With weed becoming legal in increasingly more states, it’s pretty important to know what you’re talking about in a dispensary. You want to know what you’re buying, how much you’re buying, and if it’s a good deal. Don’t feel embarrassed if you don’t know a lot of these– it’s kind of like a second language.

Types of Plants
One of the most common questions about weed is the difference between indica and sativa. Is there really a difference at all? Well, yes.

Smoking a strain that’s from a sativa plant hypes you up.

You feel energized and alert and will for sure get a head high. Sativa is the plant that makes people want to draw or make music, it totally helps you feel creative. Every time I’ve smoked a sativa strain I end up forming a “band” with the people I smoke with that never goes anywhere. Or, I have a panic attack. Take my warning: anxious people might want to stay away from sativa because of its high THC content. The increased energy and more obvious head high might make your anxiety worse.

Indica is what you smoke if you want to find a moment of zen. High in relaxation, this plant helps with sleep and pain relief. You’ll feel a body high with this one that’ll make you want to curl up in bed and drift off into the most peaceful sleep of your life. Anxious minds don’t need to worry about feeling like they’re dying while smoking indica, it’s way less of a head high than sativa is.

Want to know what’s up with CBD and THC? We’ve got a whole article outlining cannabinoids right here.

Quantities
Normally, you can buy hemp flower in a few different amounts: a gram, an eighth, a quarter, a half, and an ounce.
The smallest of these is a gram. If you’re just getting into smoking, this might be the way to go. Or, if you normally use a one-hitter a gram would definitely last you a while. We’ve got an entire gram in our new pre-roll cones, which provides for a pretty long smoke.
Going up from that is an eighth, or 3.5 grams. An eighth is definitely the most common way weed is sold– it’s the amount that we sell our CBD and CBG Flower in. An eighth is nice for rolling a couple joints, it’s really the perfect amount of flower.
From there, the sizes really just double. A quarter is 7 grams, a half is 14 grams, and a full ounce is 28 grams.

Other Stuff to Know
Here’s the speed round. Let’s start out with the (typical) ways you can buy weed. There’s a ton of stuff on the market, but here are the most common.

Buds are most likely what you’ll find first. You can grind up the flower and smoke it in your vessel of choice.

Wax has become increasingly popular in the past few years. It’s a super potent cannabis extract, usually with a high THC content. If you’ve built up a high tolerance, wax is something you might want to check out.
Live Resin looks similar to wax, but it’s very different. It’s a cannabis concentrate made by a really cool technique: freezing fresh leaves to a low temperature during the entire extraction process. Because of this, the extract has the same taste and smell as the fresh plant.

Tinctures are pretty cool– they’re basically alcohol infused with weed. Cannabis tinctures are really concentrated herbal extracts made by soaking the leaves of a plant in alcohol.

Oil is super popular on the CBD market. It’s made by extracting CBD from the actual cannabis plant and diluting it with a carrier oil. As great as the effects of CBD are, oils really don’t give you the full experience– research has found that your body only absorbs 15% of it. If you’re looking for a super effective way to ingest CBD, check out our Nano Hemp Liquid Drink Mix.

Edibles are yet another way to feel the benefits of cannabis, made with highly concentrated forms of weed. If they contain THC, be careful– these can either make you laugh your ass off or absolutely ruin your night. Just be sure to follow the dose, especially if it’s your first time.

Look at you, weed scholar! Whether you’ve never smoked before or can’t go without lighting up daily, this information is useful for pretty much everyone. Remember, the best way to learn is to practice, so go get high.