Pretentious potheads

How Accurate are the Labs' Numbers?
@@@When a dispensary displays the cannabinoid content of buds or other products they're selling, there is a misleading implication of pinpoint accuracy. The weak link here, according to sources we trust, is the use of questionable standards. A chemical "standard" is utilized as a benchmark, to which an unknown sample is compared, so that a precise content of a given component can be ascertained. An inaccurate standard will skew results.
@@ Commercially available cannabinoid standards are not necessarily reliable, we were surprised to learn. If a testing lab bases its calculations on THC or CBD in methanol purchased from a chemical supply house, and the amount present is less than claimed, a serious over-estimation of cannabinoid potency results.@
@@ CBD can be crystallized, so it is practical for a lab to create its own 100% pure CBD reference standard. With THC, being a tarry, viscous liquid that sticks to glassware and everything else, it is much more difficult to create an accurate standard.@
@@ Sampling is also a weak link. From a pound of buds typically delivered by a grower in a turkey bag, the dispensary chooses a few --say, two grams' worth-- to send to the lab. Since location on the plant is a factor in cannabinoid production, if two of the three sample buds are from cola tops, they won't provide a true average for the plant as a whole.@
@@ European researchers question the likelihood of growers producing buds containing more than 30% THC by weight. We know that state-of-the-art hashish from the best genetics tops out around 50-60% THC (Clarke 1998; Mehmedic, Chandra et al. 2010), which should be comparable to the highest calculated THC content in a trichome. Now, look at photomicrograph of a whole bud. What percentage of a bud do you think is composed of the glandular trichome heads themselves?@
@@ Let's just say 33% by weight, which may even be a high estimate. [Also present in the trichome are terpenoids, flavonoids, water, squalene, and waxy ballast from the cell walls.] Then 33% of 60% THC in a trichome head should be 20% THC. In fact, that would seem to be a very good benchmark. GW Pharmaceuticals, after years of selective genetic breeding, and advanced research on optimizing cultivation and environmental control techniques produces material with a consistent THC yield in this range (Potter 2004). Documented THC levels above 20% are quite rare, even for sinsemilla (Mehmedic, Chandra et al. 2010). We are not saying "impossible," but "quite rare."
@@ Although high numbers might be a selling point from the dispensary's point of view, and a 25% THC bud or product might seem much more desirable than 15% THC, the patient would get the same medical effect from the latter by taking an extra vaporizer inhalation or nibble of a cookie (assuming the proper accompanying terpenoids are present). Adjusting intake to achieve the desired effect is what titration is all about.@
@@ The pharmacological importance of terpenoids has been stressed by some perspicacious researchers (McPartland and Russo 2001; Fischedick, Hazekamp et al. 2010). Patients who abandon a suitable strain for one with higher THC and/or CBD content may not be getting more relief for their money if the terpenoid profile is significantly different.
@@ There is solid science available in the literature on Cannabis components and their proper analysis. Some relevant reading@here.@Top​