For stoners, knowing the difference from bud to bud becomes an art form. With experience, a seasoned stoner can tell you every perk of smoking the sweetest of buds, from smell to taste to feel to high, every detail is recorded and remembered, stored in a safe place in every stoners mind to recall when needed. Which is why we should find it no surprise that new strains are being made everyday and slowly shared around the world. So how do you tell if you’re smoking dank buds?

Well, what is a bud?

First off, what is cannabis? Cannabis is a seasonal plant coming in two main forms, staminate (males) and pistillate (females). The males produce pollen and the females produce flowers (buds). If pollen reaches the flowers, seeds are born… pretty basic right?

While THC is present in every cannabis plant, it’s the buds of the female plant that are most rich and most sought after. Hence, cloning plants and using feminized seeds are popular methods of growth to ensure a maximum yield of THC rich buds. Of course males are avoided at all cost, not only do they produce very little THC but they also pollinate females, turning buds to seeds.

Good buds…Bad buds…

When it comes to cannabis, I’m sure many stoners would agree with saying any buds are good buds. But when availability suits, a choice of good buds over bad ones is always a must. So what makes a good bud?

First off is smell. Perhaps one of the most distinguished features of cannabis is its strong scent, especially the buds. Even before you can see it, you can usually smell it. Good buds will have tasteful smells. Citrus,  like lemon, lime and orange are common aromas, sometimes including a hint of diesel or jet fuel. You shouldn’t notice anything moldy or grassy to the smell, bad buds often smelling like day old cut grass or hay.

Next is touch, bad buds are dry, crumbly and loose, and are often dull in colour. When buying good buds they should be fresh and green, sometimes even purple or orange, dense, moist and covered in crystals (the main source of THC). Good buds shouldn’t have any seeds, and when properly cleaned and dried, should have little to no stems or sticks. If the smell had not already indicated bad buds, the look/feel certainly will.

Last is taste. Like the smell, cannabis buds have a very distinctive taste. While some stoners say the taste is irrelevant to the potency of buds, many disagree. A strong taste (along with smell) of citrus, blueberry or strawberry are all signs of good buds, while bad buds will be mostly tasteless, moldy, grassy or wet.

DANK buds…

Some buds are simply better not described as “good” buds. These kind of buds are the product of fine tuned breeding and cultivation, cross-breeding strains to deliver a potency of bud that leaves even the best of the “good” buds seemingly awful. Dank buds are often full of vibrant colours, ranging from deep purples to bright oranges and posses over-powering and rich smells and tastes. Finding this kind of bud is usually much harder, high demand and low supply often making dank buds seem like a myth.

So what about the high?

Of course the high you get when smoking buds is the most important part. That said, the type of high desired and the feelings that come with it can range greatly from person to person and from bud to bud. While some people prefer a heavy high, stoned on the couch unable to move for hours on end, others prefer a more mellow high. Some people even prefer the “bad” weed, providing them with the perfect balance between stoned and sober. People use cannabis for other purposes, medicinal use is common and often gives the user no high at all; while artists, musicians and comedians often use varying strengths of cannabis to boost creativity.

What ever your need for weed is, there is sure to be a strain just right for you! Leave a comment and let us know what you think makes a good bud good!