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THC Percentages

Vader

Vader

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So all this talk about strain potency, and the percentages for THC, got me thinking about what these numbers actually mean. White Russian, for example, is claimed to be "22% THC". Now, I'm no botanist, but it seems implausible that over 1/5 of the total weight of the plant is THC. Even if we're talking about dry weight, that would mean a lot of THC, and that's before we consider the weight of all the other cannabinoids. I recall reading that very pure resin is about 50% THC by weight, so by my maths resin would have to be almost half the plant's weight for it to be 22% THC. And given that buds are much more potent than leaves or stems, the ratio would be even higher. Is that really what these numbers mean? Or do they represent something like the THC content of the resin?
 
They don't mean anything....testing a given sample, then stating that the *strain* is x% THC means nothing.
 
I know that the THC content of a given sample may not be representative of all samples from plants of the strain. What I mean is , when a sample is said to be 22% THC, does that actually mean that fully 1/5 of the total weight of that sample is THC? Just seems way too high intuitively.
i dnt think the percentage of thc can be compared to the weight of it.
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It seems unlikely they'd do it by volume...
 
maybe they can do it by 22% of the chemical compund of marijuana is thc. or shit like that. it can be anything for all we know. im suprised no one knows this on here.
 
how the hell else would u measure it unless it was by weight? if its measured by some other factor then my intuition says thats a load of bs.

non standard measurements for chemicals, good work?
 
No, but in this case the only sensible way to interpret the number is as a percentage of weight.
 
i understand what you are saying, but i think its wrong. thats like saying a ecstasy pill can be determined how much mdma it contains by weighing it. you need a scientist and lab equipment to determine how much mdma is in a pill, also to determine how much thc is in a bud. so obviously its not as easy as just weighingthe damn thing.
 
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It can be done with a gas chromatograph/spectrometer, but this is very expensive and labs aren't too excited about receiveing samples of cannabis due to it being illegal.
Thus it is not very practical for the average person.
Smoke different buds and decide which is most potent and which is best for you. :D
 
I know that you can't just weigh the bud. But once they have determined the total weight of THC in a sample, they then give it as a percentage of the total weight of the sample, I would imagine. I had no intention of testing weed myself, I just wanted to know if the numbers the seed banks give are accurate.
 
so obviously that means it has nothing to do with weight. thank you for clearing that up.
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No it does have to do with weight. You put a weighted sample into the gas chromatograph and it analyses it.
But the GC is only one way to measure the THC percentage of a bud, but it is difficult to identify, seperate, and measure similar compounds like cannabinoids. This is why I said it's not practical for the average person.
 
you guys realise another name for a the "gas spectrometer" is a "mass spectrometer". ie: it measures MASSES.

its about diffusion rates through fluids. based on WEIGHT.

and for the moron above who said you cant measure the weight of an atom.

guess what, theres a weight for protons, neutrons and even electrons individually. so suck me.

edit: just in case someone intelligent comes in to the idiot rescue, everywhere i wrote "weight" i meant "mass" but i didnt wanna make it too complicated for the dopey stoners.
 
Its not the total weight that they are talking about. They are talking about trichromes and their makeup, there are many chemicals in weed but the ones we like are THC and CBN and they are in the trichromes which are all over the plant and most aren't visible(unless we are talking top shelf).
 
so its more like 22% saturation?

22% of potentia... i guess the next question is, what the hell is a high percentage then?
 
They are talking about trichromes and their makeup
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Isn't this a deceptive measure then, as weed with a high concentration of THC in the resin but few trichomes would test higher than a second strain with a lower resin concentration but many more trichomes, even if the latter had a greater amount of THC in total?
 
ok eldaren what ever you say, the only thing i was arguing is that when they say a buds potency is 22% they dnt mean the trichomes weigh 22% of the bud smart guy. theyre obviously talking about potency not weight. nd i dnt even smoke so get your shit straight.
 
then who were you arguing with? i was saying that its not going to be 22% of the total bud, hence the dubiousness of what the OP was remarking about. he only said his article said "22% THC" and everyone went *cough* bullshit. and tried to figure out what the proper answer was.

then you come back after someone else mentioned the potency aspect, and are claiming that as your own brainwave? if you mentioned potency earlier sure, but you didnt.

"maybe they can do it by 22% of the chemical compund of marijuana is thc. or shit like that. it can be anything for all we know. im suprised no one knows this on here."

smart guy.
 
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