Questions for a Stranger

We have always lived up to the “Friendly” part of our namesake — so today we open up a content series to answer your burning questions. There are no questions too hard to be answered or too simple to be asked. In an industry full of sciency terms like “trichomes”, “cannabinoids” that simultaneously use words like “dabs” and “dank” as legitimate identifiers, things can get confusing. If you have any questions you would like answered, head to the shop, catch us on our website live chat or DM us on social.

What strains make you restful?

This is a complicated question because cannabis has different effects on different people. We definitely do have some suggestions, but it comes with the caveat that if cannabis doesn’t already make you feel restful — then perhaps it never will. 

THC activates areas in your brain involved with restfulness and may make some feel more relaxed. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, some people report feelings of alertness with high amounts of THC. Do you see what we mean when we say this is a complicated question?

The best suggestion we can give you is to start low and experiment with what makes you feel restful. CBD has also been shown to help with feelings of restfulness and avoids any of the possible alertness that comes with THC.

So, all that being said, we give you our suggestions:

What gives you the munchies?

Ah yes, the phenomena of insatiable appetite when consuming cannabis known colloquially as “The Munchies”. Symptoms include a dire need for chips, cookies and various multi-coloured slushie combinations.

THC stimulates your hunger by binding to something in your brain called the CB1 receptor. Your CB1 receptor has been found to be active in several areas of the body known to stimulate eating behaviour, including:

• The parts of your brain that regulate food intake
• The reward center of your brain — helping food improve our mood
• The stomach and intestinal tissue – helping us know when we are hungry
• The limbic forebrain – helping food seem more palatable
• The gastrointestinal system – moderating energy metabolism

So all in all, THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid found in THC may make you hungrier, make food taste better and so on. If you’re looking for strains that might result in the munchies, look for high THC strains. 

Hot tip: word ‘round the bud stem is that Pink strains may be the best for getting munchies. But don’t take our word for it, we heard this from the experts themselves, our budtenders.

Here are some of our suggestions:

It seems like all weed is too strong, am I just a lightweight?

No, you aren’t. Modern cannabis has much more THC than a naturally occurring cannabis plant. A recent study found that cannabis in 1995 had a THC level that was 14 times its CBD level. But in 2014, the THC level was 80 times the CBD level.

There are a few reasons for such a rampant increase in THC but mostly it’s due to the competitive nature of growers. Many people demand more THC in their cannabis and licensed growers are happy to supply. This, however, isn’t a bad thing — high THC in a cannabis plant is a sign of a healthy and resilient plant. 

But where does that leave someone who finds modern cannabis too strong? Thankfully, there are several low THC options available. Also, consider the CBD level in your cannabis as it reduces the intense effects of THC. Look for more equal CBD to THC ratios, like 2:1 or 1:1. 

Check out these low THC products:

How are Edibles Different Than Smoking?

Ingesting cannabis essentially does the same thing to your body as smoking it, but it takes a different pathway to the brain and can often require less cannabis to produce the same effects as smoking.

When you smoke cannabis, it goes through your lungs into your bloodstream and eventually reaches your brain. When you ingest cannabis, the cannabinoids are processed by your small intestine and eventually, your liver. This process can take much longer to reach your brain than smoking. 

The reason that edibles can often feel more intense is all because of the liver. Your liver turns THC into 11-Hydroxy-THC, which is like super-THC. It’s more potent and can cross the blood-brain barrier more easily than THC that’s been inhaled.

So in short, edibles take longer to feel the effects but can feel much more intense. So please remember to keep that in mind when you find yourself waiting for your brownie to hit after half an hour, trust us.

Did reading that make you hungry for edibles? Here are some of our favourites:

Does CBD Get You High?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: No, it doesn’t.

It’s really that simple, CBD does not get you high. It does, however, contribute to THC’s effect on you. CBD can lower the intense or possibly unpleasant psychoactive effects of THC by working together inside your brain.

CBD and THC are both cannabinoids found inside cannabis and love to live inside what is called the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system is an intricate biological system of receptors in our body that is involved with things like hunger, pain-sensation, mood, memory, and mediating the psychoactive effects of cannabis. 

Without getting too harsh on the weed science jargon, this essentially means that CBD and THC work well together. Tl;dr: THC is what gets you high and CBD helps mitigate its effects, but CBD alone does not get you high.

What’s the Difference Between Sativa and Indica? 

A long time ago, in a backyard far, far away — there existed only two types of cannabis. They were called sativa and indica, named by some ancient explorer that spoke Latin, or so we guess. The differences between the two cannabis species were slight and subtle but pertinent, nonetheless. 

Fast forward to modern times, and we have so many strains that we’re running out of names for them (i.e. “Boaty McBoatface”). Each strain has its own look, unique effects and cannabinoid contents — it’s nearly impossible to categorize them. So to make things easier, many cannabis shops will use “sativa” to describe cannabis with uplifting effects and a head high and “indica” to describe cannabis with relaxing effects and a body high.

So, in short sativa and indica don’t actually exist. It’s sort of like saying “hang up the phone” when you press the big red “end” button on your iPhone. It purely exists to categorize the effects of cannabis and help consumer’s choices on strains.