When you’re just starting your exploration into the world of marijuana, it can be confusing and intimidating. Don’t sweat it; UpTop is here to help. We’ve compiled a few of the more useful weed terms for you, so that when you visit a legal marijuana dispensary, you’ll sound like an expert.
Marijuana’s Many Names
First things first, one of the most important things to understand is what you’re looking for in terms of products, strains, etc. Marijuana or weed, is derived from the Cannabis Sativa plant. You’ll commonly hear marijuana referred to as some of the following things: weed, marijuana, cannabis, dope, pot, bud, ganja, hashish, and/or hash. While these aren’t all the names that marijuana goes by, they’re some of the most popular ones. When visiting a marijuana dispensary, however, you can most likely just refer to marijuana as weed, cannabis, or just marijuana.
Cannabis Strains Breakdown
Most marijuana dispensaries offer different types of cannabis, commonly referred to as strains. The three main strains of cannabis are indica, sativa, and a hybrid of the two. Indica strains typically make a user feel relaxed and sometimes sleepy. Sativa strains are known to provide more of a euphoric or joyful experience. And hybrid strains provide a mix of the two. When visiting UpTop, you may want to talk about the different strains. One of our knowledgeable budtenders will be able to tell you more and help you tailor the experience you’re looking to have.
Marijuana Consumption Methods
One of the next things that will be important to know is what type of products you’re interested in trying. UpTop offers a wide variety of cannabis products, including flowers, pre-rolls, vaporizers, edibles, tinctures, topicals, and more. Here are some quick notes that explain the difference between each.
- Flowers – Cannabis flowers are the actual marijuana plant material that you can purchase to use in a spliff, joint, or blunt. Typically, when you purchase marijuana in flower form, you’ll use a grinder to grind it into small, consistent pieces and then roll it up using rolling papers or a pre-made marijuana cone. You can also use marijuana flower in a bong or a pipe. Joints, spliffs, and blunts are usually defined by how much cannabis or other materials, like tobacco they contain, as well as the materials that are used to roll them up. Joints and spliffs are both rolled using rolling papers. A joint uses 100% weed or marijuana flower inside. A spliff is a joint that has marijuana and tobacco inside. And a blunt uses tobacco to wrap the weed up instead of a rolling paper. Bongs are one of the simplest and most effective ways to use marijuana. They’re made of all types of materials, like glass, plastic, metal, and/or silicon. Most bongs have a tubular chamber and a bowl piece. When using a bong to smoke marijuana, you will add water to filter the smoke, then light the bowl piece, and inhale from the mouthpiece. Additionally, you can use a pipe to smoke marijuana. This is another very simple way to enjoy the benefits of cannabis. They’re quite popular because they’re small and easy to use, just like regular pipes.
- Concentrate – Cannabis concentrates are made from cannabinoids, terpenes, and other chemical compounds. They often provide a high concentration of THC and can be vaporized.
- Pre-Rolls – Pre-rolls are great for people new to smoking weed, because they’re joints that are professionally-rolled and ready to smoke.
- Vaporizers – Vape devices heat dry marijuana without combustion (or lighting it on fire). Marijuana vaporizers, or vapes as they’re sometimes called, usually consist of a cartridge with marijuana, a battery, and a heating component. Vaporizers are a great option for people who are worried about smoking.
- Edibles – From gummies, to mints, and chocolates, edibles are becoming more and more popular. Marijuana edibles are easy to ingest and come in all kinds of fun, yummy flavors, as well as different strains for you to enjoy. We highly recommend that you talk with one of our team members about trying edibles, because they will be able to help you customize the right experience.
- Tinctures – Like edibles, tinctures are ingestible. Normally, tinctures are made up of a concentration of different cannabinoids from the Cannabis Sativa plant. Some of the most popular cannabinoids are THC and CBD. THC provides a psychoactive effect, whereas CBD typically does not. The concentration of cannabinoids is then mixed with a carrier oil, like MCT oil, derived from coconuts. To enjoy a tincture, you can hold it under your tongue for around 30 seconds before swallowing it, you can mix it in a beverage, or you can use it topically on your skin. Tinctures are definitely the most versatile cannabis product type.
- Topicals – Cannabis or weed topicals are salves, serums, oils, or lotions that can be rubbed into the skin for benefits, like pain management or anti-inflammation.
Other Useful Marijuana Terms
Along with the names for marijuana, different cannabis strains, and all of the different types of products to enjoy, here are a few other useful cannabis-related terms to know.
- Budtender – A budtender is simply someone who works at a marijuana dispensary. Think of them as bartenders of sorts. They’re there to help you find the right marijuana products for you.
- Dispensary – Marijuana dispensaries are locations where you are able to legally purchase marijuana products.
- Distillate – Distillate is the end-product of an extraction process that strips cannabis plants of everything except for pure THC.
- Entourage Effect – When you use marijuana or other hemp-derived products, you ingest, inhale, or absorb hundreds of chemical compounds known as cannabinoids. Each of these compounds has its own, unique set of benefits. The entourage effect theory proposes that the multiple compounds deliver an entourage of benefits simultaneously.
- Full Spectrum, Broad Spectrum, and Isolate – CBD can be processed into three, different main types: full spectrum CBD, broad spectrum CBD, and CBD Isolate. Full spectrum CBD includes all of the benefits of the hemp plant and normally contains 0.3% THC. Broad spectrum CBD removes all the THC, but still contains certain benefits from the hemp plant. And CBD Isolate is just pure CBD without any THC or parts of the hemp plant.
- Hemp – Hemp is a close relative to the cannabis plant. While they’re both part of the cannabis sativa plant family, there are a few key differences. For example, hemp is typically grown for industrial use. Hemp-derived products, like CBD, also have 0.3% or less THC in them and do not provide any psychoactive effects.
- Live Resin – Live resin is created through a different processing technique that involves freezing harvested cannabis plants before and during extraction, allowing the plants to be alive at extraction time.
- Resin – Resin is a dark, sticky substance on cannabis flower buds that contains the most cannabinoids. Resin can clog your bowl or bong if it gets built up. While it’s smokable, we don’t recommend it as the experience can be a bit harsh and is known to cause headaches.
When you’re a beginner, shopping for marijuana might seem a bit intimidating. We hope this helpful information from UpTop will make you feel more at ease when visiting one of our Massachusetts dispensary locations. And don’t forget, we always have very knowledgeable Budtenders that can help you learn more, try more, benefit more, and enjoy more.
