Choosing A Strain

Enter your text hereWhen searching for a new strain to try, there are many factors to take into account when making this choice. Personal taste is obviously a factor, strength is the biggest reason for many and for others it is all about the medical uses. Here I am going to go through my checklist and show you how I make this most difficult of decisions. Disclaimer- this is just my way, it may not work for you and if you disagree feel free to leave a comment and tell me your way!

This is one of the first things I always consider, am I looking to use it during the day or in the evening? Many go wrong here, it's very easy to buy a heavy Indica strain expecting to have a nice gentle toke only to find that you end up completely stuck to the sofa with your face melting and completely unable to move. Indicas tend to be a full body relaxation stoned. They are great for pain relief but won't make you want to do much. Great if you are looking to de-stress in the evening.

Buying a Sativa and getting high in the evening is also a problem! This is one sure fire way to ensure that you won't be sleeping. Many have done it and many have sat pondering the meaning of life and replaying that incident earlier in the day where someone was a dick to you and all the much wittier responses you should have given. The reason for this is that Sativa strains are generally more energetic, these are good for being creative, can be giggly and are great for being social.

So here's a quick rule of thumb to work by; If smoking during the day look for a Sativa, in the evening Indica is the way to go. If you have trouble remembering which is which look at this way Indica will leave you in da couch!

Now some of you knowledgeable folk are saying "what about the hybrids" and you're right. These can be a little more tricky as the balance is quite important, some are Sativa dominant, others Indica dominant but this doesn't always mean that the Indica effects are going to over power the Sativa. In general though, the Sativa effects normally kick in first before steadily melting away into the relaxing Indica effects.

Before you could purchase from a dispensary it wasn't so obvious how strong a strain would be, but for many this was the be all and end all. You's smell the buds, look closely for crystals and usually be greeted with some nonsense from the dealer about how "this is the strongest thing I ever tried bruv". Now you can walk into a dispensary and find that the products have been tested and they will say how much THC as a percentage there is, you also find that places like the High Times runs annual cups and report on the strength and quality of the buds. You can go find a strongest strain list and find out what is good right now and go on the hunt for these particular strains or grow them out yourself. There are also plenty of other lists that tell you what the best strains are.

There's still no better way than to try it yourself though. I am still a fan of getting a smell of the bud and seeing how it looks before making a decision.

The final thing I look at is why I am using it. This is a little more difficult to make a decision as there are so many strains that all have different effects and of course each person reacts differently to them. Here is where I usually visit Leafly with a shortlist of strains and then check out their medical uses. This is a little time consuming but well worth it when I know I have the perfect strain for every situation....