Been dealing for years, some tips for you young kids:
1) Jank, scrub street-dealers who have average prices who only sell dime bags and possibly the occasional eighth more often than not don't know the correct strain of bud they're selling cause they've been middle-middle-middled man.
2) Jank, scrub street-dealers often times try to upsell their product for ultra-premium prices or they're trying to hype their product up for a quick sell. They do this because they're smoking all of their profit. So by the time they make their money back, they're out of product and need to re-up.
3) Jank, scrub street dealers either have dead-end minimum wage jobs or no jobs at all. So deceiving a customer is nothing to them as long as they've got your cash.
4) Distributors and those who go directly through them next in line are the most credible sources of information about strains, harvest dates, and growcation (growing location nubs).
5) Just like you know your dealer is a jank, street dealing scrub, their dealers also know that about them but even more so. They know the weight these jank, street-dealing scrubs purchase, they know how often they pick up, and whether or not they have the cash for what they're buying. Unless an extreme situation (for instance being robbed) calls for a front, dealers who constantly need to be fronted are not dealers at all. (See tip #2.)
6) When a jank, street dealer has a reputation of being a scrub, their dealers will use the same tactics that the jank, street dealers use on their customers to sell to them. (See tip #2.) These jank, street dealers are an easy sell because they want whatever they can get their hands on. They need product now and half of their sources are dry at any given time. They don't pick up enough weight to be able to wait for better product to come around. They get upsold on product because these types of dealers typically have a dozen people they know that they can hit up because a lot of people can supply their scale-wise small amounts. This is most likely where misinformation about what bud you're purchasing gets misconstrued. Because these jank, scrub street dealers have so many options, they'll purchase whatever they think is the best option at the time.
7) It would make sense that these jank, scrub street dealers would have premium bud all the time because of so many options, but this is utterly untrue. They most often than not have the worst weed available cause they've been lied to and jump on whatever lie created the biggest hype. If they get excited, they'll think you'll get excited.
8) A good dealer does not need hype to sell product, because good product = repeat customers.
9) A good dealer does not come to you, you come to them. This separates good dealers from jank, scrub street dealers. A good dealer doesn't need your money now or even a month from now. They've got plenty of other customers. Jank, scrub street dealers often only have a few customers or too many customers and overextend their resources.
10) Consitency is key, good dealers have only one or two suppliers that they go through. These suppliers have been time-tested and shown to also be consistent.
11) Jank, scrub street dealers act the role. It's a façade, they're dry often times. A dry dealer is not a dealer. A good dealer can ride a drought out because they think smart, play smart, and prepare themselves.
12) Good dealers have integrity and actual customer service because they care. Jank, scrub street dealers have neither, they don't care.
13) Until you really know your dealer, meaning you've gone through them and everything has been consistent every time, WEIGH YOUR BAGS. Often times these jank, scrub street dealers pinch their product or sell light bags. It doesn't matter if you're buying a 10-bag or a pound, WEIGH YOUR BAG. Good dealers don't cheat you out of what you paid for and if there was an accident, meaning an accidental light bag, they'll give you back the discrepancies no questions asked.
14) WEIGH YOUR BAG!!!
15) Lastly, never ask what the strain is that you're buying. Asking for what strain you're purchasing is asking to be lied to. Unless your dealer tells you at the time of purchase at his own discretion, obtaining strain information in any other way will be invalid.
The moral or the story here is that understanding your dealer, means understanding your weed.
When I was a young buck, I thought every dime bag I picked up was fire. It wasn't until I started picking up serious and actual weight that I actually knew good weed from bad weed from great weed. Finding good suppliers isn't easy, it's all about who you know. The best bud I've ever had have been during the years I've been picking up weight through actual distributors and only 2 different distributors at any given time. They've been different at different times cause shit happens, but it's all about loyalty which is why you can only maintain a good relationship with a few players at a time. Because I've been givin legitimate information from the most valid sources I can eye a nug and smoke it and I'd have a pretty good understanding of what strain it is.
So here are my top 5 of all time
1) Trainwreck (my absolute favorite strain in this shitty world)
2) Grapefuit (as previously posted, shit had me high like I've only been a few times in my life)
3) Golden Goat (The last time my girl ever smoked with me. She took one hit and she lost her fuckin marbles. Anxiety attack to the n'th degree. That was a few years ago and she hasn't smoked since)
4) Sour diesel (Gotten this strain many, many times through various suppliers over the years. Same thing every time, it has very distinct characteristics.)
5) Purple Urple (Literally the best looking buds I've ever had my hands on)
I hope that this extremely long post helps out with the debate about people who know what strains they claim they've smoked. It's an extremely situational circumstance that is different for everyone. Sure, I've been lied to, we all have. It's up to you as a buyer to decided what you do with the information that you receive. It's all about the dealer-buyer relationship that any given person has and whether or not their sources are credible.