Flower vs. Dab?

To smoke flower or take a quick dab?

That is the question many a seasoned stoner are asking themselves in states like ours these days.

Long gone are the days when people had two types of weed: Red bud or green bud. Mexican or Kind bud? Those terms were as non-descriptive and unscientific as the current DUI tests for marijuana.

In actuality there are a few types of strains of cannabis, but for Washington's recreational and medical communities there are two main types (indica and sativa) with cross strains and hybrids blended with a weaker third (ruderalis).

Since most high-end growers are exclusive to indoor greenhouses, the ruderalis is used to create smaller and more potent strains of both indicas and sativas. By itself, the ruderalis is not much of a specimen. It has low THC count, which is the active ingredient that gets users intoxicated.

However, when combined with the other two strains and you can create low-THC and high-CBD combos for medical use and vice versa in plants that are smaller and easier to grow indoors.

The science behind growing and using cannabis is light years from the days your folks and their folks used marijuana.

The average THC content for low-end strains at dispensaries is between 17-19%, while in the 1960's common strains averaged around 7% for high-end smoke. High end flower, or regular old weed buds for you old-timers, is now found with between 20-32% THC content at dispensaries, though the testing behind some of those numbers is up for debate.

What's more, when reduced to oil, cannabis comes in convenient waxes with 50-80% THC content.

Dabbing wax or oil also does not have the drawback of stinky, skunky smells that linger across neighborhoods and homes.

So with the option between smoking potent flower or potent dabs, there are some questions one must answer.

Do I have anything to do for the rest of the day?

Can I get someone else to drive my stoney ass around for the rest of the day?

Because if you choose to dab, you choose not to leave the house. If you choose flower, at least you can eat some food and drink a cool tea while cleaning the house and you aren't a complete zombie.

Of course, some of this also depends on if you chose the "body high" for aches and pains with an indica or "head high" with a sativa.

For my money, the extra coin you throw down for a low-THC and high-CBD combo are well worth it if you're only in this for pain management. Finding a strain at 35% CBD and almost zero THC here in town is easier than you think. And you don't have to worry about becoming a zombie that has to eat ramen because turning on the stove is too complicated. Zero THC means that you do not get stoned, but the pain is just gone and your liver isn't being eaten by chemicals.

Smoking or dabbing a high CBD strain is a game changer for severe arthritis or back pain sufferers that cannot stand to pill-pop. CBD is also the active ingredient that has cured certain types of cancer.