Cannabis Tasting 101

How do you know if a sample of cannabis buds is high quality or not? The answer is cannabis tasting. This is a detailed process that experienced connoisseurs use to assess the quality of the buds, and fortunately, it is so easy that even you can carry it out to see if your cannabis buds are high quality. 

Of course, the process is lengthy and contains a lot of nuances. It’s not as simple as lighting up a joint and taking down notes on how it tastes and smells. A thorough cannabis tasting takes note of the quality of the buds in terms of their appearance, smell, flavors, high production, quality of drying and curing, and much more. 

In this article, learn everything you need to know to carry out cannabis tasting at your home, so you can tell low-quality cannabis buds from high-quality ones easily every time you use a bud. 

What is Cannabis Tasting?

At first glance, cannabis tasting may seem like simply smoking a bud to see if you like the flavor, but that’s barely scratching the surface of tasting cannabis. The cannabis tasting process isn’t merely about that — it’s an exercise in determining the flavor and aroma profiles, quality, and potency of cannabis. 

Have you ever seen wine connoisseurs swirling their wine, holding it against the light, and taking a sniff of it to determine its quality? Cannabis tasting is very similar to that. 

Cannabis comes in various organoleptic variations, which we commonly refer to as strains. This quality of cannabis gives each strain a unique flavor, aroma, and potency. This flavor and aroma can range from sour and chemical-ish to fruity and sweet, and let’s not forget the earthy or woody flavors either. 

This is thanks to the combination of over 100 terpenes, especially monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, present in the flowers. These terpenes give cannabis strains their unique flavors and aromas, providing each strain with unique notes and undertones. Terpenes are what make the entire tasting process so exciting for us.

Cannabis tasting is a multi-step process to evaluate the sample, to ensure that the flavors and undertones of the strain’s flavors and aromas are clear and distinct, and not distorted by various factors during the cultivation, growing, and storage process. Essentially, marijuana tasting helps you determine whether a cannabis batch is good or not. 

But before we get to cannabis tasting, let’s first understand the factors that contribute to the taste and aroma of your buds. 

What Contributes to the Flavors and Aromas of Cannabis?

The taste and aromas of cannabis can vary due to various factors. These include the type of strain, your growing conditions, and method of consumption. Here’s what contributes to the flavors of cannabis:

1. Strain 

There are more than a thousand cannabis strains available today, and each one possesses a unique blend of several terpenes and cannabinoids. Terpenes are compounds that are responsible for the flavors and aromas you find in cannabis, as you already know. But, since different strains have different terpene profiles, there’s a vivid range of tastes. Thus, while some strains may offer a fruity or citrusy flavor, others may have a piney flavor or taste like diesel. 

2. Terpenes

Expanding on the previous point, you already know the role of terpenes. And, many different terpenes make cannabis smell and taste the way it does. Here’s a quick list of some terpenes you’ll commonly find in cannabis strains:

Myrcene: Musky, herbal and earthy aromas

Caryophyllene: Tastes and smells spicy like pepper 

Limonene: Lemony scent or citrusy flavors

Pinene: Woody or piney scent

Linalool: Imparts floral notes like lavender

3. Growing Conditions

The environment in which you cultivate cannabis will also influence the taste and aroma. The quality of the soil, climate, and nutrients you provide all influence the taste experience. For example, if you grow cannabis in a dry environment, it might taste different than the one grown in a humid environment. 

Soil Quality: The kind of soil you use to grow cannabis can impact the flavor as the soil’s composition, pH, and the type of nutrients you use will influence how the plant absorbs nutrients. When the soil is teeming with beneficial microbes and has a balanced nutrient profile, you can expect to grow healthy cannabis plants full of flavor. This is why it’s important to use soil that contains all the nutrients necessary for healthy growth. Some strains may also exhibit flavors similar to the soil used to cultivate it, just like wine. 

Climate: Cannabis can thrive in various climates, but the climate in which you grow it ultimately affects its taste. For example, if your climate is sunny, you can expect the buds to develop more robust flavors compared to those cultivated in cooler regions. Even other factors like humidity, sunlight, and temperature can play a role in influencing the production of terpenes and cannabinoids in the plant.

Nutrients: The nutrients you use will also impact the flavor of the buds. For example, if the plant has suffered from various deficiencies, it might not taste as good as a healthy plant. In addition, using excessive nutrients can also change the taste. Thus, make sure you provide good nutrients and follow a specific schedule rather than feeding your plants randomly. Also, remember that less is more, and although you may be tempted to pamper your plants with excessive nutrients, hold off and supply them according to the instructions from the manufacturer. 

Water quality: Many people ignore the importance of water quality, but it’s an important factor when cultivating cannabis. If the water you use contains too many impurities and minerals, it can adversely affect the taste. So, get hold of a TDS meter and pay attention to the quality before feeding the plants. This is even more important if you’re using tap water.  

Indoor vs. Outdoor vs. Greenhouse: The flavor of cannabis can also be influenced by where and how you grow it. While you can control various factors like light, temperature, and humidity when growing indoors, you can’t do it outdoors. This level of control where you give exactly what the plant wants can certainly influence its taste. However, outdoor cultivation offers one massive advantage — natural sunlight. The buds taste good when you grow them naturally outdoors, so the debate of indoor vs. outdoor cultivation can never be settled. Perhaps you can experiment on your own by growing the same strain both indoors and outdoors and tell us how it influences the taste! Similarly, growing cannabis in a greenhouse also offers some control but you will get the benefits of natural sunlight, so your buds may taste better. 

4. Harvesting 

The timing of when you harvest the plants is also important. For instance, harvesting too late can result in changes in flavor and the same can happen if you harvest too early. Many growers ignore the importance of harvesting, but they do so at their own peril as it can influence the cannabinoid profile if you harvest at the wrong time. 

Harvesting at the right time can be slightly confusing as it depends on various factors like the strain you’re growing, and the effects and taste you desire. Typically, it’s best to harvest when a majority of the trichomes change from clear to milky in color. At this point, a few trichomes may even turn amber. However, you can harvest when about 70% of the trichomes are milky. Purchase a jeweler’s loupe or a magnifier to identify when the colors begin to change. 

5. Drying

Once you harvest the plants, it seems like all the hard work is over and you can start tasting the buds. However, the hardest part has just begun because you now need to wait for the buds to dry and cure. 

Once you harvest the buds, you cannot skip the process of drying them properly. If you dry them too quickly, it can affect the flavor. The proper way to dry the buds is to control the humidity and dry it slowly. If you’re using fans, don’t keep the buds directly under them to hasten the process. Instead, keep the buds away from the fans and let them take their time to dry. This will help you preserve all the goodies such as the cannabinoids and terpenes, making the buds taste fantastic. 

6. Curing

After the drying process, you need to cure the buds in airtight containers. It’s best to use glass containers here. No matter what, make sure you control the humidity as this is the stage when the buds can attract mold. Imagine waiting for months to grow the plants, harvesting the buds, and then drying them only to see mold at the end of the curing process. The pain can be intense!

Remember, curing plays a critical role in helping the buds preserve the terpenes and cannabinoids while also gradually removing moisture. You can cure the buds for even a year, but the buds will be good to smoke in about 6-8 weeks. 

Also, you should "burp" the containers to release the gases that have built up inside the containers. This will also prevent excess moisture, introduce some fresh air, and also prevent mold. Most importantly, the flavors will mature and you’ll get to taste buds with a wide range of flavors. Lastly, try and maintain the RH at about 50 to 60% with the temperature ranging between 60°F to 70°F (15°C to 21°C) while curing the buds. 

Cannabis Tasting: How To Do It?

One of the first things you must keep in mind when cannabis tasting is how you want to consume the buds, whether you want to use a bong, joint, vape, or something else. Once you have this in mind, it allows you to take a more objective approach to tasting. 

In fact, even the food or drink that you may have consumed before this process can affect the objectivity of the process, so it’s important to have your mouth clean and free of any aftertastes from other foods or beverages before the tasting process. 

Cannabis tasting is a very nuanced process since there are over 100 terpenes present in the cannabis buds. So, the entire process is divided into four aspects, aroma, flavor, appearance, and effect. These four categories are clubbed into two tasting methods: organoleptic and psychoactive tasting. Let’s take a look at these methods after ensuring your space is the right one for it. 

1. Make Sure The Environment Is Comfortable 

The first thing you need to do when tasting cannabis buds is to ensure you are in an ideal place that is comfortable and relaxing. You can’t do cannabis tasting at a crowded dispensary or a park; it must be a calm and empty space. Here are some of the factors to keep in mind. 

2. The Space Should Be Cool And Not So Humid 

Wherever you do cannabis tasting, ensure the space is cool with a relative humidity of under 50% — HVAC is your best friend here. If the environment is beyond these ranges, your nasal mucosa can become dehydrated, which can affect your gustatory and olfactory senses, and the same can also affect the terpenes’ volatility, affecting the flavors. 

3. There Must Be Enough Light 

While cannabis tasting is largely about flavors and aromas, it also tests the buds’ appearance and health. This is only possible if the space is well-lit, so you can see the colors of the flowers properly. Sunlight is the best option here, but you can even use indoor lights with a daylight spectrum of 6000 degrees Kelvin color temperature. 

4. Have A Clean White Surface To Place The Buds 

You’ll also be laying out the bud samples before you, so ensure that the surface you place the buds on is white and clean. This allows you to appreciate the nuances of buds' color without them being affected by other bright shades around them. 

5. Know Your Tasting Method 

As mentioned above, one of the most important steps to consider before beginning the tasting process is knowing your primary method of consumption. The best methods are smoking, vaping, or bong — this will allow you to be more objective during the tasting process. 

6. Ensure Your Mouth And Hands Are Clean 

For tasting, ensure your mouth is clean and free of any odors or flavors that could affect the taste of the sample. Additionally, ensure your hands are clean so they don’t influence the flavors of the buds. For example, if you ate an orange before touching the buds, your buds may feel more citrusy than they are. 

How to Carry Out Organoleptic Tasting of Cannabis?

Organoleptic tasting is the process of evaluating the buds with your senses, like sight, smell, touch, taste, etc. This process is used to check the buds’ quality in terms of their aroma, flavor, and appearance. This process involves two steps, which are dry tasting and burn tasting. 

Dry Tasting 

As the name suggests, dry tasting is the process of evaluating a sample of cannabis before lighting it up. Here are the following things you will evaluate in this process:

• The feel of the buds in terms of hardness or softness, stickiness, crunchiness, density, weight, etc., using your touch
• How the sample sounds when pressed — crunchy and dry or moist — using your ears 
• The visual appearance of the buds — whether they are bright or dull, clean or dirty, compact or loose, etc.
• The aroma of the buds using your nose 
• The flavor using dry puffs will further help you determine the aroma and flavor of the buds 

Burn Tasting 

The next category is burn tasting, where you evaluate the sample on how well it burns when lit. For this process, you will use either a joint, a bong, or a vape — as per your preferences — and carry out the following tasks:

1. You will take a hit and keep the smoke in your mouth for a few seconds and exhale, to determine the major notes of the sample 
2. Then, you will inhale deeply and exhale forcefully through the nose and mouth to test the smoothness 
3. A puff that’s more “normal” to evaluate the main aromas of the buds 
4. A final tasting to check for aftertastes and undertones present in the smoke 

Step By Step Organoleptic Tasting of Cannabis

Let’s look at the steps you need to take to test each property explained above to carry out a detailed organoleptic tasting of cannabis. Since dry tasting and burn tasting sometimes overlap, let’s take a wider view of this.

Visual Appeal

The process begins by checking the appearance of the buds. Here are the things you need to check for when checking the appearance of the buds:

1. Drying 

The sample should be perfectly cured and dried; it shouldn't be too dry or wet. You can check this by compressing the flower with your fingers and see if they regain their fluffiness. If the flower is too moist, it will feel spongy without producing any creaks and it’ll be a mess to grind. And if the flower is too dry, it will crumble and crunch in your fingers. 

2. Genetics

You must also compare the sample to their known genetic information to check if they appear as they should or exhibit any unwanted phenotypes. Your best source is the seed bank or the dispensary you purchased the buds from.

3. Trichomes 

Then, use a magnifying glass to look at the resin on the sample — this is to test the trichomes present on the buds — the higher the number of trichomes, the better the bud will taste and affect you. Additionally, the trichomes must also have a well-formed shape that is similar to chupa-chups.

The majority of the trichomes should be milky or cloudy — this means the plant was harvested at the right time — if many trichomes appear amber or yellow, the high will be heavier and sleepy.

4. Manicure 

Check the buds thoroughly to ensure they are free of fan leaves and branches. Manicuring is an important process and the presence of plant matter on the buds may make it harsh to smoke. 

5. Curing 

How to know if the bud was properly cured? It will have a pale green color, clear flavor, and smooth on your throat. Even unwanted flavors and aromas will not be there. 

6. Presence of Seeds 

If you’ve purchased the sample from a reputable source, they will also lack seeds within the buds. If the buds contain seeds, it signifies that the plant was not cared for properly, had a genetic weakness, or was accidentally pollinated. Seeds are harsh to smoke and must be avoided. 

7. Pistil Colors

The buds’ pistils can come in a variety of colors, but usually, young plants produce white pistils that turn orange and yellow as the plant matures. On the other hand, older buds will contain pistils that appear dark brown in color. A properly matured and fresh cannabis bud will have orange pistils — those are from a perfectly matured cannabis plant.

8. Color of the Leaves

If the sample at hand appears yellow, burnt, vividly green or contains waste generated by pests, that’s a sign that the plant suffered from nutrient or pest problems during cultivation. Some severe conditions do leave a mark, sometimes even on the buds. 

9. Flower Color 

Next, you need to check the color of the buds as a whole. Ideally, cannabis buds should be pale green, although some might exhibit purple or orange hues depending on their phenotype. However, your cannabis sample should never be yellow, red, white, or brown, which can indicate problems, pesticide or chemical use. 

10. Smoke Color

Now, light up the bud. The smoke of the bud should be white and dense and should take a few seconds to dissipate. If the smoke is black or gray, that’s a sign of poor quality. 

11. Ash Color

If you are smoking a joint, check the ash color, too. Ideally, it should be white — that’s a sign of quality. If the ash is black, it signifies that the bud contains little resin, and if it is gray, the bud contains a good balance of plant matter and resin. 

Aroma 

Let’s move on to the next sense: smell. This is where you will evaluate the various aromas present in the cannabis flower along with how well the sample was cultivated, matured, and dried. 

Hold the buds close to your nose and take a good sniff of them; ensure you are not touching the flowers, so it’s better to hold them with their stems. Start by taking a big sniff followed by smaller sniffs to capture the primary and secondary notes. As a rule of thumb, the more the flower smells, the better it is. 

Next, grind the cannabis buds using a grinder. This will bring out all the aromas of the flower, so you can inspect its intensity at this stage along with the more nuanced undertones. 

Finally, burn the buds using a joint, bong, or vape. The smell of the smoke should be close to what the buds smelled like in your hand. 

Remember, the terpenes on the flower determine the aroma, so if the sample meets the aromatic quality standards, it’s good. Right off the bat, the sample must not contain any undertones of fungal, chemical, earthy, or metallic. 

Earthy or moldy undertones are a sign that the bud was stored in a high-humidity environment and likely has mold in it — do not consume it. If not, it can mean that the buds are not developed fully and will not contain adequate quantities of terpenes and cannabinoids. If the buds are not dried and cured properly, they will contain chlorophyll aromas. Lastly, if the buds smell metallic or chemically, it’s a sign that excess fertilizers are used on the plant. 

Flavors 

The final test within the organoleptic tasting of cannabis is the flavors. This process will be carried out in two parts: cold and burning. But before you jump into it, you need to make sure you are being careful with the buds so your handling does not end up affecting their flavors. 

So, before anything, ensure that your hands and the grinder are clean and sanitized. Avoid grinding the buds with your hands; even if your hands are clean, the skin oils can still affect the taste during sustained grinding. 

Cold Tasting 

Grind the sample and roll it in a joint, vape, or bong of your choice. Then, take a few puffs from it without burning it. This will give you a sense of the flavors present within the buds before being lit, including some nuanced flavors. 

Burning Tasting 

Next, you need to light the sample. Here, it is recommended to use a hemp wick to light the sample so that the flavor is not tainted by lighter fluid or matchstick. Once you have lit the joint, you need to carry out two tests to assess the primary notes and undertones of the flavor. 

Remember, when you light the joint, the sample should not lose its flavor at all — that’s a sign of high-quality buds. Then, take a toke from the sample and notice the first flavors while inhaling. 

Then, exhale the smoke. The flavors you get at this point will be more nuanced and too light to be noticed when inhaling. These are undertones. And after the smoke has escaped your mouth, the flavors that remain will be the aftertaste. 

Note on Flavors and Aromas 

Cannabis strains come in thousands of flavors and aromas, which are impossible to encompass in this article. So, it is recommended that you check the strain characteristics before carrying out the organoleptic tasting of cannabis and ensure the flavors and aromas are perceived to align with the strain phenotype. 

Step By Step Psychoactive Tasting of Cannabis

The majority of cannabis tasting is already done, but there’s one important aspect left: the high produced by the sample. Tasting is not tasting without this unless you are tasting a strawberry milkshake. 

This is where psychoactive tasting comes into play, where you evaluate the high produced by the sample on your mind and body. But remember, no matter how objective you try to be, the results can be a bit subjective. Cannabis affects everyone differently and a strain that makes you sleepy may make someone else more creative. 

Psychoactive tasting tests the quality of the high, but that’s not it; this phase of tasting cannabis also tests the speed and duration of the high, and the type of high. Here are some of the basic aspects you’ll be checking in this phase.

1. Speed

Most cannabis strains start producing a high within 15 minutes of smoking, so your sample should also be quick-acting with a shorter onset of high. If the high comes after a long time, it indicates that the buds are low in resin and THC. 

Do note that some strains are naturally low in THC and have a longer onset period, so it’s better to know the strain characteristics beforehand and compare the assessment with it instead of any other strain. 

2. Effect Duration 

The next thing you need to check is how long the high lasts. High-quality buds offer a long high that lasts for a couple of hours. But if your high dissipates within half an hour, that’s a sign of low-quality cannabis. You should also take note of any side effects produced by the high. 

3. Peak 

At the same time, you should also assess the ceiling of the high, i.e., how high can a strain get you before it no longer affects you. Some strains have a much higher ceiling than others, so again keeping strain characteristics in mind is key.

4. Effect Type 

Finally, you need to check the type of high. Does it produce effects like sleepiness, hyperactivity, couch-lock, munchies, energy, relaxation, or a mixture of everything? This is highly subjective, but generally, the effect produced must be pleasant without any side effects. 

Summary: Cannabis Tasting 101

If your cannabis sample ticks all the right boxes above, congratulations. You have a high-quality cannabis sample at hand and it’s time to enjoy it with your friends (or alone if you’re into it). But make sure you take the right precautions and steps while cannabis tasting. 

And remember to always know as much as you can about the strain before tasting it. Even if you enjoy the fruity flavor of the cannabis sample, if the strain is known for skunky flavors, your sample is low quality. So, you need to know what you are getting into and what to expect when tasting cannabis. 

On similar lines, the psychoactive tasting process can be subjective, so keep that in mind. Sometimes, you may even find the highest quality buds to be unpleasant to smoke, and that’s alright. Every individual’s metabolism is different and some strains may not affect you like they affect your best friend. 

Lastly, it is important to not forget the reason why we consume cannabis. Being a quality nerd is good when you’re paying so much for the buds — you want to get the best experience without wasting your money. However, it shouldn’t come in the way of enjoying cannabis. So, remember the most important rule of cannabis tasting: do you enjoy it?