Cannabis Flower Buying Guide: Smell, Look, Label and Grade

Cannabis flower is the dried bud of the female plant, the part richest in cannabinoids. Buds are covered in trichomes, the tiny glands where the plant makes and stores THC, CBD and its terpenes (Health Canada), and those glands give good flower its sparkly, sugar-coated look. Health Canada puts dried flower and pre-rolls in the same product class, dried cannabis (Health Canada), so the label checks below apply to pre-rolls too.

Flower can be smoked, vaporized or cooked into edibles. Health Canada's lower-risk advice is to start with 1 or 2 puffs of a joint or vape at 10% THC (100 mg/g) or less and wait up to 30 minutes for the full effect; eaten cannabis takes 30 minutes to 2 hours to start working and up to 4 hours to reach full effect (Health Canada).

Terpenes give cannabis its distinctive aromas (Dalhousie University); the terpene guide covers the main ones. Well-cured flower should smell like the strain, with no grassy or hay-like note. A musty, mouldy or hay-like smell, or no smell at all, is a sign the flower is probably not fresh.

A University of British Columbia study found that the large, mushroom-shaped stalked trichomes are the richest source of the compounds that become THC and CBD, and of fragrant terpenes; UBC summed the finding up as "the frostier the flower, the more potent the cannabis" (UBC Science). The study looked at a hemp variety called Finola. For what trichomes look like up close, see understanding trichomes.

Fresh flower should look green and vibrant with visible trichomes. Brown, dry, brittle buds may no longer be fresh, and white powdery or fuzzy spots could indicate mould, so don't use flower that shows them.

Check the trim too. Growers cut away fan leaves, sugar leaves and stems after harvest; that extra material adds little potency or flavour, and trimming it away can make the smoke less harsh. Leafy, stemmy buds mean paying for weight that adds little.

Squeeze a bud gently. Crumbly flower is likely too dry, and spongy flower possibly too moist. Properly dried buds feel dry outside but keep some moisture inside, and their small stems snap rather than bend.

Curing, which means resting dried buds in sealed containers for weeks to months, improves flavour, aroma and overall quality, makes the smoke smoother and helps buds burn evenly.

Look for clear Total THC and Total CBD numbers; Canadian labelling rules put both on the front of the package (Health Canada). For dried flower, the plain "THC" number is what the bud contains before heating, while "Total THC" also counts the THCA that heat can convert into THC (Health Canada), so Total THC is the figure to compare. Flower is labelled in milligrams per gram, and 100 mg/g is the same as 10%.

Those numbers describe strength, not experience. CAMH notes that how cannabis affects you also depends on how much you use and how you take it, how often you use it, your mood, expectations and surroundings, your age, and any medical or mental health conditions. Accuracy is a separate issue: in a 2023 study, about 70% of 23 retail flower samples from Colorado tested more than 15% below the THC on their labels, and 3 had about half the labelled maximum (Schwabe and colleagues, PLOS ONE). It was a small U.S. study, but it is a good reason not to pay for a number alone.

Strain labels have limits too. A Dalhousie University team that analyzed hundreds of strains found indica and sativa labels largely meaningless as guides to chemistry and genetics, and two samples both sold as OG Kush were more similar to differently named strains than to each other. Strains labelled indica did tend to contain more myrcene. More in indica vs sativa vs hybrid.

Terpene figures, where a seller lists them, age as well: in a 2020 storage study, terpenes dropped by more than half on average within 4 months (Milay and colleagues), so a test done at packaging may overstate what is left in an older jar.

Canadian labelling rules require the lot number and the date the product was packaged. An expiry date is optional, and a harvest date is not on Health Canada's list of required label information. Since aroma fades first, a recent packaging date is one of the most useful things on the label.

Health Canada's label guide lists what a Canadian cannabis label must carry, and lab testing is worth looking for too:

Letter grades such as AAAA, AAA and AA are seller shorthand, with more A's meaning a higher grade. Leafly describes similar tiers in dispensaries, from low shelf to mid shelf to top shelf, with top shelf usually the most expensive and often high in potency. Health Canada's list of required label information does not include a quality grade, so treat a grade as a seller's description rather than a measurement, and confirm it with the checks above.

With a new strain, start small: a gram or an eighth (3.5 g) lets you try it before committing, and larger amounts only make sense if you can store them well. The guide to weed weights explains each size and the 30 g public possession limit.

Store it in an airtight glass or stainless steel container at a relative humidity of about 59% to 63%, somewhere cool (below 25°C) and dark. Keep it locked away and out of sight and reach of children and pets, as Health Canada advises. The weed storage guide has the details.

GasDank's flower menu carries lab-tested products, with same-day delivery across Toronto and the GTA, usually within 1 to 2 hours, and mail order across Canada. Regular ounces start from $50, and GasDank sometimes runs $40 ounce specials. Local orders are paid by cash on delivery or Interac e-Transfer, and mail orders by Interac e-Transfer. Customers must be 19 or older (21 in Quebec), with ID checked at the door.