Stoners Explain Why They Prefer Crappy Weed

poledriver

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The Shake Shack: Stoners Explain Why They Prefer Crappy Weed

It's morning in America for potheads. More and more states are legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, studies are finding more and more medicinal uses for it, and the quality of herb is getting stronger by the season. As VICE weed correspondent T. Kid once wrote, "In place of the leafy, stem-filled weed that prevailed decades ago, we now have access to meticulously crafted cannabis flowers tinted white with THC crystals. These days, the weed is prettier, more fragrant, and gets you much, much higher than it ever did before."

This is all well and good, but I prefer shitty weed.

It took me a while to realize this. In college, I lived with some stoners, and we exclusively smoked the stickiest icky we could find, medical-grade delivery-service shit that got me so high I'd turn temporarily illiterate.

I once brought home one of these strains—called Blue Dream or Silver Haze or something flashy—to share with my mother, a cool lady who used to smoke finger-sized doobies as if they cigarettes in the 70s. Like many adults who become parents, she took a decades-long herb hiatus, and wasn't familiar with how the drug had evolved over the years. She wanted to try smoking again, and we shared a joint of my weed. After a puff, she was blown away by the taste and felt good. Two puffs later and I had to carry her upstairs and tuck her in as if I were the parent. To her, a hit from modern weed was akin to a rip from an opium pipe.

Flash-forward a few years, and I can relate to my mom. I like to smoke weed with my friends, meaning we roll up multiple spliffs at once and prefer to continuously be smoking something to keep the conversation going and pass time. I can't do that with medical weed, "headies," "dank kush," or whatever you want to call stuff with upwards of 20 percent THC content.

Though it sounds weird to say it, I feel nostalgic for the weed I'd buy in high school: cheap bags full of forest-green shake that resembled (or might have been) oregano. This stuff is to medical chronic as Budweiser is to whatever microbrew beer bros are drooling over these days; I could chain smoke it all evening long while just maintaining a slight buzz. Whenever I'd express this opinion to heavy smokers, they'd call me a narc, tell me to get a vape, or suggest I purchase a used Sabbath record to jerk off onto. But the more I started asking around, the more stoners I found who felt a similar soft spot for shake. Here's what a variety of weed lovers, who wished to remain anonymous, told me about why they like their pot weak.

Stoner 1
Female, age 26

I like shitty weed because I grew up in Africa, where we got shwag and hash. It's a buzz, but not a total "drop you to the floor" high. I like it because it's not so druggy both in affect and culture. I like deseeding and breaking up weed. The community you smoke this stuff with is generally more relaxed, and you don't get that high, knocked out, or the anxiety that the dank shit is guaranteed to give you.

Also, you can smoke weed all day and not feel like a loser (said the pothead).

American weed is too good. I also hate bongs and paraphernalia to smoke weed. I like my joints like I like my women: thin and classy.

Stoner 2
Male, age 24

My love for mediocre weed all started when I went to Jamaica on a family trip. The first thing I did when I got there was chat up the bartender at the hotel for some pot. He asked me for a $50 and the next day came through with a giant bag of shit weed—seeds, stems, the whole nine yards. But I loved it. I would smoke so much and be mellow. Plus, I was listening to a bunch of 60s and 70s music on the beach the whole time and felt like I was back in that time period.

Ever since then I've found myself missing shake. Weed these days is honestly just too potent for certain situations. If I'm just gonna smoke and chill by myself or with friends, it's perfectly fine. But the second I have to do something—be out in public, hang with my family, or anything like that—it becomes way too much. So many of the strains these days in California, Colorado, or even here in New York boast that they're anxiety-reducing, but that isn't really the case because they all have really high THC contents. In my opinion, the only way to actually get a really mellow high is to smoke weed with low, low THC content—i.e. shake.

If you want to be a functioning person, then shake or mids is the only way to go. You can smoke as much as you want and not worry. These days, in a high-speed, ADD-rattled society, the last thing people need is to smoke this super hero weed that makes them just stare at their phones and twitch, instead of continue to chill with the homies or continue about their days.

Cont -

http://www.vice.com/read/the-shake-shack-stoners-explain-why-they-prefer-crappy-weed-420
 
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I prefer medium potency bush weed over the really high thc hydro stuff personally.
 
I can see the allure of good shwag that weighs out, has stems and seeds, and costs 1/4th what primo goes for. So much more manageable for going to class, driving, etc.
 
I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately due to the fact I was scripted med MJ for back pain. Back in High school (mid-80's), we would get together, smoke some ganj, and go play street hockey and shit. I noticed a huge difference with my brother. I'd go to his place in the early 2000's and he would be laid out wrecked with friends a bong centered on the coffee table, and couldn't make sense in a conversation. Every time i tried to smoke with him, the shit would have my head spinning and me ready to puke. I`m a little scared of the med MJ I`ll be getting, I mean shit - A guy has to function! going to be going really slow....
 
100% agree. I'm about to get my medical card specifically so I can buy low THC strains. I like being able to smoke a joint and not be fried after three puffs.
 
I'd rather be satisfied with 2 or 3 pulls than with having to go through a whole bowl.

I'm happy with my simple vaporizer and good bud.
 
I'd rather be satisfied with 2 or 3 pulls than with having to go through a whole bowl.

I'm happy with my simple vaporizer and good bud.

I am with you. I had to buy some mids a month or two ago and the nostalgia for high school went away pretty quick. I like getting super high.
 
I can understand not wanting to get super baked. Most of the time I just smoke once a day at night and only one or two rips. I don't like getting all paranoid, scattered and angst ridden. I don't like dabs, shatter, or wax really and don't fuck with it. It fucks up your tolerance too.

Stems, seeds, and brick weed tho? Can't do it. Pot isn't legal in my state and a lot of the weed, even 'the cryp' (what they call decent nugs here), tastes like it has chemicals all over it and is super harsh. Fuck that. You can always smoke less and go for something that has a good CBD ratio in it and not something that is all THC. If you live in a state it's legal in, I can't imagine buying shitty weed. So many strains to choose from that are definitely mellow if you find the right one.
 
Can't they just mix it with tobacco/some inert smoking blend?

That's pretty much why I prefer spliffs. If the weed is too strong you can at least titrate it until you are happy with tobacco.

Nothing more wasteful of my time than being couch locked after a smoke or worse yet having a group of friends descend into a quite paranoid silence
 
I prefer to smoke the highest-quality weed I can find. During trips to Amsterdam and Cali, I always choose from the best on the menu.
But I don't like to smoke - just to be high. I prefer to smoke 1-2 hits, tops, or vape.
I can't smoke a whole joint of anything, probably, because I am a lightweight. And I dislike smoke.
After 1-2 hits of high-quality weed, I am not very functional, but I like it (unless i have to do something important, drive, or deal with people who can't know that I am high - in such cases, I simply don't smoke).
 
I don't really like being "couchlocked" either, but I don't necessarily think that stronger weed = more couchlock. I like headfuck sativas, personally ;)
 
Schwag is good for the promotion of sleep/treatment of insomnia, but that's about it IMO

It's also good for cooking with.

When I used to use cannabis I preferred the best quality herb or hash I could get so I would not have to smoke a lot of it, and I would get super high and have a psychedelic experience from it. :)
 
I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately due to the fact I was scripted med MJ for back pain. Back in High school (mid-80's), we would get together, smoke some ganj, and go play street hockey and shit. I noticed a huge difference with my brother. I'd go to his place in the early 2000's and he would be laid out wrecked with friends a bong centered on the coffee table, and couldn't make sense in a conversation. Every time i tried to smoke with him, the shit would have my head spinning and me ready to puke. I`m a little scared of the med MJ I`ll be getting, I mean shit - A guy has to function! going to be going really slow....

Well lucky for you, medical marijuana from a liscensed dispensery is labeled with content percentage of thc, cbd, and cbn. Find a strain or strains that contain the higher amounts of cbd, and have lower amounts of thc. They probably will be cheaper too if you find the low-grade dank with a good cbd count. I am under the impression that if the thc percentage is no more than 10, and the cbd is at least 5-10 percent, and especially if it's more than 10 percent ; then you can get a much more mellow, medicinal, and all around more manageable high from it. And IMO the thc is important if u want to get high, the cbd is more important if you want to use the weed as a medicine. Just some info for you to think about when you end up getting your MMJ.

Consider yourself lucky, as you have the ability to see the exact details of the bud and its contained compounds. Also if concentrates are sold at the dispensery you can also find some super high cbd content BHO or maybe even some kind of wax; those can be very soothing , anxiolytic, painkilling, etc. ( message the moderator tricomb about his use of those, I believe he has a lot of experience in that area) . For me, I only have the luxury of knowing what's in my stuff when someone happens import (illegally of course) a sealed eighth (or gram, whatever) of MMJ / hash oil, with the dispensery sticker still attached and all that. Which is quite rare sadly. I need to move to CO....
 
I like regular weed like high grade mids. It just seems more relaxing but I haven't been about to find any in awhile but I got some good bubba kush that is great at night.
 
I prefer organic grown high quality hybridized weed, known quality strains like og kush, chocolope and so on. Stuff i usually get from grower friend is nicely cured too. Also sometimes buy hash and always go for spending slightly more on a higher quality. And most stoners i know who've been using cannabis a while seem to think about it in a similar fashion.
 
Potency and seed/stem content aside, the reason 'mids' tends to be more enjoyable is because of the THC/CBD ratio. These high THC strains with little or no CBD are too strong in my opinion...and don't mean potency wise...I mean the actual qualitative effect of the herb...some modern strains remind me of synthetic cannabinoids...just too strong, even a half a hit makes it impossible for me to socialize.
 
I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately due to the fact I was scripted med MJ for back pain. Back in High school (mid-80's), we would get together, smoke some ganj, and go play street hockey and shit. I noticed a huge difference with my brother. I'd go to his place in the early 2000's and he would be laid out wrecked with friends a bong centered on the coffee table, and couldn't make sense in a conversation. Every time i tried to smoke with him, the shit would have my head spinning and me ready to puke. I`m a little scared of the med MJ I`ll be getting, I mean shit - A guy has to function! going to be going really slow....

We used to get that Blueberry weed from BC along with BC skunk, Blonde Hash and Gold Stamp back when i was going to school in the 90's. We never stayed home we where always out playing hockey or whatever so these pretty strong strains didn't slow us down. After awile you just become used to it.
 
Part of the fun in smoking weed is the ritual of smoking. Not to mention I was smoking high grade for so long it destroyed my tolerance to anything that didn't cost a fortune. Now I smoke mids and every now and then treat myself to some cripple,after all when you smoke super potent weed everyday it's no longer super potent!
 
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