What's the official way of classifing cannabis?

[smoking-aces]

I hear all kinds of ways to classify cannabis in my area, indoor and outdoor (indoor being dense, nugs and outdoor is shittier, leafy and filled with seeds), but does growing indoor or outdoor produce either of the above? If so then what is the main way to identity weed (male, female? Sativa, Indica?)

 

[beta1]

There can be shitty indoor bud, and dank outdoor bud (and vice versa).

Best way to identify marijuana (in its final smoking form) for me is by using quality.. Unless your somewhat of a connoisseur of pot, nothing else really matters.

 

[kevina]

i sometimes judge the quality of my nud as how brown it is after i chop
if its heaps brown its usualy shit
if it isnt then i find it gives a good high
dont know if thats true but it works for me
and the stuff i get down in oz

 

[danthemann]

There is not an official way to classify cannabis. There are a couple of qualities that you can look for though, but as for one way there is not one

Indoor/Outdoor
This is just where its grown. Indoor usually caters to better quality plants, but it is not true in all cases. Seedy stuff is most likely grown outdoors. The seeds come from pollination and plants are more easily pollinated outside.

Male/Female
You are always smoking a female plant. Males are shit for smoking and the only thing they could be good for is making hemp or maybe some sort of fuel. Females if not pollinated will not have seeds and produce those crystals/trichromes that have your canniboids. If they are pollinated they will have seeds and THC percentage is much lower.

THC/Cannaboid %
Theres no way to do this at your house or tell really. In general schwag would probably have 1-2% THC. Mids would have 3-7%. Something with out seeds can have a wide range of percentages generally from 10% - 30%. Thirty percent is incredibly strong. Most hashes have on the order of 40-60%. And you could also have an Butane Honey Oil extract with 95+ % THC. These numbers are all from the top of my head. If you look up a strain guide you might be able to find them. Percentages can vary depending on the treatment of the plant.

Strains
You can find in depth information if you know what kind of strain you have. Some popular examples are White widow, Northern Lights, Jack Herer, Strawberry Cough, orange kush, G-13. The list goes on forever and new ones are made frequently. Seed banks and seed selling site have information on genetics, sativa/indica index, growth times, where to grow it, nutrient information, smell, taste, what it looks like and preferred light cycles. Heres a site http://www.marijuana-seeds.nl/ . Keep in mind its illegal to order these in the US. They will also have this information at the cannabis clubs in california where you can buy it there. Some people just make up some kind of names for what they get without having any idea of genetics, dont be surprised if that happens. This is the best way to classify weed

Sativa:Indica Index
Most pot is not straight sativa or indica. They do exist but they are rare. For example white widow is 60:40 (sativa:indica). The only real way to know this is by getting an established strain with known genetics. You can't get this information really from any old shit you just buy

Common names
Theres nothing official about these just something you may want to call it to differentiate when your talking about what your paying for. These kind of names are very subjective as to your location and crowd. hopefully i dont get grilled for putting prices on here. please remove them if there in appropriate and once again this is off the top of my head

schwag- shitty weed/brown/dry/ lots of seeds/ compressed/ many stems >US$100 an o
mids - some seeds/ could be fluffy or compact/ maybe a small amount of crystalization $100-160 an o
nug or beasters - good weed/ no seeds/ no known genetics $250 - 400 an o
Strain name ______ - usually the best kind of stuff (probably indoor grown) you can get because it has known genetics and sativa:indica indexes $350+ an o
hydro- grown hydroponically indoors

 

[FrostyMcFailure]

Cannabis Sativa L., Cannabis Indica Lam and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch.


-After that its high grade or go home.

 

[scottd420]

I've heard of chemists and botanists renaming some of the former 'indica' strains to 'afghanica' strain. Anyone else heard anything about this?

 

[Blowmonkey]

Taxonomy is screwed up regarding cannabis. There's no definitive answer. I'll quote the following tidbit:

CANNABIS TAXONOMY

Modern taxonomists have variously characterized Cannabis. All taxonomists recognize the species Cannabis sativa. Small and Cronquist subdivide C. sativa into two subspecies each with two varieties. Schultes et al divide Cannabis into three species; C. sativa, C. indica, and C. ruderalis. Several other researchers do not preserve C. ruderalis, but recognize both C. sativa and C. indica. The present authors consider C. sativa to circumscribe all wild, hemp, and drug Cannabis races with the possible exception of the races used for hashish production in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These morphologically and chemically distinct races may deserve the separate specific name of C. afghanica following the variety name for C. indica determined by Vavilov. Validation of this theory awaits further chemotaxonomic and genetic research. In all of these systems, C. sativa represents the largest and most diverse taxon. C. afghanica is commonly referred to by marijuana breeders and growers, as well as medical cannabis users, as “indica.” Chemovars of this variety have their own distinctive acrid organic aromas and are often rich in CBD as well as THC. The great variety of chemical, physiological, and morphological traits encountered in Cannabis has proven very attractive to plant breeders for years.

http://haworthpressinc.com/store/SampleText/4513.pdf

But, couple of years ago a newer (but not formal) study revealed that they had discovered a new subspecies of cannabis by categorizing plants according to the DNA in their mitochondria and chloroplasts; it was dubbed, "Cannabis rasta".

It's all very confusing. We (growers, breeders, smokers, etc.) generally still use the "sativa & indica (& ruderalis)" way of categorizing.

 

[The Winner!!]

People here have answered it well enough I believe, but Indica seems to have better bag appeal, denser buds, and sativa stringier, but Sativa all the way.