It is an age old point of contention amongst heads. Beasters to the bunk, schwag to the ‘snicklefritz‘, reggies to just plain rancid, ew whats that smell?
But here we are in a time of where we have an uninterrupted flow (save your allotment) of quality ganja coming from cleaned and maintained grows verified for safety by third parties and assured by state-approved product testing giving us the numbers to prove that this herb will get you rightly stoned.* But there are a lot of impostors out there, slapping that ‘top-shelf’ ‘reserve’ ‘craft’ name to herb that lacks the quality to back the marketing.
Sure, we can read the numbers for total and respective cannabinoid levels, and we even have terpene analysis results as well to appeal to those with a more familiar understanding of the entourage effect. This will give us a general inclination on the effects of the product, but what about subjective anlysis by the end user? Regardless of where one procures their herb, a fine tuning of the senses that pertain to judging fine herb can help you determine whether or not to use a particular cultivar and chemovar. How does one begin to make sense of thee sensory inputs? What should we even be looking for?
First, let’s talk about the looks. Looks will likely be the first thing that hits your perception, followed shortly by smell. The look of the herb will generally tell the user a number of things, primarily how the flower was handled along with some other nuanced signals as to how well the flower was grown. As end-users, we want our product to moved and handled as little as possible. Now, I don’t mean if it was handled by machine or person, as it would always be preferable a human being handled all aspects of craft flower production. Most people will be able to handle a flower with a level of care during processing and packaging in a way that a machine will never be able to match. Does the trim look intentional and selective? Or does the trim look like someone took scissors swiped quickly across the surface of the flower indiscriminately? When a cultivator claims ‘hand trimmed colas’ but the flower looks like it got sent through a trim machine, then something needs to be addressed at the facility.
Note the signs of health from the flower. Does the flower look plump and well developed? Are there any large amounts of white pistils (the orange hair)? Do the glandular trichomes have a mostly cloudy appearance with 5-10% amber and 5-10% clear in appearance? These can all be signs of maturity and ripeness at harvest. Often, herb harvested too early will have a lackluster effect, and an underdeveloped aroma and flavor while herb harvested too late may have a harshness to the smoke and an effect that is lethargic and sleepy. Many growers find themselves having a preference towards higher rations of Amber/Coudy/Clear trichomes. Do any of the flower bracts or leaves look burnt? This could be a sign of over-feeding. Look at the leaves left on the plant and see if there are any bite marks that could have been left by two spotted spider mites, or any other buggers.
When visual inspection is taken into account, one can reasonably deduce the level of care given to the plants during its entire life cycle. As a flower consumer, one must have a fine eye for judgment on quality, and be able to tell with confidence whether or not the price is fitting of the quality. As we continue to use our senses to determine quality we move onto the aroma.
Aroma preferences are often very subjective, granted the product is of good genetics and grown well. Smelling the herb, it should have a full and complex aroma, devoid of any green grass clipping smell. This would be indicative of herb that hasn’t been cured or hasn’t even fully finished drying. Herb shouldn’t smell musty, or moldy, or have the smell of sulfur (sometimes used as a fungicide). This hasn’t been an issue with licensed cultivators in Illinois. If anything, most herb in Illinois is slightly over dry, and this is a deliberate move on the cultivators part to mitigate any potential mold development as their product sits in another party’s storage vault.
Take several whiffs of your herb to find the distinct aromas that make up the whole. The most inviting samples seem to speak in a slightly different way each time they are revisited. One of the greatest parts about noting cannabis aromatics is how they change over time. As herb is cured and aged between 3-6 months after harvest in controlled settings some incredibly complex aromas can be found, and being able to pick out each specific note can be very fun. As your palette becomes more developed, and your perception of the various effects becomes solidified, you may find yourself being able to have some more insight into the effects of herb based on the smell it carries.
The feel of the bud is usually pretty straightforward. Bud structures can very from variety to variety, but regardless of the density of the flowers they all need to have a certain give to them. This means that they shouldn’t crumble as you squeeze them. Softly squeezing your flower should feel almost like a stale marshmallow, without the sounds of crunching leaves or twigs. Breaking a bud open, the stem should bend slightly then gently snap. Watch for a dust storm of dried trichomes breaking off from flowers that may have been dried a bit too much. If the stem folds and ‘nugglets’ don’t break off the main stem easily, but rather seem to ‘strip’ off, then the flower is too wet, and that will smoke very harsh. And of course, your best flowers should be sticky! Those stickiest, most greasiest nugs are full of terpenes. They will smoke you so delighted with flavors that seem to never leave your mouth.
Now the smoke test. Use a clean glass pipe or roll a joint with some organic hemp papers. A dry toke (hit it without lighting it) will bring the flavor of the herb to be appreciated in a really interesting way and can often be a helpful preface on what to expect after it is lit. First hits should fire up easily, your match or lighter shouldn’t need to stay there too long to get it going. The smoke should feel smooth and the flavor of the dry toke should have a more full bodied nature, mimicking the dry toke, but in a much more robust way.
Note any particular flavors or characteristics of the smoke that may be off putting. These often become more pronounced as one smokes more of that bowl or joint. Organic herb grown in living soils typically smoke smoother and have more complex flavors than any salt based feeding programs, though this isn’t always the case. Salt based nutrient regiments will typically produce a flower that smokes great for a toke or three, but soon a certain harshness seems to dominate the character of the smoke.
Well cured herb will keep burning for quite a while in a bowl, and should never go out in a rolled preparation unless forgotten about for a few minutes (note the effects). Your herb should smoke smooth down to the last hit, each toke as enjoyable as the last. As the effects set in, notice how quickly they do. Be very mindful of the effects it has on your body. Are you finding relief in specific areas or a general well-being? Are you feeling a slow onset? Does this creeper stone leave you wandering mentally, staring at a wall? Does this herb hit strong and hard, does it have an analgesic effect? What is your overall feeling of well being? Well selected genetics grown with skill and attention often have specific conditions they are meant to treat, and finding those that hit you just in the right place can often hold special places in our hearts. The best herb leaves the user mindful of their bodies, with a greater and heightened perception of what ails and heals us. Herb should generally lack the quality of simply dumbing down and leaving one in a fog except for those certain cultivars that seem to have great appeal as an opiate replacement (high myrcene cultivars).
All in all, preferences for these variables is going to be very subjective, but these points will hopefully be a starting point for those interested cannasseur. Using these loose guidelines we can begin to grow and process our own ganja, at a quality just the same or possibly greater than folks pay hundreds of dollars for. As we develop our palettes and as we are presented more options of herb, it is important that as consumers, we need to be very particular with the quality of herb we are using. This is an uplifting and enlightening plant with powerful potential for well being and healing.
We must demand that all of the herb we grow and purchase is crafted with good intent and love. We must demand a strict level of quality if cultivators are going to be charging the prices they do. Those prices must reflect the level of effort and care, along with the method of growing. Organic herb, grown properly in living soils using regenerative methods takes a certain skill-set and know-how that is developed over time and is highly dependent on an intuition of a skilled crew, and the product often reflects this. We must demand the highest level of care from the industry when it comes to the environmental impact of growing this plant, and source from cultivators that use the Sun’s light as their primary energy and lighting source in order to remove the burden of millions of kilowatts that are being consumed to grow a plant which evolved to bask under Sol.
If you have any suggestions or ways that you judge your cannabis, be it flower or concentrate, please let us know!
*Let us not forget those days of scoring that most righteous bag of the funkiest fire to be seen this side of the Mississippi since drought hit in July and you just scraped the last rez ball from your last aluminum one hitter. Big Up, you know who you are.
