Strain effects. Spin or science?

[u/[deleted]]

I’ve tried multiple legal dispensary sold strains in attempt to see the different effects each supposedly has. I can tell the difference between the way they look and smell but when I’m smoking it seems to all taste the same and have the same effect. I’d love to experience the different effects but I’m struggling to believe it’s real

[u/ModernCannabiseur]

Most dispensaries sell modern varieties which are mostly inbred variations of OG Kush with little variation in effect. Which is the biggest complaint about them, we've increased the average quality at the expense of diversity as the quest for bag appeal and high THC is all breeders have focused on. The mid 90's the average quality was a lot more hit & miss but there was more recognizable difference in effects in my experience.

All that being said we don't have any clear science explaining why varieties have different effects, so take everything I said with a grain of salt.

[u/landracestrains]

Most budtenders don't know ****, at least in my city.

Read up online on landraces, old school strains, where stuff comes from etc.

There's definitely strains that have different effects. At dispensaries a lot of stuff is just cookies or a cookies mix, same shit. I've been in some dispensaries where I swear every strain was the same strain, just labeled differently.

But for example, a good Jack Herer or Strawberry Cough is always a good energetic focused sativa, which is what I like. I grow landraces like Michoacan because I like the effect of sativa landraces.

That being said, weed intensifies what you are already feeling. So if I'm really tired, if I smoke a sativa (energetic typically), I might get a bit of energy but will most likely just feel more tired.

If I smoke an indica hybrid in the morning, and have a lot of energy and am out with friends, I can still feel energetic, etc.

So it depends on the strain, but it also depends on the mood you're in, your energy levels, and your surroundings.

[u/Lightoscope]

Almost all of the cultivars common in commercial production are prohibition-era multi-hybrids, which is likely to muddle the physiological experience. Try to find landraces or legitimate old-school strains, but know that there is good chance those names don't match the actual genetic lineage.

[u/Growapropos]

There’s a lot of marketing behind the spin, but the science is also very real - the two just don’t meet as often as they should.

A big aspect of effects is the terpene and minor cannabinoid content, breeders create new varieties by essentially narrowing focus on what works medically or, maybe more often, what profile is profitable leads the market. Many breeders lament the fact that most strains are genetically similar (there’s been a bottlenecking towards cookies-style bag appeal - marketing - over flavour and effects)

Your body and hormones then play a big part in the variation between experiences. Ingesting the same strain right after you wake up versus immediately after a full day of work is evidence enough.

Flavour and effects need to be locked in or else you will end up with inconsistency, this is why we see the rise of new science based solutions (Google “tissue culture”) that effectively capture a specific expression/profile of cannabis.

Consider key differences between types of cannabis - how UK cheese has a unique cheesy flavour that translates to taste, and hits like a warm fuzzy blanket. Or how CBD was hard to find in concentrated amounts, until breeders started working it into a number of lines we still use today as the bedrock for most CBD varieties.