There are some ways that you can check to see if it’s high quality or not. Let’s take a look at the following:

– Look for vibrant greens and browns; colors should be rich and saturated. If your bud is lighter in color, chances are it is not as potent. As more light is exposed to delta-8 THC (the psychoactive component), it degrades and changes into CBN (cannabinol), which has anti-analgesic properties but may increase psychoactivity in low doses. Green cannabis contains an abundance of cannabinoids , including delta-8 THC, CBG, CBC, CBD, among others .

Delta 8 flower looks similar to most types of cannabis, although it is often less fluffy and more compact. The leaves are bright green with orange or brownish hairs .

-Smell the weed through the bag first, you’ll get a better feel for what the actual smoke smells like compared to smelling it out of your hand/finger tips. After breaking up some bud, take another whiff. It should have a danky piney smell to it that hits you hard when you first lean down into it. Some will say it has an earthy pungent smell similar to that of blue cheese or bile , which I definitely don’t agree with. If its got a “dirty” or “funk” type of sour kush smell to it rather than a pungent blue cheese smell then it’s probably not that great of a head and will taste like shit and be weak as hell. This is the most common mistake newbies make; they buy weed based solely on how it smells in its bag instead of pulling out some and breaking it up and taking a good whiff. If someone gives you an eigth for $25, bud better have significant frosting on the buds, however if its just one strain, chances are it doesn’t have much to offer or won’t get you high at all.

-Look at the trichomes under a magnifying glass or jeweler’s loupe through clear sandwich bags – this is something I think everyone should do. Trichomes should be milky white with a slight hint of being cloudy. If they are clear that is not good , it means either the plant was stressed or it’s not that potent . Does delta-8 come in flower? Adding stress to plants (i.e., overwatering, under-feeding, pests, lack of nutrients (nitrogen specifically), etc.) will result in THC degrades faster than normal; thus resulting in less trichomes produced which makes for an overall lower quality head.

Lauriane Gerhold