We all love telling our friends we smoked up on some mad Chemdog or Alaskan Thunderf*ck last night, but can these strain names be trusted?

Many of us use strain names as a way of identifying certain buds that we find enjoyable. If you’ve relished in some Purple Haze before, you’ll be on the lookout for this beauty in the future. The trouble with this though is that the same strain grown by different growers can provide their own unique experiences. They won’t quite be the same, so this brings into question the reliability of strain names.

What do I mean by Reliability?

When I speak about reliability, I mean how trustworthy a name can be. How trustworthy it is in providing the same effects as the last time you smoked. This all depends on the cannabinoid and terpene levels that can be found in that particular flower.

This is especially tough to establish in the local context as there aren’t many places where you can test your bud. We also don’t have dispensaries that provide this valuable information in a regulated environment. People are either trusting their underground dealers or hoping for the best from their personal home grow.

It’s safe to say that the Strawberry Cough you’re smoking on today is vastly different from the same named bud you smoked a couple of months ago. You’ve probably noticed, on the two occasions you smoked the same strain, that the experiences were rather different. However, this isn’t always the case as I have been lucky enough to enjoy the same strain twice with the same effects from a reliable source.

The Sad Truth

Strains have changed drastically over the decades, particularly the popular ones. Names such as Pineapple Express and Durban Poison are always in demand, causing growers and suppliers to try provide these more frequently. This often changes the strain build up more than you would expect. The odds of the names being true to the genetics of these strains is highly unlikely.

As the industry grows in South Africa, we can hope for more trustworthy suppliers with sets of lab results breaking down their buds contents. However one can argue that cannabis has changed so much that no strain name can be perfectly reliable anymore. It may be worth more to start looking at factors such as cannabinoid content and terpene profile in the future. These could be a more reliable and consistent factor to look at when choosing your bud, finding ratios and profiles that best suit your needs and wants.

If you ain’t chokin’, you ain’t tokin’

– Stoner Steve