I had an educational discussion with one of our Facebook readers this past weekend and wanted to pass along some of the information to you folks.

Alex Redbud (which may or may not be her real name) has been trying several strains at both of Vancouver’s pot shops.

On Friday, she picked up some product grown by Monkey Grass Farms. This was her comment:

“I got Skywalker, Rainbow, Blueberry Grape Ape and Pineapple Kush. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed it was only Monkey Grass Farms today. People seem to like them, but a lot of those people are new to smoking, I’ve noticed. The buds they package seem like bottom of the plant buds. Loose, leafy, not very matured, etc. Gave them the benefit of the doubt today, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Redbud said she had posted some pictures of what she purchased on Monkey Grass Farms’ Facebook page, but the company took it down. So Redbud gave Cannabis Chronicles an image of what she’s talking about:

After looking more closely, here’s what she said:

“They need work with trimming/curing, but these were better to smoke than the last batch I tried. Except for Pineapple Kush. It’s fairly potent, but it smells and tastes bad. These strains usually have a distinct, sweet smell. Here’s a good example of what I was talking about earlier. Left is Cannasol Farms “Girl Scout Cookie”, which is some of the best quality I’ve seen. Consistent buds, hardly any stems. On the right is “Rainbow”, from Monkey Grass Farms. It’s a great strain, but you can see several stems and leaves throughout the buds.”

She also gave us a second picture:

I’ve heard others say they really like Monkey Grass Farms products, but I’ve also heard most of them say the smoking is a bit harsh. Perhaps things will improve in the future.

But after visiting CannaMan Farms and watching them harvest and cure plants, I can see what Redbud is talking about when she mentions that Monkey Grass should trim its buds a bit better.

When growers harvest, they first remove big leaves or parts of leaves that have no white crystals on them (the part that contains THC and other components).

Then, after the plants dry for several days or a few weeks, the grower trims the buds further, removing the leaf parts that did have white crystals into a container of “shake” – parts of the plant used to make pre-rolled joints (which is why they’re typically cheaper than buds) or to be used by processors to make extracts or other product.

They also trim down the buds, which is the part of the plant that smokes the smoothest, weigh them and get them ready for packaging.

So if you look back at the pictures, you can get an idea of what a well-trimmed bud looks like compared with a poorly trimmed one.

Hopefully Redbud will continue to share knowledge like that with us as the market continues to evolve. And hopefully you folks will join in too – we love your input!

On another quality control note, if you want to know what’s in your plant, Analytical 360, which so far is the main marijuana testing lab in the state, has some results from growers and strains accessible on its website. Although so far not many of those results have been released.

Still, I thought I’d hot link a few growers that have had product in Vancouver stores.

Cheers,
-SueVo (You can contact me at: sue.vorenberg@columbian.com or @col_cannabis on Twitter)

Here are the lab reports if you want to check it out:

CannaMan Farms strains (they have several reports on the site): http://analytical360.com/vendors/listing/cannaman-farms (Their new Cinex came out 23.67% THC TOTAL – the highest recorded in the state so far, Grower Shane Wahl said proudly)

CannaSol Farms strains: http://analytical360.com/vendors/listing/cannasol-farms-medicine (no listings yet)

KBF strains: http://analytical360.com/vendors/listing/kbf (no listings yet)

Monkey Grass Farms strains: http://analytical360.com/vendors/listing/monkey-grass-farms (one listing)