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Flower Weed stickiness, what is it?

Snafu in the Void

Snafu in the Void

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Crystals are easy to look at and assume what they are, but what gives weed it's stickiness? What is the sticky? When you pull apart a bud and it feels like you have oily glue on your fingers.

Today I bought some indica dominate weed that visibly looks great with a strong smell to match, but zero stickiness. I seem to always be disappointed with weed like this, it still gets me high but feels less rounded. For whatever reason, sticky weed always feels better to me.

What is the stickiness? Minor cannabinoids? Terpenes? More THC? Curing technique?

Or is it just genetics and means little? Is this an indica vs sativa thing (which gets lost in some hybrid?). I have noticed sativas tend to be less sticky.
 
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I always figured it was extra produced resin to mainly ward off hungry invading insects ...
??
 
Fire&Water said:
I always figured it was extra produced resin to mainly ward off hungry invading insects ...
??
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That would make sense, but what is IN the resin that's psychoactive (?)

I think cannabinoids in general are produced to ward off insects, right?
 
This is a good question. At first I wanted to say terpenoids but you’re right I’ve had stinky weed with no sticky.

I have some stuff I just grew that’s so sticky I can have it hanging off my finger. But it’s not overtly smelly (although still decent) and due to some herm’ing had some nuggets with seeds. In other words it could be a lot better, but still surprisingly good given everything.

I do agree though sticky weed is usually better.. I remember one summer when I was younger my buddy had access to this piney sticky bud that I just never got sick of. It was then I realized pinene is my favorite terp, gives a stimulating high that keeps on giving with much less tolerance build. Also reminds me that much of the sticky weed I’ve seen seemed high in pinene.

-GC
 
I always figured that the resin glands contain... resin, which is sticky.

However, the resin can contain varying amounts of THC, etc.. More resin does not necessarily equal more THC (etc.). Some resin is very high in THC and some resin can have less.
That's just my theory, though.
And, generally, it does directly correlate. Just not always, I've noticed that myself.
 
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Snafu in the Void said:
Crystals are easy to look at and assume what they are, but what gives weed it's stickiness? What is the sticky? When you pull apart a bud and it feels like you have oily glue on your fingers.

Today I bought some indica dominate weed that visibly looks great with a strong smell to match, but zero stickiness. I seem to always be disappointed with weed like this, it still gets me high but feels less rounded. For whatever reason, sticky weed always feels better to me.

What is the stickiness? Minor cannabinoids? Terpenes? More THC? Curing technique?

Or is it just genetics and means little? Is this an indica vs sativa thing (which gets lost in some hybrid?). I have noticed sativas tend to be less sticky.
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This thread's going in several directions and I can't blame it, I don't fuckin' know either, lol.

[CAVEAT: THIS MAY BE WRONG. I'm going off of a memory from looking this type of thing up over a decade ago, so if I'm misinformed I would really appreciate anybody who can set this straight.]

What I do know is that the stickiness comes from the same secretions that make the plant psychoactive when ingested by humans, but that's not the primary goal of the stickiness.

I read long ago that when female plants hit a certain stage (again, I'm not an expert) they start looking for pollen so they can produce seeds and propagate.

If no males are close-by or the female doesn't start producing seeds early enough in a growing season, the female plants starts to produce and pump out excess resin (those crystals with all those sweet cannabinoids that we all love around here) in an effort to catch and keep whatever pollen might come near.

The stickier, more crystally the buds then the more desperate the plant they came from was to start making babies. From what I remember, once their pollen needs are satisfied they stop producing EVERYTHING psychoactive and focus solely on making as many seeds as they can with whatever hand they've been dealt.
 
yea it's just resin

when it's over-dried, it can lose a lot of the sticky - and some legal states want a certain moisture level - i know they do in WA, and a lot of what comes from the legal rec market, is over-dried

but it's also really dependent on the strain - some just produce more resin than others


and yea once it's pollinated, it shifts to making seeds and stops producing thc and resin - but that's a different subject - if it's pollinated early (around week 5), it's really gonna suck - but if it gets pollinated late, (around week 7 or 8) you usually can't even tell the difference
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
yea it's just resin

when it's over-dried, it can lose a lot of the sticky - and some legal states want a certain moisture level - i know they do in WA, and a lot of what comes from the legal rec market, is over-dried

but it's also really dependent on the strain - some just produce more resin than others


and yea once it's pollinated, it shifts to making seeds and stops producing thc and resin - but that's a different subject - if it's pollinated early (around week 5), it's really gonna suck - but if it gets pollinated late, (around week 7 or 8) you usually can't even tell the difference
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Yeah, dude, like I really couldn't even say one way or another.

All I know is where that fuckin' popcorn comes from and how to prevent it (and I'm not talkin' 'bout Act II)

(I tried so hard to find a video of someone breaking down a popcorn nug but I'm so sorry, you guys, I'm too drunk and it's too late for me to carry on with that particular struggle-- just imagine that every time you press a nug between your fingers 3 to 4 seeds just jump out at ya like a fuckin' jack-in-a-box.)

AND GOD HELP YOU IF YOU'RE VAPING, YOU BOUT TO DRY HEAVE LIKE A MOTHER
 
There is extremely strong weed out there whose trichomes are more sandy than sticky. I'm not sure it is actually an effect of the trichomes themselves. If it is, it probably has to do with how thick the membrane containing the trichome cells within the head is. Some burst and leak easily, some don't.

An interesting third option to sandy vs sticky is "greasy". Used to grow one that was literally greasy, like slightly slippery.
 
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