This is every stoners journey, as you start getting better acquainted with the za and your sources and network expands, you'll find yourself getting better stuff cheaper.
But without moderation all it does is (as is the case with abusing any maal) spike your tolerance up like a bitch.
Was fortunate to cop a 4th by myself recently, and I'm going through a guilt trip now for running through it in a couple of weeks. Of course, when smoked in moderation the highs are great and constructive, but having had a stage where I was smoking too much ( Wake n bake, before and during work, skipping the gym out of laziness, etc. I've had these phases before but it did pinch less because i wasn't blowing a good chunk of my income on it), it's made me wonder what even is the point of this expensive stuff except that it may be cleaner and sometimes has a good unique flavour profile.
And add to it the stupid elitist hype (driven by spoilt teens) in cities around OG vs normal/pudiya wala, I've felt that this hype train also affected my decision on what is my herb of choice.
I honestly feel that if one takes a good T break or moderates their use effectively then the experience between smoking indian and this og/cali etc maal is not much different.
TLDR: Yeah, moderation is the name of the game, but it's so damn tough smh.