What to Know Before Smoking Legal Weed
Are you a beginner to smoking weed? Learn how to pick the right type of weed to match your desired effects. We overview the basics of indica, sativa and all the hybrids in between.
First step: Finding Good Bud
So you want to smoke weed. Great. Now it’s time to find the good stuff. You don’t want to smoke old, bunk weed, you want the best of the best, the fresh dank – premier quality cannabis grown by skilled cultivators.
If you are in a state that allows for the use of legal cannabis, such as California, Oregon, Washington, etc. you may be able to find a dispensary near your location. A dispensary sells marijuana to qualified customers. The top dispensaries on the Left Coast supply a range of popular indica, sativa and hybrid “strains” or cultivars/varieties.
Second step: Indica, Sativa or Hybrid
You may have heard the terms indica and sativa when referring to weed. The marijuana species contains the subspecies c.sativa, c.indica, c.ruderalis and from some sources c.afghanica. Right now we’re going to talk about the two most common in cannabis culture c.sativa (Sativa) and c.indica (Indica).
Indica strains are often squat, stout plants that grow thick as opposed to tall. These bushy weed plants produce heavy, resin-soaked buds dripping in potent cannabinoids, such as the psychoactive THC, at large responsible for the effects felt when smoking or consuming marijuana products. Indica strains are most commonly described as “stoney”, “dank”, “sedative”, and “couchlock” due to their heavy-hitting body heavy effects.
Sativa strains grow taller and more elongated buds. Sativa plants take a longer time to finish flowering and produce comparatively large, airy buds. Certain sativa strains can grow over 14 feet tall and yield more than 10 pounds. The resin found on sativa buds is often more powdery than sticky, while the effects of sativa cannabis lean towards “energetic”, “racy”, “uplifting” and “euphoric”. Paranoia is also common with pure sativa varieties which is why beginner smokers may prefer to avoid such strains.
In between indica and sativa exists thousands of “hybrids” aka crossbreeds made between two different weed strains. The indica:sativa ratio varies throughout the genetic pool and the exciting hybrids make for the most popular strains of the times, such as “Grand Daddy Purp“, “Blue Dream“, “Sour Diesel” and other legendary marijuana names.
Considering the effects of indica vs. sativa, the ratio that hybrid genetics contain may generally mirror the effects accordingly. For example a 50:50 indica:sativa hybrid would have balanced indica and sativa effects, for the most part. For more information reference this study on cannabis sativa vs. cannabis indica and this study on seed strains in the United States.
Why do you need to learn all this?
Simply because when you are offered to buy weed, the seller often will tell you the name of the strain. You can research the indica:sativa composition of the genetics, as well as the history of that strain to be sure the effects will match up with your desires.
Third step: Smoking Weed
Now that you have picked the right strain to smoke it’s time to light it up and get toking! The old-school guys are all about the doobies, phat joints rolled with dank buds. Many other stoners prefer the bong, you can take parts of the bud and break it up into manageable bong hits that will tear your face off. Or consider making a gravity bong or vaping marijuana in an herb vaporizer. The possibilities are endless and sometimes that even means smoking out of an apple!
Whatever smoking method you decide on be certain to only take a big enough hit that you can handle. When smoking really good weed it often hits hard on the lungs, so beware before you toke unless you want to have a coughing fit (though you will get very high after~).
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