Solvents, Precision Extraction Solutions, 2020

Ethanol vs. Hydrocarbon vs. Co2 vs. Solventless Extraction Processes: What’s the Best for My Laboratory?, by Dylan Thiel, 2020 

Over the last 3 decades, we’ve seen an explosion in the cannabis industry. Even before the days of legality, growers have been responding to the ever growing consumer demand for new strains of cannabis higher in THC.

As a result of this very niched but now dominant market demand as well as new legality, it is unlikely that this demand will be going down any time soon.

So what does that mean in terms of the market, medicinal uses, and what are some potential cautions we may need to be aware of in the near future?

Market Trends – 60s to Now

In the 1960s (before the war on drugs but after cannabis prohibition), the amount of strains of cannabis available on the market was significantly lower than it is today. Private growers collectively used to experiment under secret conditions in order to try and produce more and more strains and adjust THC level. We simply do not have the data to know how many times this occurred, but what we do know today is that there are nearly 800 different strains of cannabis globally and that number continues to grow. Many of these strains are being bred in order to have higher levels of THC than those of the plants humans originally cultivated in the wild across Asia thousands of years ago.

In the 1960s-70s, testing of THC levels in cannabis plants began to enter the picture as the interest around the newly discovered psychoactive cannabinoid grew even faster than the plants themselves. 

In the early 70s, lab reports placed the average THC concentration in tested cannabis strains to be anywhere from 0.18% to 0.7%. Even though this was more than enough for hippies to groove on, the demand for a more psychoactive marijuana bud was loud and clear. In the years that followed, growers got wise to this demand and got to work crossbreeding Sativa strains (as indicas tend to be lower in THC) and experimenting with growing conditions to maximise THC production in their products.

By the 1980s, growers had successfully raised the average of THC in street marijuana to 2%-3%, making stains several times more potent than had been available. As with any statistic, there are always outliers to numbers – some strains tested at 14% THC baselines in the mid 70s – but for now we will only discuss averages. 

People were thrilled to have 2%-3%, but just like coffee, the need for something stronger was always present.

By the 1990s, the trend continued exponentially. Growers had succeeded in pushing the envelope further, and as a result the average THC content in cannabis flowers on the street was now upwards of 5%-6%, again doubling upon the numbers of the previous decade. CBD however remained around 0.3%-0.5% – unchanged in the majority of plants and may have slightly decreased. Selective breeding for medical CBD had not yet sufficiently entered the medical community to dictate average trends.

Fast forward to today, weed is legal, and THC content has remained the primary focus of recreational users which has further pushed the demand for high THC selectivity. We now see plants on the market with levels of THC as high as 25% (this number may even be higher in some strains) which makes cannabis upwards of 25x-30x more potent that the dominant strains on the market just a few decades ago.

THC Levels and Health

Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that we’re no longer smoking our parent’s highschool weed. We’re pushing potency in ways they never imagined in the days of sneaking behind the bleachers at recess to grab a quick toke before art class. So what do these higher levels of THC do for the medical benefits of marijuana?

Like anything else in medicine, we’re looking at a double edged sword. On the one hand, high THC can greatly benefit cancer patients with fighting pain and even slow tumor growth. It helps stimulate hunger and also greatly assists with insomnia.

On the other hand there is an addictive and psychosis inducing component to THC in select groups of individuals that is only recently being discovered. 

In a 2008-2009 study which was conducted at Saint-Anne Hospital’s Addiction Treatment department in France and published in 2013, 45 patients seeking assistance with cannabis overuse disorders enrolled in order to determine the effect of THC dependence on the nervous system. The researchers tested the patients using data on Neural Soft Signs (NSS) which are markers of neurological dysfunction related to the body’s endocannabinoid system, which is also a part of the brain known to be affected in schizophrenia patients. The study found that THC does indeed have an effect on these receptors at elevated doses and subsequently patients with underlying neurological issues may suffer adverse effects from overuse. This risk factor for addiction and psychological symptoms of high potency THC use is not universal in cannabis users however and represents only a small number, -roughly 9% – of users according to Dr. Timothy Fong, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. 

Summing Up

When it comes to selecting if you prefer high or low THC, it’s important to listen to your body. If you feel unwell when you smoke, then consider going for a lower THC strain and it may dramatically improve your cannabis experience.

References:

Dr Timothy Fong, Addiction and cannabis, 2017 Cannabis Research Symposium, UCLA Health – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43W6uzDNHA&t=1799s

How Many Different Cannabis Strains Are There?, by Nick Lindsey, 2017 – https://greenrushdaily.com/cannabis-strains/many-different-cannabis-strains/

Is Marijuana Stronger Now Than It Was In The 60s?, by Richard Cowen, 2020 – https://thefreshtoast.com/opinion/is-marijuana-stronger-now-than-it-was-back-in-the-60s/

Average THC and CBD levels in recreational cannabis 1960-2018 Chart by MEI – https://marijuana-education.com/topic/the-potency-of-marijuana-and-its-products/thcchart/ 

Neurological Soft Signs in non-psychotic patients with cannabis dependence, Alain Dervaux, Marie-Chantal Bourdel, Xavier Laqueille, Marie-Odile Krebs, Service d’Addictologie, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, France, 2013 – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21054691/

In cannabis culture, we hear a lot about the differences between sativa and indica strains.

Sativas are uppers, and indicas are downers – as the saying goes.

But are they really? Although that may be true to a degree, it turns out it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Sativa and indica are two different types of cannabis plant from the same family. For the ease of explaining them, it’s best to see them as siblings. Sativas are the taller energetic and hyper one who loves art and sports, and indicas are the shorter chubby sibling who enjoys just taking it easy, meditating and going with the flow.

From that understanding of how each behaves, let’s go into a bit more detail on each one and break down the specifics on how they look, grow, and how they affect the common cannabis smoker.

Sativas

Sativa weed plants are the taller, more slender looking variety of marijuanna. Originally from modern day Thailand, sativas are the less climate sensitive of the two sibling plants. They grow best in warm outdoor tropical climates and grow much taller than their indica counterparts.

Generally speaking, sativas tend to have a higher THC content relative to CBD, however due to so much cross breeding in plants, this now varies more than it has in the past. Sativas also take longer to flower than do indicas, due to how tall they grow before flowering. A typical timeframe for this sibling from full grown to flower takes roughly 60-90 days depending on the sub-type of sativa being grown.

The buds from this plant tend to match the profile of the weed itself. They are slender but also longer in shape and tend to have hints of orange or red in the coloration.

Sativas are best used in the daytime, but as mentioned with so many varieties on the market, along with everyone being different in terms of biological interactions with cannabis, this is best used as a general guideline rather than indisputable fact. The same can be said for the effects, but generally the old sayings still hold water for most things believed about this plant. Known effects include: uplifted and energetic, increased appetite, and increased creativity. For those with anxiety conditions, it might be best to go for a sativa that is lower in THC relative to CBD as high THC can overstimulate an already anxious individual.

Indicas

As mentioned in the introduction, indicas are the shorter, stockier plant of the siblings which, funny enough, is a fairly accurate physical indication of the expected effects.

Native to central Asia, the indica varieties are less dependent on tropical hot climate and as a result are more robust  in terms of being able to tolerate harsh weather such as cold snaps and drought. They are a much shorter and wider bush shaped weed that resembles more of a shrub than a typical member of the grass and weed families. They have thicker, wider leaves and prefer to grow out rather than straight up.

As alluded to with the description of the sativa buds, indica buds also borrow their appearance from the indica plant. They are a shorter but much fatter bud with purple tones in coloration as opposed to the orange/red of the sativa sibling. Time to flower for most indicas who have reached maturity is slightly less than their sativa sister, taking an average of 40-60 days, depending on strain and growing conditions

In contrast to sativas, indicas tend to produce a higher quantity of CBD relative to THC. This is not to say that they produce more CBD than they do THC – it is simply a matter of ratio. THC remains the dominant of the two, but CBD is present in higher quantities than in sativas.

In general the effects to be expected are as rumoured, but like sativas, many new strains have been bred which makes it difficult to know if this is still universally true. The effects include: reduced pain, inflammation control, sleep aid and anxiety reduction. These effects are in large due to the higher relative CBD content indicas tend to have.

In closing

We hope this has helped you get a better understanding of sativas and indicas! Don’t forget to check back in our store and find a bud that’s fits your needs! 

If you’ve ever smelled a plant, you’ve inhaled terpenes. They’re one of the most abundant hydrocarbons found in nature – comprising over 30,000 individual types across thousands of plant species, including cannabis.

When it comes to things like aroma therapy, terpenes are what’s responsible for why these therapies work. Our bodies have co-evolved with terpene producing plants throughout our evolutionary history which makes our relationship with these tiny hydrocarbon molecules a symbiotic one.

There are a wide range of effects that terpenes have on us. They do everything from influencing feelings such as being: relaxed, excited, focused, hungry, and sleepy – to helping with physical and psychological symptoms like: pain, inflammation, immune signaling, tension, depression, anxiety and mood.

The best part, you don’t need much knowledge about them to know which ones you respond well to because as the old saying goes – the nose knows. Generally speaking, if a plant – any plant -smells good to you, that’s your queue to the terpenes in that plant being a health benefit for you.

So how does this relate to the cannabis bud experience? 

Knowing that terpenes have an effect on us, and that we can detect which ones are good for us based on how we feel when we smell them, it should no longer come as a shock that this effect carries over to how to pick the kind of cannabis that works best for you. Picking cannabis strain is the same thing as picking our favourite spices, essential oils and teas – they are all terpene based choices!

Common Terpenes and Buds That Contain Them – The Top 5 For Pot Smokers 

With 30,000+ terpenes found in nature, we can’t cover all of them. That being said, we can cover the 5 that you, as a marijuana smoker, should know about in order to better pick your pot. 

Note: Temperature matters with terpenes. All 5 will have a temperature you should extract them at. A dry herb vape for temp control is your best bet if you’re smoking busted up dry buds.

Linalool

Linalool is a floral terpene that is very common in nature and as such is far from being unique to cannabis. If you come across a purple plant on a nature walk, the odds are high that it’s a plant dominant in the Linalool terpene – although there are some exceptions to this such as birch trees, which are quite high in linalool but are not a purple colored plant.

Linalool is also the dominant terpene found in lavender – a plant known for its sedative and relaxing effects. This terpene is also responsible for why some people associate cilantro with smelling like soap. The Linalool terpene is dominant in cilantro and commonly extracted from plants to use in soap production, which gives generic body bar soap its cilantro-like smell.

As you might expect, purple cannabis strains – mostly indicas – are the highest in Linalool. 

This terpene is best for helping with anxiety, sleep disorder, and reducing pain – all effects common with indica strains. 

If you’re looking to chill, go for a weed bud that is from the “purple” strain names, and trust your nose. If it smells good and relaxes you, then you’ve found a good candidate. This terpene is best extracted in a vaporiser at 388F.

If you’re after the benefits of Linalool grab some of our Purple Kush, or Bubba Kush.

B-Caryophyllene

Next we have B-Caryophyllene, a terpene with a more woody and spicy profile. This is one you’re likely to find commonplace in your home kitchen. Where is it you might ask? In your spice cabinet of course! B-Caryophyllene is a terpene found in spices at high concentrations, making it easy for your nose to pick up on if something has a spicy aroma. 

Dried peppers, licorice, peppercorn, oregano, clove, cinnamon and other such spices are all high in B-Caryophyllene.

With the known effects of these listed spices being primarily anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, gastrointestinal pain relief, and muscle and joint pain relief, it stands to reason that weed buds with those listed benefits would be high in B-Caryophyllene.

Another terpene most present in indica strains, it’s best used at night, or in lower amounts over the day to control IBS, Celiac or Crohn’s symptoms, and muscle or joint pain issues. It may also be used when fighting a minor infection to help with immune signaling. 

This terpene is best extracted at 266F through vaping. If your pen only goes as low as 300F, that’s fine too.

For the benefits of B-Caryophyllene, we recommend our Girl Scout Cookie.

Limonene

As you might have guessed from the name, Limonene is a citrus terpene. It’s found in fruits, lemon grass, dill seed, mint, ginger and just about anything else with a sweet citrusy aroma. It’s likely another of the most dominant terpenes in your kitchen that’s been hiding right under your nose. 

Limonene is a relaxing and sleep aid terpene. We’ve all heard that a lemon-ginger tea is relaxing, even if we didn’t really understand why. The source of that relaxation is our good friend Limonene.

The positive effects of Limonene include: reducing anxiety, helping stabilize mood, reducing the symptoms of depression, and to aid with sleep by reducing cortisol levels in the blood.

The optimal temperature for extracting Limonene is 348F and is best used in states of heightened stress or just before bed. 

For high Limonene strains, we recommend Blueberry Kush, Gelato-Cake, and Rainbow Driver.

Pinene

Another name a little on-the-nose is the terpene Pinene. This terpene is less common within the home kitchen in contrast to the last few that we’ve listed. As the name suggests, Pinene is primarily found in pine rich forests. But it can also be found in herbs such as rosemary, and in many topical oils we use to treat skin irritations, abrasions, and muscle complaints. 

Plants such as eucalyptus, ironwort and sage are also all rich in Pinene.

This terpene differs from the others we’ve listed so far as its effects are not rooted in sedation, but rather in stimulation. Pinene helps with focus, stress reduction, energy, pain relief, and helps counteract the effects of THC induced memory loss by helping to bring the brain to a higher level of alertness.

The optimal temperature to extract Pinene is 311F and is an ideal terpene to intake earlier in the day for its focus boosting effects.

For buds high in Pinene, we recommend Rockstar Kush, Iranian, and Medi Kush.

Myrcene

Our final terpene on this list is Myrcene. This earthy and spicy terpene is more common in the western diet than perhaps any other on this list. It is found in high concentrations in hops – the main ingredient in beer and a close cousin of the cannabis plant. But it’s not only found in beer and cannabis, it’s also found in fruits such as mangos, and leafy spices such thyme and bay leaves.

Found in relative proportions in all cannabis strains, Myrcene is one of the key relaxing and sedating terpenes most people actively seek out when using cannabis, or even drinking a beer. 

Myrcene helps with sleep, pain relief, muscle relaxation, and mood regulation. 

Nearly all strains are relatively high in Myrcene but for the flavour profile of this terpene, we recommend Nuken, and UK Cheese.

We hope you enjoyed this overview of how terpenes affect your cannabis experience! Don’t forget to check out the varieties we’ve listed to find the buds that best suit your marijuana smoking goals!

Happy hunting!

References

Wiki References

–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpene

–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrcene

–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinene

–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limonene

–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linalool

Graphic References

The www.revealcannabis.com Top 5 Terpene Reference Chart, by Andrea Meharg, 2018

Video References

Controlling Terpenes and Cannabinoids in Flower and Extract, Presented by Dr. Markus Roggen, Phd, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1n4OJTW0Lw&t=1705s

Terpenes in Marijuana – Explained by Dr. Jake Felice for Medical Marijuana 411, 2018,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGfHmM5Og3w