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 editor@ dgomag.com 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.
I’m new to the world of edibles and while I enjoy them, I also find them frustrating because dosage feels tricky. For example, a friend gave me a brownie (with weed, obviously) and I ate a chunk of it. An hour or so later, I still felt nothing. So, I ate another chunk. Cut to me being way too high for the rest of the night. How do I manage edibles without being too high?
Blaze: If you’re struggling to manage your trip to space via pot brownie, you may want to reconsider your other options. I, too, had this issue when I first became interested in edibles. A friend gave me a pot brownie at a concert I was at and my baby stoner self had no idea what kind of trip I was in for. I was convinced that nothing was happening and ended up downing most of the brownie. It was not my shiniest moment and my friend ended up having to play babysitter for the night.
Instead, I highly recommend starting off with edibles that are specifically dosed piece by piece. There are even products out there that will allow you to experiment with microdosing to see how much you can handle. If you’re new to edibles, I recommend starting off with 5mg, then work your way up to 10mg over time, and so on.
Puf: OK, I’m maybe not the person to ask about this because I too cannot figure out the right dosage for edibles. (Look how much we have in common!) I feel like I’m either not high at all after taking one or SO HIGH that I cannot see. Like, I literally cannot see. My eyes get drier than Spongebob did when he tried to survive Sandy Cheeks’ reverse fish tank o’ horrors.
I’ve also tried dosing half, and then whole, and then like twice or three times as much. Apparently I have no chill, or no middle ground, or no…something. I don’t even know.
All I know is that it’s tricky. As Blaze, who regularly imbibes on edibles, said, you should probably start off with edibles that you can dose easily. There are low dose options that you can stack and then stack some more to get high. These types of edibles are a lot easier if you want to go low dose to start, because you can take a full edible without fear of being high off your ass, and you don’t have to worry about cutting the edible in the right way to halve the dose, either.
And, I’m going to tell you something else, too. Maybe edibles just aren’t for you. I don’t love them. I don’t take them very often. I prefer my vape or my flower or ANYTHING other than edibles, to be honest. Not that I won’t take them, mind you — I have been that desperate in recent weeks (while moving and my weed went MIA), but I just don’t prefer Them.
That’s OK, in my opinion. There are so many other mechanisms with which you can imbibe. If you continuously have the same issues, it could be worth trying out some other way of dosing your THC. Not every product is going to work for everyone, and edibles may just not be your thang. That’s your call, obviously, but that’s about all the insight I have to add. For me, edibles are mostly no bueno.
I was reminiscing about my younger days and how I used to shove a towel under the door of the room I was smoking a joint in to prevent anyone from smelling my activities. Does that method even work?
Puf: Let me say this: HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA HA. I’m sorry for laughing, but I am very traumatized from trying this method back in high school, as the towel method did not work then, and it got my ass busted for smoking in my bedroom closet. I was grounded for what felt like a dang eternity, and I’m still pretty salty about it, to be honest. That was basically pre-internet days (or dawn of the early internet, rather), back when rumors for how to cover up your weed habits were spread via AOL instant messenger rather than actual, reputable pot-smoking resources.
Being the total dumbass that I am, I trusted my good friend Pat M.’s advice to just stick a towel under the door. And that’s when things went awry.
By the way, nothing has changed. The towel method does not work now either. If you’re trying to hide your smoking habits from a landlord or a significant other, that is very much not going to cut it. Don’t even bother. You’re just going to end up grounded, or evicted, or at least sleeping on the couch, and all of those things suck.
But, you don’t have to go on the wagon to rid your home (or office or whatever) of the stench of the goodgood. There’s no need to.
If you’re looking for a way to mitigate the smell of smoking your trees, you don’t need to use a dang towel these days. There are
SO MANY good methods to use! There are smoking buddies that you can blow through, epic sprays you can, well, spray to remove the stench, and other handy dandy things that keep a stoner’s business where it should be.
A quick Google search can show you alllllll that the world of cannabis gear has to offer for this use, and chances are it won’t cost you very much to obtain the right tool. These things are affordable, easy to come by, and they work a hell of a lot better than that
towel.
Seriously. Don’t bother with the towel. It ain’t gonna work. And it ain’t worth the hassle.
Blaze: I personally have never tried this as I tend to stick to vape pens and edibles most of the time. I don’t like smoke sticking to my furniture or clothes, so when I do partake in the flower, I usually smoke either outside or right next to a window. If you (or anybody else) are really worried about smell, I recommend forgoing the flower and stick to edibles and vapes. But I also get that a lot of people prefer flower to those options as well. We all have our preferences!
I’m not entirely sure of the science of sticking a towel under the door. To be honest, it doesn’t sound flawless, but I’m sure if you
crack a window or use a filter you can hide it pretty well.
I’ve made a terrible mistake. I accidentally left some edibles in my car and they’re all melted together now. I don’t want to waste expensive edibles, but is it safe to eat?
Blaze: RIP to your edibles. But only in looks! As long as your edibles remained in their packaging and didn’t become one with the floor or seats, they’re probably still safe to eat.
Another factor to consider is how long were said edibles sitting in your car. If it’s been there for a hot minute (thank you, thank you) you probably want to just cut your losses and toss it. THC degrades over time, especially if it’s exposed to air, light, and heat. Typically we use it all up before then, but in instances where you left your once tasty treats out in the sun for a long period of time, it’s most likely not going to give you the desired effect anyway.
Puf: MY DAD DID THIS. I FINALLY HAVE SOMETHING USEFUL TO CONTRIBUTE. So, probably don’t eat those. They’re not unsafe, per se (caveat: I am not a food handler so I can’t say that for sure), but you will run the risk of getting very, very high.
Here’s my anecdotal evidence to back up that Puf fact. So, my father lives in a prohibition state, which sucks. When he comes to visit, he loads up on weed and edibles to take back with him to said prohibition state that shall not be named.
The only problem? He’s paranoid about carrying a felony or two worth of cannabis product back to prohibition hell. Can’t blame him.
The first time he slanged his dope back to But, he doesn’t have another source in said state, so he did what any resourceful stoner would do: He stuck them in the fridge to solidify when he got home.
They were obviously no longer gummy shaped, so he just kept cutting pieces of this weird gummy log to dose. The first few times he did it, he swore that he didn’t feel a thing. But, at some point, he hit the THC lottery with a now very high dose slice of gummy.
What happened, you ask? Well, he was way too high and my mom was annoyed. And trust me. You don’t want my mom getting annoyed. Remember how I was grounded for an eternity for the towel thing?
Yeah.
It scared him off that gummy log for good. And, I should note, he is not a small man. So, unless you have an extremely high tolerance for weed or are like the world’s most giant human, I 10 out of 10 do not recommend you eat those things.
Just buy some new ones, man. It’ll be worth every penny not to lose an entire day to being so stoned you can’t move. And, if your significant other simply tolerates your weed habits, it’ll REALLY be worth it to avoid stirring a bees nest of nagging.
The end. Don’t eat it. The end for real this time.
Do you think we’ll ever be able to buy mushrooms in dispensaries if they become legalized?
Puf: Yooooooo. Not a chance.
I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world to legalize mushrooms, but it does feel like there’s a steep uphill battle to Now, I’m not against psychedelics of any kind. In fact, they can be great tools in the fight against trauma, depression, PTSD, and other issues. And, if you dose them the right way, they’re very safe.
That said, it’s going to be hard enough for conservative states to get weed legal. Do you really think that mushrooms are going to be widely available behind a shelf like weed is? Never say never, I guess, but I just don’t see it happening.
Blaze: Sorry to be a dream killer, but no.
To my great sadness, probably not in the cards for shrooms. As an aside, remember, folks, psychedelic mushrooms are still not legal in Colorado. They’re only decriminalized in Denver, and I have a feeling we’re a long way off from legalizing mushrooms in Colorado. So, don’t expect to see any official shroom storefronts pop up anytime soon.
Also, being as marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms are very different products that will need to meet different codes and policies, the chances of them ever being shelved next to each other are nill.
That isn’t to say, however, that that’s not a nice dream. A place where you can legally obtain all your marijuana and shrooms needs in one fell swoop? It does sound very adult Harry Potter-esque which I am intrigued by. Sign me up.
His boxes and canisters of gummies were de.stroyed.
legalize psychedelics like that.
If you want to imbibe on mushrooms, there are easy ways to grow them yourself anyway (hello, Reddit gurus). That is obviously illegal, and you should obviously think long and hard about the potential ramifications — legal and otherwise — of doing so. But, that’s about the only way you’re going to get your hands on them for a very long time, if ever.
