Tasting Standards
Here at BudReviews we are weed aficionados, and just as a good wine or quality tobacco are judged by high standards, we believe so should medical-grade cannabis. We thought hard about how a marijuana strain should be reviewed, and took lessons from wine degustation and food tasting, as well as personal experience. Strains, concentrates, and edibles are rated for medicinal qualities, as well as overall quality.
All testing is double-blind, meaning neither conductor nor reviewer know what strain they're getting. To standardize tasting results, we pinch & crack open every nug to expose the freshest, most pungent scent. We grind up 0.3 grams from the tips of the buds, and smoke through a Volcano™ Vaporizer. We then wait 15 minutes before recording the effects. Reviewers do not medicate five hours prior to reviews, and sample only one strain per session.
Edibles are eaten in the morning (on an empty stomach) in order to record an accurate high duration.
Rating System
We thought a lot about the factors that we could look at when rating a strain: look, smell, density, THC content, grow quality, taste, harshness, high duration... etc. We settled on a rating system that takes into account smell, taste, effect, and price. Here's a breakdown:
- Smell (10%) - Nugs should have a pleasant, distinct smell, not one reflecting bad growing technique (eg. fertilizer or dirt smell), insufficient curing time, or old age.
- Taste (20%) - There should be layers of pleasant tastes, no bitter or dirty aftertastes, which suggest a badly flushed grow or a sub-par cut.
- Effect (50%) - Judged based on quality of high more than potency. Sativas are judged according to what Sativas should be ("head high"), Indicas according to what Indicas should be ("body high"), and hybrids according to a good mixture of the two. We also consider which medical conditions a strain is most suitable for.
- Price (20%) - Since these are top-shelf strains, they tend to be pricey. We assume an average of $55/8th ($15/g) including tax, anything above that gets points detracted; anything below, points added.