STELLAR
HARVEST
FLOWER
Flower is the most popular form of cannabis - this is because it is extremely versatile! Flower can be consumed in many different ways, including smoking, vaping, and cooking. Each delivery method has its own advantages and drawbacks.
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For example, smoking delivers a very wide range of cannabis constituents to the bloodstream within seconds, and delivering a precise dose is easy for most users to learn. But the principal drawback is that combustion produces toxins, and those toxins can injure delicate lung tissue.
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Vaporizing is another approach to indulging in cannabis, and avoids some of the issues of smoking by keeping the temperature of the cannabis below the level at which it combusts. Vaporization converts the cannabis into an inhalable vapor. Most people who use vaporizers, however, don’t understand that the different active ingredient in cannabis boil at different times during the process. The method is only truly effective when users learn how the process works. Read more about vaping here.
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Eating cannabis predates both smoking and vaporizing by thousands of years. Oral cannabis edibles deliver their effect for twice as long, when compared to their smoked or vaporized counterparts. However, because ingested cannabis is processed by the liver, oral cannabis takes longer to take effect – anything from 15 minutes to as much as four hours. The duration of the effects of oral cannabis varies widely between individuals. Read more about edibles here.
Common Forms of Flower
Small/Popcorn buds
Popcorn buds, as the name implies, are buds approximately the size of popcorn. These are usually B-grade cannabis buds that don’t have the beauty of large, lustrous A-grade nugs. For the money-conscious cannabis consumer looking for the best bud for their limited bucks, popcorn nugs are a fantastic option for purchasing low-cost flower without sacrificing quality. The potency of popcorn buds should be on par with A-grade buds of the same strain (by the same producer).
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If you already enjoy and appreciate the quality of cannabis created by a particular producer, do them and yourself a favor and purchase a packet of tight nuggets at a discounted price. The producer gets to share and sell their entire lot of flower and you get A-grade potency at a B-grade price.
Untrimmed/Natural Trim
Untrimmed/Natural Trim refers to cannabis that has not been trimmed after harvest, meaning that parts of the plants, like sugar leaves, are still present. Although containing THC, sugar leaves are less concentrated than the flower and contain excess amounts of chlorophyll and other trace elements that contribute to a plant-like taste. Some growers will choose to leave the sugar leaves on the cannabis they sell for the extra weight. On certain strains, the sugar leaves will even make the buds more visually appealing due to the abundance of trichomes on them. They will also help the drying process happen more naturally.
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On the other hand, sugar leaves will absolutely yield a harsher smoke. If you smoke them by themselves, the joint or bowl you pack will not taste good, nor will it be smooth on your throat. Also, you'll have to grind a larger weight than usual to feel the same euphoria with sugar leaves. If you so choose to smoke them, you're best leaving the leaves on the buds and grinding them with the rest of the flower. Other individuals pull off the sugar leaves to grind separately to yield kief or use the sugar leaves to make edibles.
Shake/Ground
Shake is what you’ll find, in varying amounts, at the bottom of any container of cannabis buds. Shake is what falls off of the trimmed cannabis buds due to the buds shaking around in the container you store them in.
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Typically containing less THC than regular flower, it is a great option because it is inexpensive and convenient. Many older Americans swear by ground flower since they don't have to grind it to enjoy it - making it an ideal choice for people who have hand arthritis.
COMMON SLANG
There are an endless amount of slang terms surrounding the cannabis Flower - including (but not limited to) nug, bud, and herb! Nug, for example, is short for nuggets, which refers to the chunks of cannabis flower. "Nug" can be used to refer to nugs (the cannabis plant), or even joints and blunts. Cannabis is quite well known for its variety of slang terms. Most slang names for cannabis date to the jazz era, when it was called - weed, reefer, gauge, and jive. Cannabis even has slang terms that hails from different corners of the world! For example, "Trawa" is a Polish slang term for cannabis, and it's just one of many from all over.
FLOWER QUALITY
Private Reserve
Private reserve is exclusively used when talking about the best stuff available. More often than not, it also means that the dispensary it was bought at is responsible for its cultivation and harvest. Just as homemade food is the best, private reserve flower holds a similar esteem.
Top Shelf
Rough Cut
Top-shelf describes high-quality cannabis. Other slang terms for this quality of cannabis are piff, fire, chronic, loud, and artisanal. Growing quality cannabis requires attentive care and meticulous harvesting, which is why quality cannabis higher prices. Growers of top quality cannabis focus on quality over quantity. You may notice high quality cannabis has intact geometry and LOTS of trichomes. Quality cannabis often feels sticky to the touch.
Rough cut flower is what many call machine cut cannabis flower, as opposed to that which is hand trimmed by budtenders. Rough cut flower is typically considered less premium seeing as it's mostly popcorn bud, potentially with sugar leaves still attached.
HOW IT'S MEASURED
A Gram
A gram, also known as - a dime, dime bag or dub, is the smallest measurement of dried flower. Depending on the density of the flower buds, a gram of cannabis can range in size from a walnut to a large olive. This amount of cannabis is enough for a pretty sizeable joint!
A Quarter
A quarter of cannabis flower is basically a quarter of an ounce. It is approximately 7 grams. A quarter-ounce of cannabis is enough for five to seven blunts and a lot of joints. 2 quarter ounces of cannabis will be equal to a half-ounce, or 14 grams. This quantity is also referred to as a half or a half O. With a half-ounce, you can roll seven to 14 blunts and a crazy amount of joints.
An Eighth
the term eighth refers to an eighth of an ounce or 3.5 grams. Eighths are also known as a half-quarter or a slice. With an eighth of cannabis, you can make three full-gram joints and one half-gram joint or seven smaller, half-gram joints. You could make two to three blunts, a great batch of cannabutter, or pack at least half a dozen bowls.
An Ounce
An ounce of cannabis is exactly 28 grams. That's four quarters or eight eighths! Some slang terms for an ounce are a zip or an O. You'll also see ounces show up in legislation describing possession limits. Why? An ounce is usually how much cannabis you can possess at one time or purchase per month in a given state. An ounce can yield between 25 - 30 blunts or even around 100 joints!
SMOKING METHODS
Bong, Bubblers, & Pipes
Bongs, bubblers and pipes....oh my! Pipes are the least fussy method of smoking, making them perfect for travel or discreet use: grind the cannabis, pack it into the bowl, and light up. Most Pipes are made of glass, but some are ceramic, metal, wooden, or silicone.
Bongs function similarly in that they offer users a readily usable method of indulgence; users need only grind their cannabis, pack the bowl, fill the bong with water or ice, and rip. Bongs come in as many shapes as there are colors under the sun and, just like pipes, the materials range from glass to plastic, ceramics, bamboo, metal, and silicone. Bongs also stand as another easily recognizable symbol of cannabis that transcends borders, both geographical and linguistic.
It’s also worth understanding that cannabis users tend to flex their engineering creativity, so impromptu bongs can often be constructed with materials at hand, including fresh apples and empty water bottles.
Vaporizers
Vaporizing also known as vaping, has become one of the most popular methods for consuming cannabis. Just like joint and blunt materials or pipes and bongs, vaporizers can be purchased online or at any local dispensary. The difference is that vaporizers use vaporization to activate cannabinoids whereas joints/blunts and pipes/bongs use combustion. Vaping is considered to be a less harsh way of consuming cannabis when compared to combustion. When vaping, the material is heated just enough to release its key ingredients, which prevents users from taking in combusted material.
Vapes use two different methods of heating - conduction and convection. Conductive vaporizers juxtapose the cannabis with the heating element to release vapor. Vapes that use the convection method heat air and then pass it through the cannabis to minimize the chances of combustion while maximizing users’ control over temperature adjustments. Vaporizers that use the convection method have a smoother hit but are often only found in more expensive vapes.
Joints & Blunts
Joints and blunts are the most commonly used methods of smoking. Grinders, papers, blunt wraps, and crutches can be purchased online or found in local dispensaries. The act of smoking either of these forms of cannabis is universally recognized across the globe.
HOW TO STORE
Properly storing flower is an important concern, especially to someone using it for medicinal purposes. Old, improperly stored cannabis can result in changes in taste and texture, but most importantly, a considerable drop in potency. The solution is simple - minimize the flower’s exposure to oxygen, heat, moisture, or UV light by storing it an a long-lasting, airtight container such as a mason jar!
COMPOSITION OF FLOWER
Trichomes
Trichomes are the tiny, hairlike or crystallike, growths that pop up along cannabis buds. Trichomes serve many functions across plants in botany - in carnivorous plants, they function as digestive traps and in others, trichomes function to protect plants from creeping frost or damaging winds. For cannabis plants in particular, these structures are where the majority of the plant’s resin resides. With recent, intensive research; researchers have discovered that the trichomes make the plant’s terpenes and cannabinoids.
Bracts
Calyx
The "bract" of a flower encloses the female plant’s reproductive parts. In a cannabis plant, bracts surround the flower’s "inflorescence" — a term that refers to a group or cluster of flowers arranged along the stem. Bracts may look like normal leaves due to their shape, but they differ from normal petals. They are mostly specialized leaves that protect a plant’s flower structure; but in cannabis, bracts are also part of the flower!
The "calyx" part of a cannabis plant can often be confused with its bracts. This part of the plant forms first and it is constructed of mini leaves that spiral where the flower branches from the stem. Calyxes are made of sepals - which are tinier leaves that protect the flower’s base! Calyxes offer cannabis flowers rigor and structural protection and strength - safeguarding their reproductive organs from external damage. The calyx of a cannabis plant is incredibly valuable! Why? Because it holds the flower’s pistils and the majority of its trichomes - which we already know holds the plants resin, and creates it terpenes and cannabinoids.
Leaflets (Sugar Leaves)
Leaflets are leaflike parts of a compound leaf that resemble an entire leaf. A compound leaf is a leaf that is made up of more than one leaflet, and often come in odd numbers of three or five. One of the universal symbols for cannabis is its specific compound leaf - it resembles a hand splayed out — each finger is a leaflet, or sugar leaf, while the entire thing is really just one leaf. In cannabis, leaflets come in bundles of five per leaf and are decorated with serrated edges. These structures are also trimmed from the final product.
Stigma (Pistil)
The "pistil" part of a cannabis plant consists of the plant’s female organs - the stigma, style, and ovary. The cannabis pistil is a long, lengthy structure that is coated in resin that traps pollen to ensure that the plant gets fertilization. Across various cannabis plants, pistils may look slightly different, but their reproductive function remains identical.
Stigma are the hair-like projections that grow out of the pistil. When growing and harvesting cannabis, pistils serve little to no purpose. But, out in the wild, the stigma and pistil are able to fully function and do their jobs as pollen collectors that provide the cannabis plants with the materials to grow seeds.