When you first find yourself at a dispensary, it can be hard to determine the quality of the weed that you are purchasing. For Cannabis indica, it is important to identify the quality of your bud to ensure that you are getting the right THC concentrations.
The best way to look at your bud and decipher its quality is by confirming the smell, taste, color, shape, trichome health, and the trim type.
Smell
One of the first things that you can look for when it comes to sniffing out that perfect bud is whether or not the bud smells like grass. Now, this isn’t saying that a low quality bud won’t have a marijuana type smell or even a fresh smell, but if you smell grass, turn your nose up.
Grassy or hay smelling weed hasn’t had a few things done. One, it hasn’t been cured properly which can result in molds along the buds.
The second is that the buds were probably picked too early or they are from an inferior strain. When this happens, talk with your bud handler and see what is going on if you are truly curious.
Taste
If you have the opportunity to try before you buy, then taste is going to be a huge indication as to whether or not you have quality Cannabis indica on your hands.
As you inhale, there should be the typical burn but you should also be able to taste and smell different flavors and scents. These flavors come from something called terpenes.
If you aren’t getting that traditional dankness or some form of fuel, pine, flower, sweet, or creamy, then what you are trying isn’t quality weed. The reason is that the terpenes haven’t been allowed to fully mature on the plant. Can you guess what this means?
Yup, picked early and aged incorrectly.
Color
If your weed looks like it is brown and dying, then that is not what you want in your pipe or vape. While there are plenty of great strains that do have a more brown look to them, most strains of cannabis, especially indica, are going to have very vibrant colors.
Look for deep greens, bright oranges and purples and very rarely some reds in a dried bud. This is going to help you determine whether or not the bud has been cured properly.
Another color to look for is the sparkling white of thick resin coating the leaves. If you aren’t seeing some sort of sparkle or whiteness to a bud, then you aren’t getting a bud that has been properly handled.
Bud Shape
There’s a big difference between Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica buds. First, sativa buds are more spread out and tend to not be very dense. Conversely, indica buds are densely packed, coated in resin and you can feel how firm the bud is.
If you are given an indica strain that is loosely packed, then you can almost guarantee either you have been given the wrong strain or that your bud has been picked too early. When picked early, the flower hasn’t had time to develop all of its blooms which is where the resin is located.
Trimming
While this may seem like something small compared to other factors in assessing buds, the trimming tells you a lot about how the bud was handled.
There are machine extracted buds and others that are done by hand. Hand trimming is going to result in less leaf material in your pipe and more bud instead.
When you see a machine handled bud, much of the trimming is too close to the bud, most of the resin is knocked off, and you might be missing half a bud because it’s been turned into hash!
Trichomes
These are perhaps my favorite part of cannabis in general because the trichomes on a bud can vary so greatly in color, length, and shape. Trichomes are fine little hairs that you can see when you look at a bud from the side. They almost look like the spines on a cactus.
Why is it important to pay attention to these? If the trichomes are missing, or they are broken in several places then your bud hasn’t been handled with care. At this point it is no longer considered quality cannabis.
Conclusion
When you purchase indica there are few things to double check. Make sure there are plenty of trichomes present otherwise you aren’t getting the right amount of THC.
Double check the bud shape and smell: remember, you want dense buds with a heavy fragrance that you can easily identify. Finally, don’t forget the trimming and color and you are set on finding some of the best high quality Cannabis indica out there.