How to Tell the Difference Between Good Weed and Bad Weed?

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Imagine this. You’ve had a long, hard, and tiring day and you want to spend your evening just smoking a joint and relaxing on your couch as it rains outside. You roll your joint, twist it up and light it up – but after the first few hits you begin to cough and realize your insides are burning! After a few more hits you start getting all sweaty and end up wondering if the weed was not good. If such a thing has ever happened to you – you’re probably a victim of bad weed! Stoners must know the difference between good weed and bad weed while buying it. 

Smoking marijuana is usually quite a delight. Stoners love their weed – but there’s nothing that they hate more than getting bad weed. Now ‘bad weed’ is a generic term but we shall be looking at it in great detail in this article. It could vary from being the kind of weed that was just poorly grown and is moldy to the kind of weed that is spiked or laced. You need to know the difference between good weed and bad weed and it is very important for every stoner. Some experienced stoners might already know about it but it is essential that everyone knows this so that they don’t end up getting a ‘bad trip’ or waste their money on something that could be bad for them. 

What is ‘Bad Weed’ and Why is it Bad?

Bad weed is the kind of weed where you don’t feel either relaxed or energetic, but begin to feel a lot of side effects and especially some levels of panic or anxiety – which vary from person to person. Some people might feel outright panic and a racing heartbeat along with an intense dry mouth, while others would just cough and sweat too much and feel palpitations. Nonetheless, neither of these are things you generally associate with weed. This is because you’ve been smoking bad weed! 

Bad weed can either be just poor quality marijuana which hasn’t been grown with care. If a grower grows their weed and does not flush it before harvest, it would lead to excessive nutrient deposits which would lead to the weed becoming bad to taste and smoke. Then there are other reasons such as bud rot, lack of proper nutrients, burnt buds due to excessive heat and light, etc. which can also cause the weed to have poor effects upon smoking. There can also be a chance that things have gone wrong while curing and preserving the weed which is why it isn’t giving you a good effect. In addition to this there might be an excessive use of pesticides or fertilizers which might have been of bad quality or used in excess which might have led to the weed going bad. 

Sometimes you might be smoking ‘Reggie’ – and no, we don’t mean the Archie comics character! Reggie Weed is the name given to low-quality weed which is the absolute filth. It is the cheapest weed available in the markets as it is usually grown in backyards and is full of mud, stem and seeds – the three definite sins of growing weed. Smoking this would give you some sort of a high but we are pretty sure that’s not something you want. There will be a lot of coughing, and the taste it leaves in your mouth is just terrible. The smoke is quite harsh and this is terrible quality marijuana.

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How to Tell The Difference Between Good Weed vs Bad Weed?

The difference between good weed and bad weed is quite apparent when you actually smoke it. However, there are a number of other ways in wchih you can know if your weed is good quality or bad quality before you actually smoke it. Here’s a look at some factors which you might want to consider before buying your weed which will help you in making a better decision:

  • Color and Texture of the Weed

The color of your weed is one of the first and key indicators when it comes to determining the difference between good and bad marijuana. Good weed is usually lush green or dark green in color and might sometimes have orange, purple, or reddish tints depending upon the strain of marijuana that you are smoking. However, when you compare this with bad weed, it is usually light green in color and might even be yellowish. It looks quite dry – just the visual cue is enough to tell you that there’s something wrong with it. While lighter shades of green are still passable, be very careful if you are getting weed which is brown in color. This is the worst kind of weed as it is completely dry and might even be burnt. 

Good quality weed is usually quite ‘fresh looking’ and usually has a very sticky texture and feel to it. This is one of the best signs of freshness that it is sticky. However, if you see weed which is totally dry and has a lot of cracks on its surface it is probably bad quality stuff. The color and the texture of your weed matter a lot and giving them a thorough look would ensure you’re getting good quality marijuana!

  • Trichomes, Hair and Leaves

These three are some more factors which will help you understand if you are getting good quality weed or bad quality weed. You must check your bud for having trichomes. The more the number of trichome crystals, the better quality your weed would be. Having more trichomes will also mean that the bud is more sticky and as we have mentioned above that is a very good sign. Trichomes and crystals are important because that’s where a majority of your weed’s THC deposits are – which is the compound that gives you the real high of smoking marijuana. Smoking good quality weed gets you high. Smoking bad quality weed gets you anxious or sleepy. 

Hair and Leaves are the next thing that you should be observing in your weed. Having a leafy bud is not something that you should desire and this is another sign that you are being handed bad weed. Good weed is usually trimmed in a better manner. Leafy weed just increases the weight of the packaging but the actually stuff that’s smokable is very little in quantity as leaves just add to the bulk without providing any real benefits to the stoners. However, if you notice that your bud has little hair coming out on the ends – it means it is a very fine quality weed. Leaves, stems and sticks are an absolute no no!

  • Check for Molds

Moldy weed is horrible. It is the worst, does not get you high – and might get you sick on occasion. You must make sure that you are smoking good quality marijuana which does not have molds in it. Moldiness is generally visible. There might be some sort of a webbing present in the buds, then there might be spots which might be particularly dark or different in color, or there might just be some things which are a little slimy in texture when you compare them to the rest of the bud. There might even be some white colored patches growing around it. Don’t just explore the outer surface but try looking through the bud to check for mold. This is definitely a bad quality weed and you must not buy it.

  • Smell

The smell of the bud can tell you a lot about the quality of the weed that you’re getting. The stronger the smell of your weed the more potent and high quality it is. The smell might vary a little but it is usually a pleasant smell which stoners are all so familiar with. It can sometimes be a little citric or berry-like depending upon the strain of marijuana that you are smoking. However, what you need to watch out for is a musty or stale smell. If the weed smells like you’re stepping into an old room or it smells like something is rotting, you are definitely treading into a territory where you don’t want to step into. Some even say that you can smell good quality weed as a distinct smell even if you keep it in a bag of roses. While that might be a little of a hyperbole but yes, smell is indeed an important factor when it comes to ensuring you’re getting the right kind of weed. 

  • Taste

Now this is something that’s not always possible to check before you buy weed, but in case you get to take a hit before you buy it, always make sure that the weed is leaving a good taste in your mouth. It’s a fresh and rich taste if the weed is good. If the weed is bad you’ll know because it would just taste like ash or dirt. A muddy taste will be left in your mouth with every hit. 

  • Smoking Experience

This is something you can only know after you’ve bought your weed. However, good quality weed will always give you an effect of a ‘high’. You’ll feel euphoric and would get either a mind-high where your creative processes would kickstart or you would feel a body-high where you would feel light and floating and very relaxed. If you’re feeling none of the two but just this weird psychotic feeling of is this real or is this not, or the feelings of derealization and depersonalization – a feeling of dry mouth so intense that you begin to feel like your tongue is being pulled inside your mouth, you’re probably smoking bad weed. It also gives you sweats, chills and an overall bad feeling and an impending sense of doom. This is basically what is called a ‘bad trip’.

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How to Ensure That You’re Getting Good Quality Weed?

By now you know how to differentiate between good quality weed and bad quality weed. It is quite a simple process. However, there is another thing that you must know – how to get ensure that the weed that you are getting is good quality weed. Here’s a look:

  • Buy from a Dispensary

If you are someone who has a prescription and wants to buy good quality weed, make sure you buy it from a certified and licensed dispensary. Doing so will give you this peace of mind that the weed that you are buying has been grown professionally and has been cured and preserved in just the right manner. This gives you an assurance that what you are going to smoke is certainly going to be good weed. Moreover, buying from a dispensary is also a way to ensure that you are buying legal weed and you cannot land in any trouble on doing so.

  • Don’t Buy Off the Street 

If you want to enjoy your weed make sure you don’t buy it off the street from those seedy looking creeps. You never know in which conditions has their weed been grown and what kind of chemicals they might have used to boost the growth. Some of these people might sell you spiked weed which might be bad for your health too. Hence you’ve got to be very careful and avoid buying off the streets. It is also illegal in most regions.

  • Grow Your Own Weed

Lastly, growing your own weed is perhaps the best way to ensure that the weed you are buying is good quality. When you grow your own marijuana, you are using the best quality stuff and providing extreme care that your plant grows really well and gets the best of lighting, air circulation, nutrients – and even the harvest and pre harvest procedures are done in the right manner so that the plant is flushed off all nutrients and retains its freshness long after the harvest. There’s no substitute to growing your own marijuana if you want the best quality weed. 

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Frequently Asked Questions About Good Weed vs Bad Weed

Here are some FAQs about good weed vs bad weed which will help you ensure that you are getting just the best of the best:

1. Can even good weed have side effects?

Yes, even good weed can have certain side effects such as getting your eyes red, giving you an altered sense of reality and mildly increasing your heartbeat while reducing your blood pressure. These are some very common side effects and aren’t something that you should really be worried about.

2. What happens to you when you smoke bad weed?

Smoking bad weed leads to paranoia, confusion and causes an impending sense of doom where you’re not sure of what’s going on around you. You feel weird and anxious and might even get bouts of derealization and depersonalization. Sometimes bad weed doesn’t give you a ‘high’ and just puts you to sleep or makes you very drowsy. Extreme levels of sweating and dry mouth also happen when you smoke bad weed.

3. Why does weed have such a strong smell?

Weed has such a strong smell due to terpenes, which are compounds present in the plant. The smell from terpenes is meant to keep animals and pests away from the plants while they attract humans. Usually the stronger the smell the more potent the weed is.

4. Which is the best strain of weed?

Indica and Sativa are the two major strains of marijuana. However there are also hybrid strains of weed where indica and sativa or two different plants of the same strain might be crossed in order to get a different taste and a different kind of high. The best strain of weed depends on why you want to smoke it – for getting high you might have a different strain of weed while for different medicinal purposes different strains of weed are good for you. Then there’s the THC/CBD concentration, taste, etc. which also matter so this is basically a case-to-case basis situation.

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Conclusion

We hope that by this point in the article, you have understood the difference between good weed and bad weed in a clear manner and can now make this differentiation on your own. It is always beneficial for you to smoke the good kind of weed so that you don’t face any side effects such as anxiety and coughing, or drowsiness that comes when you smoke bad weed. If there’s something more that you would like to know or if there’s something that you feel is missing from our list, do let us know in the comments below. Till then….

…Happy Smoking! 🙂

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