Everything You Need To Know About Cannabis Flower

Cannabis flower has countless names–bud, nugs, weed–but the reason you’ll most often hear dispensaries refer to it as “flower” is because it’s the actual flower of the cannabis plant! Cultivators harvest these flower buds to create the many cannabis products you can purchase at a dispensary today.

Flower comes in different sizes, strains, and forms, and we’re going to break it all down in this article, including:

• What is Cannabis Flower?
• What is Inside Marijuana Flower?
• What are the Common Forms of Marijuana Flower?
• How Do You Smoke Flower?
• Frequently Asked Questions
   

You may have heard people talk about grinding flower, packing a bowl with flower, or even decarboxylating flower. To understand what each of these mean, you first want to learn the basics about cannabis flower. Growers harvest the buds of female cannabis plants and dry them to create a smokable product. The buds can also be smoked alone or used to make other cannabis products.

Cannabis flower is covered in resin glands that are called trichomes, some of which appear as small, colorful hairs. These tiny biochemical factories produce cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and more, giving the plant its unique aromas, flavors, and experiences.²

Cannabinoids are bioactive compounds secreted by the plant’s trichomes. Scientists have discovered over 100 known cannabinoids, but you’ve likely heard of a few as well–specifically THCA (which becomes THC) and CBDA (which becomes CBD).²

Cannabis flower buds contain terpenes, chemical compounds that produce distinctive tastes and smells. These fascinating chemicals also contribute to the Entourage Effect, a theory that suggests the different properties of the cannabis plant work together to influence your body’s endocannabinoid system.³

Flavonoids sounds like it refers to "flavor," but the term actually comes from a Latin root that means the color yellow. Flavonoids can create many colors in a plant, and in the cannabis flower, they include anthocyanins – chemical compounds that create purple, red, or blue colors in strains like Purple Haze and Blue Dream.

When it comes to purchasing marijuana flower, dispensaries offer a variety of forms and sizes, from premium and popcorn to shake and trim.

• Premium Flower: Premium flower, also called "top shelf" flower, has large curated buds from different strains of marijuana plants which possess different properties. Premium flower is grown, harvested, and trimmed carefully to provide a high quality product.
  
  
• Popcorn Flower: Popcorn flower refers to the small, compact buds that grow closer to the stalk of the plant. Usually more affordable, popcorn marijuana buds can be an economical way to try different strains.
  
  
• Shake Flower: Shake consists of pieces of marijuana that gather at the bottom of containers or bags that separate out during shipping or processing. Shake's potency and quality can vary. Sometimes it's used for pre-rolls, and it's often more affordable than other forms of cannabis flower.
  
  
• Trim: When preparing cannabis buds after harvest, the resulting trimmings of bits of cut-off buds, sugar leaves, and pieces of trichomes (aka kief) are called trim. With lower concentrations of THC and other cannabinoids, trim is usually kept for making edibles, creating hash, or making topicals and tinctures.
  
  

• Joints & Blunts - Joints and blunts are very popular ways to consume flower. You can purchase the finished product at a dispensary, or you can buy the flower and necessary tools to roll your own at home.  
   
• Hand Pipes - Hand pipes are a simple way to smoke your newly purchased flower, and they come in just about every shape, size, and color imaginable. Pipes typically have a bowl at one end that holds the flower as you light it and inhale. If you’re looking for a faster session, one-hitters are a great option for smaller amounts of flower.   
   
• Bong - Also known as water pipes, bongs also have a bowl for storing and lighting flower. The major difference, though, is the vaporized flower first goes through the water at the bottom of the bong to cool it prior to inhalation.
   

Now that you are familiar with the cannabis flower, here are some frequently asked questions:

Can I eat marijuana flower?
Yes, but it's unlikely that you will feel any psychoactive effects. The cannabinoids in marijuana flower first need to be decarboxylated–exposed to heat–before it becomes psychoactive. 
 

Why does marijuana smell when you smoke it?
Some of the distinctive odors in marijuana come from the terpenes created by the trichomes, like citrus or flowers. The "skunky" odor that cannabis is known for comes from volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), some of which are unique to the plant. 
 

What’s the difference between flower and bud?
There isn't a difference, these are just different names for cannabis flowers. 
 

Why is flower called “nugs?”
Flower will sometimes be referred to as “nugs” because it often has a nugget-like shape. 
 

Is marijuana a flower?
Marijuana is a plant, and the smokable part is the plant’s flower. 
 

Ready to learn even more? Investigate different kinds of marijuana flower at your dispensary and be sure to ask your budtender any questions you have about marijuana strains, ways to consume it, and its distinctive aromas, tastes, and diverse compounds. 
 

Sources:

1. “Cannabis, a complex plant: different compounds and different effects on individuals,” Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, December 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3736954/ 

2. “Cannabis Glandular Trichomes: A Cellular Metabolite Factory,” Frontiers in Plant Science, September 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8488169/ 

3. “Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects,” British Journal of Pharmacology, August, 2011, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3165946/