Your comprehensive guide to using cannabis flower

Cannabis has gone by a lot of different nicknames over the years: bud, nugs, grass, weed, pot, ganja, reefer, and herb, to name a few.

As the cannabis industry evolves from an underground, illegal black market to a legitimately recognized industry for natural, healing medicine, researchers and cannabis professionals have done a great job of breaking down the many unique aspects of the cannabis plant.

Still, with the sheer volume of strains, bud characteristics, and other options available at dispensaries nowadays, new medical marijuana patients may feel overwhelmed. Besides that, it’s important that patients understand how to use and dose their flower properly to enjoy optimal relief.

What exactly is cannabis flower?

Throughout the country, the cannabis flower industry is growing and expanding, with more options than ever before. This is why education is so important for medical patients. By understanding the fundamentals of flower, new and experienced patients alike can zero in on what’s most suitable for their unique needs.

After all, a medical patient could have a terrible time if they’re going to the dispensary looking for a mild 1:1 CBD to THC strain and end up walking out with something much stronger.

So, what exactly is cannabis flower? Simply put, it’s the part of the cannabis plant that people have been smoking for thousands of years. If you’ve gone to a dispensary to buy some pre-rolls or you’ve ever taken a hit from a blunt or a joint, you know firsthand what cannabis flower is.

Cannabis flower comprises the so-called “buds” or “nugs” that are typically ground up and smoked. Vast portions of your local dispensary’s menu are likely devoted to different indica, sativa, or hybrid forms of cannabis flower, so it’s pretty hard to miss.

Even disposable vape pens full of THC-infused oils, not to mention concentrates typically used in dab rigs, are derived from cannabis flower.

Cannabis flower buds are lauded for their abundance of beneficial chemical compounds. These compounds include valuable cannabinoids like THC and CBD, as well as terpenes that bring their own therapeutic value, not to mention the aroma and flavor notes of each distinct cultivar. Of course, it’s the flower buds that are commonly used for the plant’s psychoactive qualities, as well.

It might come as a surprise to many that, at least when it comes to cannabis plants and the flowers they produce, sex matters. Only female cannabis plants produce cannabinoid and terpene-rich flower buds, which means they’re generally more sought out and coveted than male plants (which have uses of their own).

Benefits of using cannabis flower

So, why should you opt for cannabis flower on your next trip to the dispensary? As you’ll see, flower offers distinctive benefits that shouldn’t be dismissed in favor of other product types, especially if you’re a medical marijuana patient.

Familiarity of use

First and foremost, there’s the familiarity factor. If you’ve enjoyed some of the most common forms of cannabis consumption, such as joints, blunts, bong rips, bowls, etc., you’ve already experienced what cannabis flowers can offer.

Ease of use

Cannabis flower is among the easiest ways to consume and benefit from cannabis as a medical patient. Smoking cannabis flower offers fast-acting results, getting the healing, pain-reducing cannabinoids into your system quicker than most other methods, to ease symptoms of serious illnesses faster. Plus, it’s simple to do.

For example, when it comes to rolling a joint at home with cannabis flower from the dispensary, all you’ll need is a lighter, a filter, and some rolling papers.

Other forms of medication have some serious downsides. Edibles and pills can take a long time to kick in and can be difficult to dose. Concentrates can be overwhelming in both their forms of consumption and their overall strength. Infused creams don’t come in handy for easing pain in hard-to-reach areas or for those with severe mobility issues.

Smoking or vaping some cannabis flowers is a simple and easy way to get the most out of your medicine without the downsides and difficulties of other forms of therapy.

Ease of dosage

It’s worth noting that cannabis flower is dosed differently from any other form. Getting an accurate measurement of cannabinoids in every puff is difficult compared to, say, edibles, but the upside is that it’s easier to control your dosage.

With cannabis flower, you can quickly measure out the amount of cannabis you want to use with a food scale and some trial and error. If you want to know how much CBD, THC, or other cannabinoids are in the weight you are using, look at the test results.

Versatility of uses

Another factor to consider is the versatility of cannabis flower. After all, nearly every other form of consumption sold at your local dispensary comes from cannabis flower anyway. Plus, most are more expensive than the flower itself.

With a little creativity and the right measurements, cannabis flower can act as your base ingredient for homemade edibles, lotions, or tinctures. This is a particularly good option if you’re trying to avoid inhaling smoke.

Sativa vs. indica vs. hybrid flower – is there a difference?

In the past, people differentiated between cannabis types by their growth patterns. Sativas are tall and large, and take up to 14 weeks to grow. Indicas are short, stout, and take up to eight weeks to grow.

They also compared their effects. Sativas are more cerebral and energetic, and usually higher in THC and THCV, whereas indicas are more sedative and relaxing, with high THC and CBD contents.

Hybrids are a mixture of indicas and sativas, taking growth and effect aspects from both.

However, these categories are rough distinctions at best, with many saying that the “sativa,” “indica,” and “hybrid” labels are almost meaningless. This is because when you test a plant for its chemical composition, you will find more similarities than differences between an indica and a sativa. The hybridization of cannabis strains has made indicas and sativas even more similar.

What seems to matter most is the environment in which a plant is grown. A Blue Dream plant grown in California may differ from a Blue Dream grown in Colorado despite having the same genetic base.

This is because the type of soil, amount of sunlight, humidity, altitude, and any other environmental factors can affect what cannabinoids and terpenes the plant produces. This can be seen when cannabis grows in the wild, too.

For example, a Kush variety growing near some mountains in India will appear like a sativa at low altitudes but like an indica at higher altitudes.

That said, it is still possible for breeders to create their own cultivars, and breed for specific traits. Terpenes in particular can make a specific variety distinct (e.g., Bubble Gum or Blueberry, which have unique terpene profiles), so the smell and flavors can carry on to the next generation.

Similarly, growers and breeders can pick out marijuana plants high in CBD content and create new CBD-rich cannabis varietals via selective breeding.

Hence, trademark “strains” are preferred to be called “cultivars” because “strains” are a misnomer. Again, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica are more similar than different.

You can breed all sorts of exciting cannabinoid and terpene profiles regardless of the genetic base being used; it just takes time, skill, and patience to develop specific profiles. Even then, they can change from environment to environment and generation to generation.

On the whole, it is best to remember that the distinctions made between indica and sativa are mainly arbitrary. The only actual test of a particular variety’s effects are the cannabinoid and terpene lab results, and trying it out to see what effect it has on you personally (taking into account that the ingestion method will have different effects as well).

Medical vs. recreational flower

It’s a common misconception that there is a big difference between recreational and medical marijuana. At the end of the day, cannabis is cannabis.

The recreational weed you purchase is also thought to help treat many of the conditions and ailments that medical patients buy medical marijuana for. There are only a few key differences, most of which are distinguished by industry and compliance regulations — namely accessibility, cost, and THC/CBD levels.

Accessibility

Medical marijuana is legal in 38 states, as opposed to recreational weed, which is currently legal in 24 (and even fewer have operational and licensed adult-use dispensaries). Because of current laws and the public sentiment driving legalization efforts, medical marijuana is more accessible than adult-use cannabis, and likely will be for a while.

Cost

Because it’s distributed for medical purposes, medical marijuana is often cheaper than its recreational counterpart. Not only that, but taxes are usually much lower for medical marijuana.

Taxes vary by state, but a lot of states generally have fairly heavy taxes on adult-use weed. Medical cannabis, on the other hand, typically has far fewer taxes applied to its purchase.

THC vs. CBD levels

Just like with recreational marijuana, there are different types of medical marijuana, including various strains and consumption methods (e.g., flower, pre-rolls, vapes, concentrates, gummies, etc.).

The CBD-to-THC ratio is the most significant difference between medical and recreational strains. A lot of people using cannabis for medical purposes want the benefits of cannabis without the psychoactive high that can get in the way of day-to-day activities such as work, school, etc.

Therefore, common medical marijuana strains have lower THC levels and higher CBD levels since CBD is not psychoactive but still offers medicinal benefits.

Still, CBD and THC content do not innately make cannabis medical and recreational. The only thing that makes lower-THC strains classified as medical marijuana is when they are labeled as such.

How can cannabis flower be used?

When it comes to how a medical patient can utilize the cannabis flower that they either grow at home or buy at their local dispensary, the options are virtually endless.

Cannabis flower can, of course, be smoked using a joint, blunt, pipe, or bong for immediate and effective results. You can also buy vaporizers made specially for flower, which offer a more discreet solution, and may be easier on the respiratory tract as well. And, flower can be utilized to create cannabis-infused oils like RSO or other vape oils.

Suppose you’re feeling ambitious and creative, or live an active lifestyle and want to avoid smoking. In that case, you can make that cannabis flower into a whole assortment of edibles.

Cannabis flower is the versatile heart and soul of the overall cannabis industry. As long as you have some flower, you’ll be able to enjoy the healing power of medical cannabis in nearly any form you want.

Making cannabis edibles and oils is relatively simple and easy, and if you’re a dedicated cannabis lover, you can even make your own concentrates.

While it might take a little bit of work and research to figure out how to do it, making cannabis products out of quality cannabis flower is an excellent way to save money and control the dosage of your products.

Other factors to consider when choosing cannabis flower

As stated earlier, the cannabis market is growing fast. Nowadays, there are more terms than ever slapped onto the labels of cannabis flower products, like “premium,” “exotic,” “top-shelf,” and so on.

Speaking generally, these terms are not nearly as important as more concrete indicators of quality, such as cannabinoid and terpene profiles, the age of the flower, and the source from where you purchase it. And, at the end of the day, any brand can label their product “premium cannabis flower” if they so choose.

These days, flower enthusiasts are developing stronger preferences than ever before, as more products are made available. Most dispensary customers prefer trimmed flower, meaning that the seeds, stems, and leaves of the buds have been discarded. These components don’t carry the same abundance of beneficial cannabinoids and terpenes, and therefore they’re not as desirable.

Lastly, you’ll want to decide whether you want whole flower buds or pre-rolls. Naturally, pre-rolls offer the convenience of being ready to smoke out of the package, so that you don’t need to grind up the flower and roll it in paper yourself. Alternatively, whole flower buds offer more versatility, and some people would simply rather smoke cannabis through a pipe.

How to dose cannabis flower

Many factors affect the amount of flower you should consume, including age, weight, time of day, and personal preferences. Perhaps most important is your tolerance level.

Ultimately, you are the best judge of your dosage sweet spot. For example, if that 1-gram pre-roll with 40% THC made you anxious, you may need to decrease the dosage or try a different strain with a lower THC percentage.

It’s widely believed that 48 hours can be all it takes to bring your tolerance level back down to that of a beginner. This means that if it’s been days since you last consumed some flower, assume that a high-THC strain will produce very heavy effects which may or may not be desirable.

Keep in mind that while THC content is one way to measure potency, so are terpenes. While terpenes may not be directly responsible for making you more or less high, their presence can influence one’s experience when smoking cannabis flower.

The terpene limonene, for example, is often associated with anxiety relief, so cultivars high in limonene could require smaller doses to achieve the same effect as cultivars low in limonene.

Determining your ideal cannabis flower dose

Because flower is not broken up into individual doses like edibles, finding your ideal dose is going to take some trial and error.

The biggest piece of dosing advice regarding flower is to start low and go slow. Ask your budtender for a strain with lower THC before trying out highly potent cultivars.

And, if it’s your first time, consider using a pre-roll or a one-hitter instead of a bong, which may make you higher due to the amount of cannabis smoke you can inhale at once.

Always wait to note the impact of your initial cannabis dose before taking more. Observe how the cannabis is making you feel before deciding to increase your dose.

Overall, dosing cannabis flower can be a complicated affair, as it’s difficult to get an accurate idea of dosage. You will often find the cannabinoid content of cannabis flower expressed in percentages, which give you an indication of how much cannabinoid content is present in the dry flower by weight. So, if you have one gram (1,000 milligrams) of cannabis flower that measures 20% THC and 5% CBD, that gram contains 200 mg THC and 50 mg CBD.

While there’s no clear-cut dosage guide, since cannabis dosing never follows a one-size-fits-all approach, there are some universal tips that can help you figure out how much is right for you.

Go low-and-slow

If smoking or vaping cannabis flower, take only one or two pulls at a time and see how you feel. Thankfully, smoking/vaping cannabis has a more immediate effect compared to other ingestion methods, making it easier to stop if you feel uncomfortable.

Consumption method matters

Eating cannabis is different from inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor. Ingesting THC has longer and stronger effects than inhaling it, as it has to pass through the liver first, whereas inhaling THC goes through the lungs and directly into the bloodstream.

Cannabinoids can have biphasic effects

This means that the same cannabinoid can have different effects at different dosages. THC can beat anxiety in low doses and prompt anxiety in higher doses. THCV is anti-psychoactive in low doses, but psychoactive in higher doses. CBD can have more energetic effects in low doses, and sedative effects in higher doses.

Everyone’s different

Everyone reacts differently to cannabis because our bodies have their own unique endocannabinoid system (ECS). This means that a type of cannabis flower that may work for one person may not necessarily work for you.

Trial and error

You may need to try a few different cannabinoid and terpene concentrations and ratios before you find what works for your specific needs. It’s worth keeping a diary of the cannabis flower and other products you have tried, noting the name of the product, its genetics, and its test results for cannabinoids and terpenes.

The bottom line: With the right cultivar and dosing regimen, cannabis flower can bring you incredible relief

With so many varieties of quality cannabis flower on today’s market, choosing the best option for your needs is all the more important. Luckily, as the cannabis landscape keeps evolving, the fundamentals remain the same when it comes to things like dosing, strain types, and indicators of quality.

Frequently asked questions

Is cannabis flower better than other consumption methods?

There’s no “right” or “wrong” type of cannabis product, as long as you’re buying your product from a licensed dispensary. Cannabis flowers offer certain advantages over other product types, like being more versatile, coming in a wider variety of strains/cultivars, and delivering fast effects.

What’s the difference between cannabis flower and bud?

“Bud” and “flower” mean the same thing in the cannabis world. Both refer to the flowering buds of the female cannabis plant, which can be purchased at dispensaries.

What’s the difference between CBD flower and cannabis flower?

Cannabis flower typically refers to marijuana flower, which yields at least 1% THC, and usually more than that to produce a psychoactive high. CBD flower comes from hemp, which is cannabis that yields no more than 0.3% THC in order to be federally legal.

Generally, THC is the dominant cannabinoid in cannabis/marijuana flower, while CBD is the dominant cannabinoid in CBD/hemp flower.

Resources

• Oldest evidence of marijuana use found in 2500-year-old cemetery in peaks of western China: https://www.science.org/content/article/oldest-evidence-marijuana-use-discovered-2500-year-old-cemetery-peaks-western-china
• Biphasic Effects of Cannabinoids in Anxiety Responses: CB1 and GABAB Receptors in the Balance of GABAergic and Glutamatergic Neurotransmission: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3473327/