How To Tell The Quality of Weed

How To Tell The Quality of Weed

It’s not always easy knowing how to tell the quality of weed. With so many types of weed strains out there, how do you know which weed strain is the best? More importantly, how do you know you’re not getting bad weed? Whether you’re an experienced consumer or just getting started with cannabis, we want to help you make sure that you get the highest quality products available at your local dispensary.

We’ll give you some tips and tricks for identifying premium-grade marijuana. We’ll discuss a few common characteristics that you should look for when choosing your weed. Plus, we’ll go over a few key questions to ask when talking with budtenders.

How to Tell if Your Weed is Good?

As a cannabis consumer, it’s good to know the quality of your weed to ensure you’re getting the best possible experience and effects. Whether you’re looking to get a mild relaxation or a powerful high, you don’t want your money wasted on bad weed. Fortunately, there are some qualities that you can use to assess the quality of your cannabis and make sure that you are getting quality weed.

What Do You Look For in Good Weed?

Knowing how to tell good weed comes with time and a little practice. When choosing your marijuana, look for visible trichomes (crystal-like hairs) that give it an overall sparkly and slightly golden appearance. Good-looking weed is nice and frosty with trichomes.

Quality cannabis should also have a strong aroma ranging from sweet and fruity to earthy or fragrant. At the same time, some weed strains can have musty or skunky scents. The ideal bud texture should be dense and resilient yet still soft enough to break up by hand with minimal effort. When taking a puff of your bud, high-quality weed should taste smooth without being harsh on the throat.

Close-up of cannabis buds on white background.

Why is My Weed Hard?

There are several possible explanations for why your weed may be hard, or your buds might be denser than expected. The most common explanation is that they haven’t been properly cured, which is the process of drying and aging cannabis flowers to enhance the flavor and potency of the bud. If your weed was harvested too soon, it can lack the moisture needed to stay soft. In some cases, certain weed strains just produce higher-density buds and they may feel harder when compared to strains that produce less dense buds.

The storage methods used for your marijuana can also affect why your weed is hard. Keeping cannabis in an environment that is too warm or overly damp can cause weed to become harder than usual. It’s recommended that you store weed in a cool, dark place that  helps preserve its optimal texture and potency. Finally, low humidity levels will affect your weed quality and can also be responsible for hard weed. Low humidity can dry out buds and make them feel harder.

What Color is Good Quality Weed?

When it comes to marijuana, one of the most common debates among growers and users is dark vs light weed. On average, higher quality weed will have more of a deep, rich hue such as shades of green, purple or blue. Buds that are overly pale often indicate low-quality weed as a result of harvesting an immature plant or one that has been improperly cured.

On the other hand, buds that are too dark could be indicative of over-curing or poor drying practices. The trichomes on cannabis flowers should have a natural frosted appearance. The color of trichomes on low-grade weed will often be more clear than frosty.

The bud’s pistils, which are the hairs on the bud that can range in color from white to orange,  should also be observed. Hairs that are clear or too white often indicate the plant was harvested too soon. The hairs on good weed have more color and may be brightly orange. However, dark brown or burnt-looking hairs are signs of bad weed that may have been harvested too late or was not cured correctly. Paying attention to the color of your weed is one of the best ways to sort good weed vs bad weed.

Good Weed vs Bad Weed

What exactly is the difference between good weed vs bad weed anyway? Well, there are two sides to this because good weed and bad weed can be decided based on two factors. These factors include the effects of the weed and the safety of the weed.

When judging by effects, good weed will have powerful effects that kick in fast and last a long time. Bad weed will not have powerful effects, may take a while for the effects to begin, and they don’t last long when they do.

Safety factors are another concern. Truly good weed is going to be grown without harmful pesticides or herbicides. Cannabis that is grown using harmful pesticides or herbicides that may cause health problems makes for bad weed.

Close-up of cannabis plant bud

Signs of Good Weed

As for how to spot signs of good weed, there are a few key things to always keep in mind:

  • High trichome coverage
  • Lively color
  • Colorful hairs that aren’t too dark
  • Flexible with minimal breakage
  • Strong and pleasant aroma

Signs of Bad Weed

Now, when it comes to identifying signs of bad weed, here are a few things to watch out for:

  • Faded or unappealing colors
  • Clear or overly white hairs
  • Brittle or overly hard texture
  • Unpleasant or rotting smell
  • Visible mold

What Does Good Weed Look Like?

If you’ve read this far, you should have everything you need to know about what good weed looks like. When it comes to just looks, you want a good color bud that isn’t too light. The hairs of the bud should be colorful but not too brown or burnt-looking, and the trichomes should be milky and frosty looking.

How is The Quality of Weed Measured?

The quality of weed can be measured in a few different ways. There’s weed that’s bad because it doesn’t get you very high, and then there’s weed that’s bad because it’s clearly moldy, or contaminated with pesticides. Bad weed that has something obviously wrong with it is easy to measure.

When you measure the quality of your weed by effects, then high-quality weed is going to have strong and long-lasting effects. However, some people don’t like super-strong weed, so they measure extra potent weed as bad because they prefer milder effects. For this reason, measuring the quality of weed based on its effects is a personal preference.

In conclusion, it is clear that there are many different ways to distinguish good weed vs bad weed. Aside from issues like mold or contamination, determining high-quality weed can be a personal preference based on what you like most about your cannabis experience. You and your friend might rate the same weed strain as bad and good, depending on what either of you does or doesn’t like about it.

At Verts, we only carry the most top-quality weed. If you have any doubts about the quality of your cannabis, talk to one of our knowledgeable budtenders to get your answers.