Hi there! It’s time for another Q&A with our good buddies Blaze and Puf. These two potheads are here to answer all of your burning questions about cannabis, legalization, and other weed-related inquiries. That’s basically all they’re good for — that and smoking weed — so you might as well take advantage of their useless knowledge as you see fit.
This month, we have all sorts of awesome questions to answer for you. From where to buy good flower to how to lose that fluff from the munchies, here are your questions about pot for our in-house potheads.
Have questions to ask these two fools? Send them to [email protected] and we’ll do our best to answer them. And, feel free to send them allll over — your wild, wacky, and just plain weird questions about weed. Nothing shocks us at this point. And we do mean nothing.
I want to buy good flower when I go into a dispensary but I never know what kind to get or how to ask for it. How do I know who sells quality flower?
Blaze: If you’re concerned about the quality of your flower, ask your budtender and do your research! A good budtender should be able to tell you where your weed was grown, who grew it, and some basic facts about whatever strain you’re asking about. From there, you can research the grower and find out if they’re a company you’d like to support or not.
Another way to go about finding quality flower is, once you find a grower you like, find out which dispensaries they sell to and ask for that company’s product next time you go into a dispensary. Usually, dispensaries also have top-shelf bud that’s priced higher than most of their other strains, so that’s a good starting point to ask about as well. That or you can buddy up to your budtenders (and tip well) and ask which strains they have on the shelf are the best.
Puf: Well, the good news is that good flower is pretty much everywhere. And what you consider good bud is going to be different than what I, or Blaze, or anyone else considers good bud. The easiest place to start is probably by figuring out what type of bud you’re looking for.
Do you like hybrids, indicas, sativas, or somewhere in between? Cause all of those different factors will play into what you find “good.” Once you know what type of bud you’re looking for, you have a good starting point.
From there, the easiest thing to do is ask for recommendations from your budtender or your pot-smoking friends. Potheads and budtenders are your best resources to use, so use ‘em. Don’t worry about now knowing “how” to ask — just ask! I promise you they’ve heard dumber questions than anything you’ll ask.
Another thing to know is that bud strains all look different, so weighing whether bud looks good is going to be tough. You might think those little popcorn nuggets look like a runt batch of weed, but that could just be what that strain looks like. Same goes for fluffy nugs, or purple nugs, or bud with orange hairs. It’s tough to eyeball if you aren’t working with it day in and day out. So, don’t even try it.
When you’re shopping for bud, know what effects you’re looking for, what effects you’re not looking for (hellooooo, couchlock). Convey this to your budtender, listen to their insight on the strains on their shelves, and when you narrow them down, look at and smell the bud if you can. That may seem weird, but most dispensaries offer jars of bud for you to look at and maybe smell (depending on the COVID guidelines; I’m not up on those).
And, as I mentioned, ask around for recommendations. Find out where your friends shop, what they buy, and what they didn’t buy or like. That’s going to make a bigger difference in your shopping habits than any recommendations from us will — though you can ALWAYS go dig through our old reviews to find out what we like. That’s also a good starting place — and a shameless plug from your friendly pot writers.
I’m a big-time pothead, but it’s time I lose all the weight I gained from COVID-19 (and the munchies). Are there certain weed items I should avoid if I want to do this?
Puf: Umm, if you find them, please let us know what they are. Last night I woke up at 11 p.m. after passing out on edibles and ate an entire second dinner. No shame in my munchie game, I guess. I don’t even know anymore.
I guess the only real advice I can give you is that you should probably stay away from heavy indicas. I say that from personal experience and NOT from scientific reasoning. All I know is that anecdotally, I tend to eat a lot — like so many gummy bears — after smoking an indica. When I smoke a hybrid or a sativa I tend to get much less hungry.
That said, I freaking love indicas so you can pry them out of my cold, dead, bloated-with-gummy-bear hands, I guess. Let me live my damn fluffy life already, shit.
Also, I’m being pretty unfair to indicas with my answer. There are plenty of indicas that probably won’t give you the munchies, but what they are, I don’t know. The thing about weed is that it affects everyone differently, and what gives me the munchies may not give you the munchies. Anything with THC in it runs the risk of giving you a serious case of hunger, so know that before you imbibe. It’s really trial and error for every person. So try different strains, different percentages of THC, and different edibles and tinctures if you’re into that. Find what makes you less hungry and stick with it. That’s the only way to really get the right answer to this question.
One other thing you may want to try is to choose a strain with high CBD and less THC. The cannabinoid CBD typically doesn’t induce the munchies the way that a high dose of THC typically does, but it also won’t make you as high. If you can handle that, you may have some success going that route.
Now go out and try it. And don’t forget to report back, thanks. Our fluffy butts could use it.
Blaze: When you figure out how to drop a bunch of weight while still being a stoner, let me know. Please. Because I need to do this as well, though I’m not too sure I can do both at the moment. See, when we ingest cannabis, it attaches itself to then activates our bodies’ CB1 receptors. These can be found in the brain AND stomach, which is why marijuana gives us the munchies or, as I like to say, turns our stomachs into black holes in which no amount of chips or brownies can quench.
I tend to buy cheap pipes to smoke weed out of. Inevitably, they always end up breaking, getting lost, or end up getting gross enough to where I don’t want to clean them. Is that a bad way to use weed?
Blaze: Cheap pipes for life! Did I just discover a new band name? As I used to do the same thing, I personally don’t think it’s a bad way to ingest weed, but it’s not so great for the environment to keep buying and throwing away cheap pipes. If it’s becoming a real problem or you’re feeling guilty or you’re constantly having to replace your hardware, consider going the edible route (much harder to lose) or buying an expensive vape that will inspire you to not lose or break it.
Puf: I mean, no offense, but the way you’re using weed sounds pretty bad, to be honest. Stop using cheap pipes! It’ll change your damn life. There are so many affordable rigs or pipes out there that are worth every penny — and they don’t take many pennies to afford.
If I were you, I’d save up for an entry-level dry herb vape. They aren’t great, and the parts aren’t always the most sturdy, but good god, it’s a lot better than having to scrape sticky resin out of the bottom of a glass one-hitter. I’ve tried that time and again, and NONE of the tricks on the internet work. I’ve dumped them into glasses of alcohol. I’ve used dish soap. I’ve used special soap. Nothing works.
What does work is baking that weed like an oven in a dry herb vape. When you’re done, you just dump out the brown, baked weed and call it a day. So easy. So, I highly recommend that route.
What I do not recommend is smoking out of whatever is cheap. You don’t want to end up smoking out of something that isn’t great for your lungs or your body, and you run that risk when you cheap out. The manufacturer of that cheap pipe could have drilled out the holes in the glass, which doesn’t just weaken it — it also leaves behind glass dust or other contaminants in some cases. And that isn’t shit you want in your lungs. I promise.
If you really can’t afford better pieces, roll a joint and call it a day. At least you know what you’re smoking out of when you do that — and you can replace a pack of Zig-Zags way cheaper than you can replace a pipe. So, I guess that’s a win-win.
I get headaches. A lot. And sometimes they’re debilitating. I’m not big on smoking weed but would marijuana help with my headaches?
Puf: Dude. Duuuuuuude. You have no idea the magic that cannabis works on headaches.
Check it. So, I spend a lot of time in front of computer screens, which means I end up with a lot of screen-induced headaches.
And, I also get headaches from booze. Doesn’t matter if it’s beer, vodka, wine, or something else entirely. About an hour after I have a drink, I end up with a throbbing, gross, frustrating headache.
You know what helps? You got it. Weed.
And it also helps with migraines, which I’ve gotten more often after having Covid (last year! I’m fine now!). I didn’t really suffer from migraines prior to my dance with the viral devil, but I do now. I’ll give you one guess as to what helps.
That’s right! Weed!
I can’t tell you it will work for you, though. I’m not a doctor and I don’t know your genetic makeup. Even if I did, though, I still couldn’t tell you it would help because, well, I don’t understand freaking genetics. The only way to know if it will work is to try it.
I can tell you, though, that there is some science that backs up my anecdotal evidence that headaches are helped by weed.
According to a 2020 study published in Brain Sciences, medical cannabis use results in long-term reduction of migraine frequency. And, medical cannabis use is also associated with less disability and lower anti-migraine medication intake.
And, a 2019 study published in Science Daily also noted the positive effects of cannabis on headaches. According to data from the study, inhaled cannabis reduces self-reported headache severity by 47.3% and migraine severity by 49.6%. The study also found no evidence that cannabis caused ‘overuse headache,’ a pitfall of more conventional treatments.
So, between the scientific evidence and my own anecdotal evidence, I feel pretty confident saying that there is a chance it will also work for you. Can I guarantee it? No. But I can tell you to try it. No one should live with debilitating headaches if they don’t have to. Worth a shot anyway.
Blaze: I feel this person’s pain. I am a long-time sufferer of painful headaches from when I was a kid that eventually morphed into vomit-inducing migraines. Over the years, however, I have found that the answer to your question is “yes.” Marijuana can help you with your headaches. There has been many an instance where I was hellbent on never moving again because of a migraine, but Puf passed me their vape and within five minutes I was feeling well enough to rally. Science backs me up on this as a 2019 Washington State University study found that cannabis cut headache and migraine pain by half. I say this while acknowledging that everyone’s bodies work differently, and while there is always the chance it might not work for you, it can’t hurt to try. If you’re not a big fan of smoking weed, you’re a weed newbie, or you straight up just don’t want to get high when you have the headache from hell, I suggest toking on a few puffs of CBD only strains and either avoid THC or smoke a strain that has low THC content. And if you do, just take a few hits.
Blaze RidcullyDGO Pufnstuf
