Hi, Eddie here with a mindful emergence where Margaret and I are in the waking up business. Our mission is to provide support, education, harm reduction information for those wanting to use cannabis and other plant medicines in psychedelics intentionally for healing and spiritual transformation. We have a big focus on harm reduction and we know that a lot of people that are watching my videos, our videos are somewhat new to the game in a way. Uh I know many of you watching have a lot of experience. Probably many of you know more than I do about this plant, but you know, you don’t have a YouTube channel yet, so I’m picking up the slack, right? But some of you are kind of coming back into the game. Maybe you’re wondering how to approach this. So, that’s what this video is about to offer some tips that might be helpful to you when you’re buying cannabis. So, let’s jump right into it. The first one is choose your dispensary carefully. I know here in Asheville, we must have 30 different dispensaries now, and there’s a wide range in the quality of what they provide, in the professionalism that they exhibit. Uh there’s some places I won’t go into. I can tell you this that I do prefer smaller locallyowned places. And I particularly like being able to deal with the owner. And the couple of dispensaries that I really like here in Asheville, when I go in, I’m talking to the owner, right? I’m not talking to some kid that’s making$1250 an hour because he thinks it’s cool to be a bud tender, right? I mean, they want to do that. That’s fine. I got to be careful. I don’t want to knock anybody. But you know what I’m talking about, right? I actually put a video uh link in the description on how to choose a dispensary if that is of interest to you. But yeah, really check out and see what’s the feeling, what’s the vibe. Uh and you know, in the in the video that I show, you look for things like, hey, can you actually smell and see what you’re buying? Uh do they offer a lot of options for you? Um yeah, so that’s important. Get a place that you really feel comfortable with. The second tip is don’t chase the big number. All right, so here’s the deal. A lot of people go into dispensaries and they have this idea that the best bud to buy is the one with the biggest number. Oh, wow. That one’s got 28. No, wait, that’s got 34%. That’s got 36. I want that. that may not be the right medicine for you, especially if you’ve been out of the game for a long time. Because I got to tell you, this is not what you were smoking back in the 70s, folks. Not at all. It’s a lot stronger and it’s been very heavily hybridized, so it’s a very different plant. So, I actually recommend that you maybe cut down on the THC level. There’s nothing wrong with smoking something in the 15 to 20% THC range. that’s got plenty of THC and there may be uh because of that a good chance that you’ve got some CBD in there. All right, it’s best I in my opinion to try to get the full spectrum of the plant and be able to have for example some CBD in there as well as the THC. You want both of those major canabonoids in my opinion to get the best possible experience. But what bud tenders will do a lot of times is they’ll point you towards the highest concentration of THC because they think that’s what you want. I wouldn’t necessarily go for that. All right. And to that point, don’t assume that the bud tender knows what he or she is talking about or that they’re operating in your best interest. Especially if you’re dealing with a a dispensary where it’s not the owner, you know, uh there these guys, and I use that term non-gender specific behind the counter may have pressure put on them by the owner or the manager to sell a certain product. Hey, we got a lot of this. We got to move it, pal. So, steer people in that direction. This stuff’s been sitting back there too long. We got to get rid of it. Right? He or she wants to keep their job. Right? that’s what they’re going to focus on. So, just be aware of that. Another one is a mistake I think is not shopping with your eyes and your nose. All right? Most of us who are really experienced at buying flower shop with our nose. I will not shop anywhere where I cannot see and smell the flower that I’m buying. Okay? And typically what they’ll do if they can is they’ll take the jar and they’ll hold it out so you can actually go and smell it. And that’s really important because I get a sense of how fresh that is. Sometimes I put my nose in the jar, there’s nothing happening. There’s no aroma. Well, tarpen are aromatic compounds that have a fragrance. And in my case, I’m a lmonine guy, so I want that lemony kind of smell. And if it’s not there, Eddie’s not buying it. Okay. And also, I want to be able to see it. Can you actually see the tricoms? Does it look all dried out or does it look pretty fresh? Yeah. Be sure you use your eyes and your nose when you shop. Okay. Another mistake that people make is don’t assume that they have something labeled top shelf or premium or private reserve. I love that one, right? It’s like the guy’s busting out his personal stash. Hey, I’m not showing this to anybody else. Let me show you cuz you’re special. That may not be any better than the other stuff. Again, going back to my earlier point, these places know that a lot of people, especially the younger crowd that go in there, are chasing the big numbers. They think that if I get the biggest number and spend the most amount of money per gram or eighth or whatever they’re buying is that they’re getting the best. That may not be true at all. I’ve actually heard it said by people that worked in dispensaries that a lot of times they’ll take something that’s on the lower shelf and move it up to the higher shelf because they know by doing it they may be able to sell it faster. Oh, and by the way, make more money on it, too. So, just be aware the top shelf doesn’t necessarily mean the best. Another uh tip that I suggest is know what you’re buying. One of the things that I strongly emphasize in choosing a dispensary and buying cannabis is make sure that you have access to a COA, a certificate of analysis. Uh so that you can actually see what it is you’re getting. Anything that’s sold has to be tested and there has to be a COA. And if they don’t have one, they can’t show you one, turn around and walk out. That’s my advice. But by looking at the COA, you can find out more about this particular flower. For example, to my earlier point, you can actually see does it have any CBD in it or is it zero or I love that NA, right? It’s like what is that nonapplicable? Something like that doesn’t have any. I don’t know. I think it’s good to have some CBD in there as well as your THC and other canabonoids. Another tip that I suggest is unless you know what you’re doing, avoid concentrates. Most of the dispensaries now, they have that one section and they got the the bladder, the butter, the shatter, the diamonds. These all have these names and they’re concentrates and for people who know how to use them, they can be great. But if if you know, don’t get talked into using them. All right? Unless you have experience with them. A lot of them you actually need special rigs in order. You can’t just go ahead and put them in your regular pipe or roll them up in a joint. Sometimes you can disperse it in, mix it with your flower. But as a general rule, I would say stay away from that, especially if you’re fairly new to it. Another one is avoid pre-rolls. Okay? I did a whole video on that. For the most part, pre-rolls are crap. Okay? And if you want to dig into that, look at that video on pre-rolls. But it’s not the best quality. A lot of times it’s dried out. It’s hard to smoke. It’s just not good. Stay away from the pre-rolls is a general uh rule I would advise you to. And also avoid those delta 8 carts and pens. All right. So delta 8 is another whole story. I’m going to do a video on that. And I’m not saying delta 8 is bad or should always avoid it. Maybe there’s situations where those little carts can be helpful for some people. But in general, the process in which they extract the THC is highly questionable. And you know, they they use solvents and different things. And also, by the way, they use solvents for most of the concentrates to extract the THC. So, I you know, I think they’re nasty to be frank. Just stay away from the carts and the pens is my general advice. Unless like the one one place that I go to, there is one particular cart that the owner has told me that she uses and it’s pretty clean and I have used it on some occasions, but for the most part I avoid those things. The last one, and I shouldn’t even have to say this, never ever buy anything at a gas station. All right? I don’t care how desperate you are. Please never buy any of the crap that they sell in that. It’s the worst. Remember, we’re in an unregulated industry. It’s the wild west out there. All right. So, yeah, don’t do that. All right. So, thanks very much for watching this video. I hope it’s helpful. I’m sure I missed some tips, so drop them in the comments. And, uh, I want to learn more from you guys because, uh, many of you are very experienced, very knowledgeable, and I love these conversations. So, keep it up. And uh we’ll see you next time.
Video Tags: avoid these mistakes buying cannabis,cannabis,thc,weed,opt,thca,marijuana,grass,indica,sativa,edibles,dispensaries
Video Duration: 00:10:27
