In Boveda’s ongoing effort to educate the cannabis world about how dry cannabis flower effects quality, we uncovered something even more striking:
Chronically dry cannabis flower degrades consumer trust.
Imagine if you bought a dozen eggs and 4 were missing. What if those eggs were buds? Cannabis short changing is happening to some Colorado consumers. And Boveda wants you to be on high alert.
Haters Gonna Hate, Then Take Away Our Rights
When you sell dry cannabis with plummeting potency who pays? Patients, users and the whole cannabis industry. What if a study uses your dry off-the-shelf flower to measure cannabis’s therapeutic benefits? Cannabis haters will be able to cite these inaccurate findings to restrict cannabis consumption.
How cannabis retailers charge you more but sell you less
We’re giving cannabis retailers the benefit of the doubt. Or rather, the benefit of thinking they can predict how much moisture will evaporate from a particular package of cannabis and when that particular package will be sold. Soothsayers are they!
Why under-compensating for moisture loss costs you:
- Moisture is lost from nearly all packaging at the rate of about 1 gram per month. (Notice the word about—how much evaporation depends on how airtight the package is and what climate you’re in. Here’s the forecast for Denver: Dry, with more dryness to follow.)
- When cannabis retailers don’t package flower with Boveda, they “pack heavy” to account for moisture loss while their cannabis sits on the shelf.
- Most cannabis packagers underestimate how much moisture the package will lose. After all, adding too much extra cannabis means they’re giving away flower—and profits.
- If that prepackaged cannabis you just bought lost more than 1 gram of moisture/month, you’ve just been ripped off.
How Boveda discovered the bud-loss:
- In every legal cannabis city, we sent secret shoppers to dispensaries, which were selling prepackaged cannabis without Boveda.
- The shoppers bought flower right off the shelf. (It’s a hard job, but someone had to do it.)
- The shoppers then hightailed that cannabis to an undisclosed hotel room. (How covert!)
- Using specialized moisture testing equipment and a scale, we quantified the effects of not packaging flower with Boveda’s 2-way humidity control.
Without Boveda, how much cannabis came up short in Colorado:
- 67% of prepackaged flower sold in Colorado was under weight
- 75% of flower at a single chain was under weight
- The average container was light by 22%
- The worst offender was light by 40%
When you buy cannabis, who can you trust?
We’re not going to name names. Just be aware that when cannabis brands “pack heavy,” dry air removes quality and value out of virtually every type of packaging.
So how has the cannabis industry gotten away with leaving flower to the mercy of the terpene-destroying conditions in Colorado? Strong demand. Cultivators are able to sell nearly everything they grow, no matter the condition of the flower.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be like this. A Boveda in every jar and container solves the problem of over drying. Boveda adds (add removes) just the right amount of moisture to lock in a precise relative humidity (RH) level that’s perfect for cannabis. Storing buds with Boveda maximizes the quality and efficacy of cannabis. And now Boveda ensures fairness in flower transactions, too.
Might it be time to start weighing your purchases. Or at least, weighing your dispensary choice.
Does your dispensary protect your buds with Boveda?
How to tell if you’re buying high-quality prepackaged cannabis:
- Look for buds with a lot of crystal-like trichomes.
More trichomes = More potent experience - Avoid cannabis with a lot of shake, which is that loose fall-out at the bottom of the package.
More shake = More broken, useless buds - Steer clear of product with seeds and stems and too many leaves.
More byproducts = Less buy products (less THC and cannabinoids/weight) - Check for Boveda in the package.
Boveda = Pleasant taste, smooth smoke and freshness
Charles P. Rutherford II
Boveda Business Development Director/Cannabis Patient
