When finding high-quality cannabis is your priority, brand matters. Not all cannabis brands are equal, and it can get expensive to find brands by trial and error.
To avoid wasting your money on random products, use these tips to find your ideal brand without having to try everything first.
1. Look for brands that care about quality
It’s natural to feel drawn to brands with attractive packages and interesting logos, but aesthetics won’t tell you anything about product quality. A brand can spend thousands on marketing and next to nothing on product quality assurance.
The first thing you need to do is look for brands that care about product quality. For example, Verano Brands go through several processes to ensure premium quality, including cultivating all of their flower in-house and testing every batch in their on-site lab to verify the dosage, terpene profile, and purity of the product.
Once you’ve identified brands that prioritize quality, you’ll still have to try them to see which specific products work best for you. However, you’ll have an advantageous starting point knowing you’re trying products made by brands that care about quality cannabis.
2. Read product reviews for specificity
Product reviews can be an excellent way to find good cannabis brands. However, you need to read reviews for specificity to know which assessments are applicable to your life.
For example, say you come across a review that says, “I love this brand; it’s the best I’ve ever had.” This type of review doesn’t tell you anything specific about the product, and it doesn’t tell you why the person thinks it’s the best brand.
When reading reviews, try to read between the lines to find out what people are really saying about their experiences. They might be scarce but look for reviews with specificity. The most helpful reviews will come from people who describe what they were looking for and how the brand measured up to their expectations.
For instance, if you’re looking for a brand with products that live up to their stated benefits regarding sleep, the following review would be helpful: “I was looking for an indica that would make me fall asleep fast. Other brands didn’t work, but now I don’t have trouble sleeping anymore.”
If a product is advertised as being specifically for sleep, this kind of review will tell you it’s working as advertised, even for people who usually struggle to find the right product. This is important because not everyone gets the same benefit from the same product.
The more you can relate to a reviewer’s story, the more likely that brand is to be a match for you.
3. Take note of the availability
Is availability unpredictable where certain brands are concerned? There’s nothing worse than finding your ideal strain from a brand you love and then not being able to purchase that strain anymore. This usually happens when brands don’t have consistent access to their supply.
A good brand isn’t just a brand that sells premium flowers. A good brand is one that takes the time and effort to ensure its popular products are available to its customers at all times.
Look for brands that cultivate their own flower. When a brand relies on another company for its supply, they’re always at the whim of that company’s supply issues. However, when a brand cultivates its own strains, its products are less likely to become unavailable.
4. Look for extraction transparency
While not all extraction processes are perfect, some are far better than others. For instance, carbon dioxide extraction is considered to be ideal over butane extraction since CO2 is non-toxic. Sometimes, butane extraction can leave behind heavy metal residues and other toxins.
If you’re considering a cannabis brand that doesn’t publicly state its extraction methods, do some research online to find out if they use butane extraction. It’s still an acceptable extraction method, but high-quality brands are more likely to use CO2 extraction. If a brand doesn’t explain its extraction methods, it might be intentionally trying to hide it from consumers.
5. Look at the price point for premium products
Although some brands use gimmicks to sell mid-shelf flowers at high prices, truly premium cannabis brands should cost a little more than others. A company claiming to produce high-quality cannabis with premium ingredients won’t be able to offer premium products at the same price as standard cannabis products.
Be cautious of premium brands with prices that seem too cheap to be high-quality. The cost of premium ingredients is always higher, and therefore the retail price will be higher as well.
6. Research first, then try
No matter what, you’ll need to try a variety of products to find the brands you love. However, when you research your options first to narrow down potential brands, you’ll find your ideal cannabis brand quickly.