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THC & CBD Percentages: Anyone else run into low-THC strains that feel "strong"?

NebulaHaze

NebulaHaze

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THC & CBD Percentages: Anyone else run into low-THC strains that feel "strong"?

I tried a local strain today called Lemony Snickett, pictured here. I'd say it's about average as far as overall appearance:


The smell is vaguely reminiscent of Citrus, but there isn't a particularly strong taste or smell when smoking.

In this case, first impressions were deceiving. I was dazzled by the effects of it! I felt giggly and relaxed, and almost like my vision was altered, in a good way! The effects were strong and long-lasting.

I learned that despite the above-average effects, this whole batch of buds was selling poorly at the local dispensaries, even at a clearance price of $125/ounce. It doesn't have a particularly notable smell or appearance, but the nail in the coffin was the results it got during cannabinoid testing. It tested at less than 12% THC.



In my experience with dispensaries in Southern California, it seems like low cannabinoid numbers are almost a dealbreaker. There's a premium on buds that test very high in THC, and most of the buds you see on the shelves at dispensaries test between 18-30% THC. It's a good selling point to have high numbers on the label.

Yet in this case, I feel like the results of cannabinoid testing didn't predict the "strength" of the Lemony Snicket buds at all. I feel like the grower should almost leave off the percentages off the label, and sell these particular buds purely on the merits of their effects!

I've had this happen before with other strains, and I've also experienced the opposite where buds produced weak effects even though they tested above 30% THC!

Certain low-THC buds feel strong, while some high-THC buds feel relatively weak.

There is obviously a lot more going on in cannabis buds than just THC and CBD ratios, and we only have a small understanding of the effects of other cannabinoids. We do know that higher levels of CBD tends to make THC feel less "strong" (anything above 1% CBD is often considered to be "high" CBD). But even when CBD is not there, the THC ratios are still only a loose predictor of "potency".

We know that smelly substances known as terpenes have some effect, and we also know that curing buds for 2-4+ weeks increases their perceived potency significantly, even though their THC percentages basically stay the same. The overall effect of buds on top of THC/CBD percentages is sometimes called the "entourage effect", which is a nice way of saying we don't understand why certain strains feel so strong! :)



Certain nugs on the plant (specifically the leafy tiny nugs near the bottom with lots of sparkle) tend to test for high THC ratios for some reason, even though they don't smoke particularly differently from actual buds. Placement also varies by strain. Growers who are in-the-know can improve their cannabinoid numbers slightly by choosing buds from specific parts of the plant, and some will send in multiple samples so they can choose the best result.

Airy yet sparkly buds from the bottom of the plant may test higher for THC ratios compared to other buds on the plant, even though these leafy buds aren't particularly stronger when smoking.



To throw another wrench into the mix, the cannabinoid testing only tests the ratios of cannabinoids. It doesn't test the overall amount of cannabinoids. So you could have trichome-encrusted buds with 100x the overall amount of cannabinoids compared to another batch of buds, resulting in far stronger effects, yet still possibly test lower in THC percentages.


What are your thoughts on cannabinoid testing?
 
I've definitely run into that myself; the most unassuming looking weed with not a lot of crystals has floored me, and the sparkliest most beautiful weed has left me wanting more. I think we'd know a lot more on the full effects with the federal scheduling out of the way, so research could get moving on a large scale. It's amazing how much is known about it, but there's so much yet to learn. Such an incredible plant!
 
i invite absolutely everyone to hold on your hand the best bud you can get or even think of, and really really ask yourself. Is more than a quarter just THC? Can this be possible with all that plant matter and stems and leaves and just a little tricomes? And then the tricomes themselves have fats and oils in them. just A tinny percentage is THC. Do you really feel convinced 30% of what you're holding is THC? Regular wax and bho are in the 60-80 THC. How could a bud have half the THC that this oils Do? Why can't you get 30 grams of bho when you run 100 grams of bud?? It's just none sense. The testing is rigged
 
CBN are highly overlooked. They IIRC they control how the body reacts to THC CBD and others.

THC/CBD/CBN

9%/.09%/.09%

1/1/1

Would be a baseline. That's the theory​ behind a true "1to1".
 
This is called the endogenous cannabinoid system.
I wrote a little bit about it in a thread of mine here.

http://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/63518-trichomes-color

Heres a snippet.
"CBD is actually non psychoactive but it plays a role in the overall effect of cannabis. CBD is generally considered to have more medicinal properties than THC. It appears to relieve convulsion, inflammation (and thereby also migraines), anxiety and nausea. That is why strains with a high concentration of CBD is suitable for medicinal use.
Trials have actually been done with IV synthetic THC and CBD. What they found was that anxiety and discomfort (schizophrenia) was significantly reduced when THC was administered with CBD. Even though CBD is not psychoactive, it obviously has an effect on the characterstics of how THC interacts with the CB recepters. This interaction has been commenly referred to as the endogenous cannabinoid system. This is not limited to CBD and infact is all over the board with other cannabinoids. This truely shows its complexity. CBD has a greater affinity for the CB2 recepter than for the CB1 recepter, meaning that its effect is mostly in the body and not so much in the head. CBD shares a precursor with THC and is the main cannabinoid in low-THC cannabis strains like hemp."
 
It's just none sense. What happens when you ingest 100miligrams in an edible. That's 0.1 grams. You think it's infused with 0.3 grams of cannabis? When you smoke a 1 gram joint you think one third is pure THC? Why doesn't it melt? Make a joint out of wax and see how it burns.
 
I've wondered the same thing! I found out that what they're measuring is the ratio of THC to other cannabinoids. Say the bud is 1% cannabinoids, then the 30% THC would actually be 30% of that.

You bring up a really great point, because that means the percentage numbers are only a small part of the story. You could have one bud be 3% cannabinoids, and one is 1% cannabinoids. They might both measure at exactly 30% THC, but the first example would contain 3x as much total THC as the other!
 
The percentage is by weight measurement. Not by volume. Imagining 30 percent of a bud as THC would be a percentage by volume. But as said, thats not it.
Because THC is measured in its dry acidic form (i think). It will naturally have h20 in its chemical bond. Water = more weight. So you get a higher percentage compared to the rest of the plant material.
 
Yes, CBN levels are determined primarily by harvest time, and how long the buds have been curing. Early harvested and fresh buds tend to have lower levels of CBN, while later-harvested and well-cured buds tend to have higher levels of CBN.

It's said that a lot of CBN adds to a relaxing quality and is somewhat psychedelic (though not as much as THC), but like you said, we don't have a whole lot of research yet on CBN!
 
All I really know is that humans have been using this plant for over 10,000 years for medicinal purposes and have only in the last 40 years have come to understand and research it. Not to mention hemp. Were it not for nylon think of the products that weren't developed from hemp.
 
It's the opposite. THC is not water soluble. So all that water weight is on the other side of the percentage. As nebula said. It is not clear nor reliable the way this test are performed. THC is a relatively small molecule with only carbon and hydrogen so not very heavy at all. Where do you think all that iron calcium magnesium and potassium you are feeding the plant goes? I'm not claiming to know why this tests are so shady procedure wise when every other chemical compound can be easily identified and cuantified. I just know in the past years the US government decided to "calibrate" all the equipement and set their "standards" that nobody seems to understand. It clearly has the purpose to make people believe we're ingesting a fuck load of drugs
 
And I want to add. Like you said nebula. Only measuring and comparing cannabinoids can be misleading. A 30 percent THC might just be a bud with no terpenes whatsoever and a lower content of the other 100+ cannabinoids. If weed had to show THC content in milligrams in the packaging like any other legal drug we could know the real story. When have you seen any food or drugs claiming their contents in percentages
 
I think you may be misunderstanding the metric system.
If you measured just the weight of the THC and labeled it as such, it wouldnt tell you a whole lot because the rest of the plant material could be anything. From a gram, to a ounce. Measuring just THC alone only works if its on its own.
You need to measure the weight of the THC relative to the weight of the rest of the plant material. This is what the system uses, a weight to weight ratio.
What this means is that 15% THC contains 0.15 grams of THC for every 1 gram of plant matter. Percentage is a concentration; a concentration in its simplest form is just a ratio of two things, like salt in water. What the THC ratio is, is the ratio between the weight of THC and the total weight of the remaining plant material. This gives you a concentration percentage of THC.
This is all dependent on how they do their tests and whats the common standard. Gas Chromatography and liquid Chromatography show different results because of the state they test the product. But that just means you have to interperste the data a little differently.
Theres also the matter of water which i talked about, but was unclear. If the plant is wetter than average, that water is not taken into consideration and is added to the final percentage. More water will lower the value of THC percentage because theres more water weight for it to compare to. But then they also usually add the water content percentage to the results aswell, another interpretation aspect.

If i am missing something let me know, but i believe it just comes down to understanding that the tests are not a ratio test between other cannabinoids but a ratio test between THC weight and the rest of the plants weight (W/W). Not weight vs volume (W/V)
 
dano I have found that if I use a cbd plant it doesn't stop the pain as well as when thc is present (that might be a mind game) I grew a strain called cbd with low thc and it just doesn't stop the pain as well as a thc/cbd strain. I keep trying new strains until I find something that works good .but I keep at least 3 different strains because I've found I build up a tolerance when I use one strain only plus the upside is when I come back to a strain its usually like holy shit I dont remember it being this good lol
 
Read nebulas comment on this post. They try to make you believe it's a very straight forward weight comparison but it's not.
 
I wouldnt expect a CBD exclusive strain to have as much effect on pain, mostly because its not a physcoactive cannabinoid. For symptom relief, physcoactive THC strains should be the focus as its effects transcened downwards through the nervous system to alleviate multiple symptomatic expressions such as nausia, pain, discomfort, apetite etc. I should also mention that each strain has many other cannabinoids which alter or change the characteristic of how THC interacts with the body. So even if you have two strains with very similar THC to CBD ratio, the rest of the cannabinoids can make the two strains be completely different because of the previously mentioned endogenous cannabinoid system.
What you are probably finding with your tolerance build up and recovery between strains, is the very aspect of how cannabinoids interacts with our CB recepters. Each strain holds the potential to have unique characteristics on our recepters and each time you change strain, you potentially alleviate some of your dependence. But this is going into unproven grounds and just based on my current understanding of human biology and my own "wide" experience of drug use.
Its truely interesting though.
 
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