Overdried Cannabis Rips Customers Off

In Boveda’s ongoing effort to educate the cannabis world about how parched flower devastates cannabis quality, we uncovered something striking:

We want to give cannabis retailers the benefit of the doubt. But the reality is that most cannot predict how much moisture will evaporate from a particular package of cannabis and when that particular package will be sold. We conducted a secret study and found that retailers often had less material than they advertised at lower qualities.

How Boveda discovered the bud-loss:

1. In every legal cannabis city, we sent secret shoppers to dispensaries, which were selling prepackaged cannabis.
2. The shoppers bought flower right off the shelf. (It’s a hard job, but someone had to do it.)
3. The shoppers then hightailed that cannabis back to an undisclosed hotel room. (How sneaky!)
4. Using specialized moisture testing equipment and a scale, we quantified the effects of not packaging flower with Boveda’s 2-way humidity control.

Water Activity Meter (Moisture-testing equipment)

Without appropriate humidity control, here’s how much cannabis came up short in Colorado:

1. 67% of prepackaged flower sold in Colorado was underweight.
2. 75% of flower at a single chain was underweight.
3. The average container was light by 22%.
4. The worst offender was light by 40%.

Click image to see full-sized chart.

Why under-compensating for moisture loss costs you:

1. 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.)
2. When cannabis retailers don’t package their flower with Boveda, they “pack heavy” to account for moisture loss while their cannabis sits on the shelf.
3. Most cannabis packagers underestimate how much moisture the package will lose. After all, adding too much extra cannabis to account for loss means they’re giving away flower—and profits.
4. If that prepackaged cannabis you just bought lost more than 1 gram of moisture/month, you’ve just been ripped off.

Click image to see full-sized chart.

Imagine if you bought a dozen eggs and 4 were missing. What if those eggs were buds? Some Colorado consumers are getting short-changed on their cannabis, and Boveda wants you to be on high alert.

When you sell dry cannabis with plummeting potency who pays the price? 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.

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. 2-way humidity control adds (and removes) just the right amount of moisture to lock in a precise relative humidity (RH) level that’s perfect for cannabis. Storing buds with 2-way humidity control maximizes the quality and efficacy of cannabis.

Might it be time to start weighing your purchases. Or at least, weighing your dispensary choice. Does your dispensary protect your buds?

How to tell if you’re buying high-quality prepackaged cannabis:

1. Look for buds with a lot of crystal-like trichomes.
2. More trichomes = More potent experience
3. Avoid cannabis with a lot of shake, which is that loose fall-out at the bottom of the package.
4. More shake = More broken, useless buds
5. Steer clear of product with seeds and stems and too many leaves.
6. More byproducts = Don’t buy products (less THC and lower cannabinoids/weight)
7. Check for humidity controls in the package.
8. Pleasant taste, smooth smoke and freshness

Resources:

Want to get in touch with Boveda? They can be reached via the following methods:

1. Website: https://bovedainc.com/
2. Email: dan.cleveland@bovedainc.com