If you’re a cannabis connoisseur, you know how much quality matters. For instance, you won’t hesitate to try new products from brands you know and love.
Cannabis flower by Verano, for example, can be found in a variety of premium products made with their proprietary strains. When a cannabis brand makes the effort to cultivate 150 proprietary strains, you know you’re looking at a high-quality product.
Like a fine wine, high-quality cannabis is distinct, and you don’t need to be a regular connoisseur to notice the difference. Many factors that make cannabis high-quality are noticeable right away.
For instance, the effects and strain notes are noticeable and so is the taste of edibles and tinctures. To cannabis connoisseurs, quality is often the most important factor involved in choosing a product, and here’s why:
1. You get what you pay for
If you buy cheap cannabis, it’s unlikely to be high-quality. Cannabis connoisseurs are willing to pay more to get the best of the best because you really do get what you pay for.
Now that cannabis is available at local dispensaries, it’s much easier to get a quality product. Brands know their products won’t sell unless they meet certain standards. As such, premium brands tend to have higher price points to account for the additional effort required to produce premium products. However, that doesn’t mean every high-priced product on the shelf is amazing.
Although most dispensaries won’t carry poor quality products, you’ll always find a variety of quality, and that’s why it can be tough to identify the best. You can’t judge quality based on price alone because any company can price their items high. Although, you’ll rarely find high-quality products with bottom shelf prices simply because high-quality ingredients cost more.
2. High-quality cannabis seeks to provide targeted effects
Cannabis connoisseurs are often seeking specific effects when choosing their products. Quality brands tend to sell products that create these desired effects, or go so far as phenohunting strains that produce them, so that’s another reason quality matters. Some of the specific effects people want include:
- Feeling relaxed
- Inducing sleepiness
- Deep sleep
- Anxiety reduction
- Induced appetite
- And more
While cannabis strains affect each person uniquely, sometimes there’s a common experience with certain strains. Although, it’s not the strains per se, but rather, the terpenes that produce specific effects.
It’s interesting to note that terpenes aren’t just found in cannabis. In fact, terpenes are abundant in nature and are found in many other plants. For instance, pinene – a terpene known to reduce anxiety – is found in cannabis, Spanish sage, and pine trees. Linalool – the terpene that gives lavender its scent – is found in cannabis and has been scientifically shown to have anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, sedative, mood-stabilizing, pain-relieving, and anti-inflammatory properties.
How can you know the terpene content of your cannabis?
Since strains aren’t regulated, you can’t really know what terpenes are in your cannabis just by knowing what strain your product is made from. However, you can find out what terpenes are present in a cannabis product by looking at the company’s lab results.
Premium cannabis brands lab test every batch of every product they produce for quality assurance purposes, reflected in a Certificate of Analysis or COA. If you’re looking for a specific terpene, look for lab results to find out what’s in their products before you try them out.
3. Consistency is quality
Quality can be defined in a variety of ways, and connoisseurs know what bad cannabis looks like. However, you may not have thought about consistency as a form of quality. Consistency is one of the most important forms of quality. When a brand produces a consistent product, consumers are more likely to buy that product again and again.
When you’re dealing with something as specific and personal as cannabis, consistent effects are often the main reason people continue buying a certain product. When they find what works, they stop experimenting with other options.
There’s always a chance that a cannabis product will produce different effects each time you try it because not all brands make the effort required to maintain consistency. Although some variation is unavoidable, the difference between one batch and the next shouldn’t be extreme.
Quality cannabis matters because people want to have a consistent experience with their cannabis products. For example, when someone is looking for a product that will help them get a deep sleep, and they find a capsule that works, they’re going to rely on that product. If they buy another package of capsules and find that it keeps them awake, they’re going to be disappointed.
Although products, particularly flower and extracts, will naturally vary in terpene and cannabinoid content, and everyone’s body chemistry is different and subject to change, quality brands go out of their way to ensure products remain consistent. That doesn’t mean people will always experience the same effects, but a large variation is less likely to happen. Seeking out quality brands is the best way to avoid this problem.
4. People want to consume quality ingredients
Another reason quality matters is the fact that people want to consume quality ingredients even when those ingredients aren’t cannabis. For example, if there’s a cannabis chocolate edible made from cheap milk chocolate and flavoring, the poor quality food ingredients will affect the entire product. The cannabis might be good, but if the chocolate and flavoring are poor quality, the overall quality of the edible will suffer.
Premium brands use high-quality ingredients across the board, whether those ingredients are cannabis, chocolate, or any other type of food ingredient. The best brands know that they need to go all-in with quality or the entire product will suffer.
Quality matters because it creates a better product
In any industry, quality matters because it’s what makes a product desirable, popular, and profitable. In the cannabis industry, better ingredients make better products, which includes the way they taste, what they look like, how they smell, and the effects they produce.
For cannabis connoisseurs, quality matters because it’s what gives them the products that meet their needs. If you’re trying to consume cannabis for a specific result, focusing on quality is the best way to get exactly what you want.
