You know it’s finally legal to purchase. You’ve heard all about its benefits. Now, you’ve made the decision to try it for yourself. The problem is, as a consumer unfamiliar with the cannabis family of products, you don’t know your Green Kraken from your Godfather OG – or even what that means!
Don’t stress. Like other consumable consumer products, there is a wealth of information available on legal retail cannabis products. And, like other products controlled and sold with government approval, cannabis comes with standardized labels that help you understand what you’re buying. Before you can make your first cannabis purchase, however, you need to know there are a lot of different types of cannabis and related products from which to choose and Toke House has a large variety of both accessories and cannabis products to choose from.
Given the number of cannabis strains available, making that first purchase choice can seem like a daunting task. However, cannabis is no different than a typical product category listed with the LCBO. The various brands of rye whiskey, for example, come in different flavours, with different compositions, varying levels of alcohol content and aging process, and vast differences in the length of time each product is stored before being sold. A 20-year-old whiskey is much different than a five-year-old whiskey, which accounts for different tastes and different price points. Many different factors are also involved in the production of cannabis, which makes reading and understanding labels all the more important prior to purchasing.
Standardized labels include the THC total, which is what you look at to determine the concentration of your marijuana and Parts per Milligram unit, which is the individual THC contained in the individual consumption amount.
Another important factor to consider when buying cannabis is the strain of cannabis you’re looking to buy. While many cannabis producers may produce the same strain, the variations in the way it is grown and harvested can result in significant differences in the end product.
Other elements important to the labelling of retail cannabis products include CBD, which are compounds that are produced naturally in our bodies, and terpene content levels, which give cannabis strains their unique aromas.
Ontario Cannabis says cannabis gets its scent from compounds in the plants called terpene. Terpenes are fragrant oils found in many types of plants. There are more than 100 identified terpenes, which are unique to the cannabis plant.
Each strain of cannabis has its own sent. The individual scent of a strain will be based on the amount and type of terpenes present. The scents range from earthy, woodsy, herbal, spicy, diesel or cheesy, all the way to citrusy or sweet.
Terpenes are one of many factors to consider when choosing the right product for you and producers are now including terpene content on the packaging.
Another detail to look into is the difference between the types of plants. The two most common cannabis plant types are sativa and indica.
Despite what people think, indica strains aren’t always physically sedating and sativa strains aren’t always energizing, it actually depends on the chemical compounds, cannabinoids and terpenes, in each strain. Cannabinoids and terpenes are what determines the effects you’ll feel, not whether it’s indica or sativa.
Common sativa effects include feeling happy, uplifting, euphoric and energetic. They are often used for feeling productive, creative, and focused whereas common indica effects include feeling relaxed, euphoric, happy and sleepy. Indica is often used for relaxing and unwinding.
To learn more about the various cannabis products available at Toke House in both Thunder Bay locations and the Dryden location, visit their website or call (807) 286-0048.