What To Look For In Marijuana Flower to Determine Quality

With the legalization of marijuana in Canada, numerous brick-and-mortar cannabis shops and an overwhelming amount of products are on the market. As a result, selecting the right product that best fulfills your needs can be a bit challenging. With so many companies claiming to have the most premium, potent, and flavourful buds, you might be wondering, how do you determine the best quality weed? 

When determining quality, the answer to what to look for in marijuana flowers would be genetics, cultivation techniques, and structure. However, if you are new to cannabis or are already a cannabis expert, it is essential to know more about what to look for when selecting a weed flower. 

In this article, we’re going to be going into detail on five crucial factors to look at when evaluating cannabis to ensure you’re selecting the right flower for your needs.

Aroma

The way cannabis smells says a lot about its quality. When the scent of a flower is strong, it is considered to have a higher potency and more trichome density. A weak smell, on the contrary, indicates poor quality buds that are less potent and even dried out. If you are unfamiliar with the term trichome, it is the source of resin and cannabinoids in your cannabis plant. They are made of glandular hairs, scales, and papillae, giving a crystal-like sheen and sticky feel. 

When selecting a flower, give it a good sniff and see which notes you pick out. In addition, some terpene profiles indicate when a weed flower is made of good quality. Some of them are fuel/gas, most common for having a gassy, diesel-like aroma; earthy, which suggests a woody smell; and last but not least, sweet/berry and anything citrus are also a good sign of quality. 

On the contrary, some aromas that suggest low quality are the ones that smell like fresh-cut grass or hay and mildew, which means when a flower has become contaminated with mold. Mold contamination usually happens during the flowering or drying cultivation phase; buds that don’t follow the right procedure might develop mold.

Structure

How a flower is structured also tells a lot about its quality. Some factors that determine a flower’s structure are shape, hairs, trim, and colour. 

When it comes to shape, fat tightly-packed buds indicate high quality for Indica buds. Open, wispy and lean are what characterize high-quality Sativa buds, and last but not least, Hybrid strains are based on genetics and often have a combination of both. 

Regarding hairs, if you see orange curly hairs on the outside of the buds, these are called pistils and are a good indicator of when a flower is high-quality. Sometimes you will see white hairs instead; do not worry, this indicates that a plant is still pretty young and eventually will transition from yellow to orange as they grow. If your flower shows dull, gray, or brown hairs, this mostly means that the flower may be old or dry. 

If trichomes are missing or there are rough-cut flowers, this may be a sign that a machine trimmed the buds. High-quality cannabis flowers are carefully hand-trimmed by professionals who know how to preserve the integrity of each bud. 

Last but not least, you want to ensure that vibrancy is essential when considering high-quality in a flower. Different shades of green, yellow, orange, red, and purple will tell how good your flower is.

Trichomes

We’ve previously mentioned what trichomes mean, but if you forgot already, trichomes produce terpenes that give taste and smell to each strain. In case you are wondering how you can see trichomes in your flower, a great way to do this is using your smartphone by snapping a few pictures of the buds and zooming in on the image to check the colour, clarity, and coverage of the crystals.

Texture and Moisture Content

High-quality cannabis buds are properly cured to achieve the ideal moisture content. Too much moisture might lead to mold, and too little can lead to dry buds with minimal potency. Once your flower arrives, make sure that your buds feel soft and plump and are supple and springy.

Genetics and THC-Percentage

One of the best ways to select a flower is by looking at the quality, the strain’s terpene profile, and cannabinoid content. This will give you a better idea of the taste/aroma, effects, and the type of high you will experience.

Stop Searching and Find High Quality Weed Today

Cannabis quality is essential as you not only want to have the best experience possible but also, you want to protect yourself against harmful contaminants. With these 5 tips we just listed, you should be able to identify and differentiate between good and bad marijuana flowers. 

At Bud Lab, we ensure that all our cannabis products provide the most premium quality; from taste to effects, you will enjoy cannabis with carefully grown, cured, and packaged buds. If you want to know more information on how our weed is beautifully crafted, read this article that explains why we sell higher quality weed than local dispensaries. Get in touch now and let us know if you have any questions.