What’s the hardest part about buying cannabis? I’ll answer that for you: knowing which strains and products will provide your desired effects. For so long, the consumer experience has revolved around buying sativas for daytime energetic highs and indicas for nighttime sleepy highs, but as our cannabis knowledge evolves, we’re learning this isn’t the most reliable way to predict a strain’s effects.

Instead, consumers should be searching for effects based on the cannabinoid and terpene profiles of specific strains—we’re talking about the chemical compounds that give strains their potency and perceived effects. When it comes to choosing the right cannabis for your purposes, you should seek out a producer who can provide this information through lab testing.

In the state of Washington, few cultivators stack up to the heights of Gābriel—an indoor craft cannabis producer of flower, pre-rolls, and concentrates. I’ve sang the praises of their Chocolope from the peak of Mount Rainier, and I’ve shared their Lemon Sorbet #3 with friends I’d call family. Gābriel truly embodies everything that consumers want from an elite cannabis producer, and it all comes down to one thing: consistency.

The Importance of Consistent Cannabis

If a producer can’t grow strains with consistent cannabinoid and terpene profiles, you won't be able to find the effects you love on a repeated basis.

Consistency is the most important factor in determining the quality of a cannabis producer. If a producer can’t grow strains with consistent cannabinoid and terpene profiles, you won’t be able to find the effects you love on a repeated basis.

Think of it in terms of Chick-fil-A. If you like the spicy chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A, you expect it to look, taste, and feel the same every time you slide through that drive-thru. If you go to Chick-fil-A one day and the spicy chicken sandwich tastes like Sonic’s hot dogs (fire), then the next day it tastes like Olive Garden’s lasagna (not fire), you’re never going to buy a spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A ever again.

Consumers should maintain these same standards with cannabis.

No matter when or where I purchase Gābriel, I can be confident that their Chocolope is going to wrap my whole body in comfortable euphoria like a pesticide-free burrito, and that Lemon Sorbet #3 is going to sit me on my ass like a Star Punch from Little Mac.

This consistency is backed not only by my hundreds of personal field tests, but also lab-verified terpene profiles from the folks of Confidence Analytics, one of Washington’s most trusted cannabis testing labs. That’s right: we’re talking numbers, baby. Let’s go to the boards, Karen.

Consistency by the Numbers

Here we have data from two of Gābriel’s most popular strains: Sherbet and Chocolope.

Above you’ll find the testing results of over 100 batches of Gābriel’s Sherbet. As you can see by how the lines overlay each other, their batches retain near-identical terpene profile throughout each grow.

So if you prefer the effects of high-THC cannabis strains that are dominant in limonene and caryophyllene, you can trust that Gabriel’s Sherbet will provide you with the experience you know and love every time. Or if you prefer terpinolene-dominant high-THC strains, their Chocolope is guaranteed to get you right.

Here’s another set of testing data for two more of Gabriel’s best strains: Cookies and Cream and Gummo.

Gābriel has their entire production process dialed-in to the T, backed by lab-verified data. If you eat a gluten-free diet, you wouldn’t buy food from producers who couldn’t prove their food is gluten-free.

So what does all of this mean? It means we’re officially moving past the era where cannabis consumers have to play guessing games with strains and products. It means that we’ll be able to know which strains and products to purchase by tracking how specific terpenes and cannabinoids react with our bodies.

And for that reason, cannabis consumers—whether they’re using cannabis to treat a medical condition or to simply relax at the end of a long day—should consider purchasing strains and products from producers who grow consistent terpene profiles, backed by trustworthy data.

As one of the only producers that gets every batch tested by a trusted lab like Confidence Analytics, Gābriel in Washington sets a standard that few can match.

Dante Jordan Dante Jordan is a former Leafly Associate Subject Matter Expert and current freelance cannabis writer living in Seattle, WA. He specializes in content about cannabis strains, culture, and education. Reach him at dantenetworks@gmail.com or on Instagram: @dante_jordan. View Dante Jordan's articles