Marijuana extracts expert: You should dab for the flavor, not the intense high

People often associate dabbing with getting intensely, often uncomfortably high, but many familiar with concentrates insist there is more to cannabis extracts than just a high THC percentage — such as flavor.

In his first appearance on The Cannabist Show, Cannabist columnist Ry Prichard talked about how one of the largest misconceptions about concentrates is dose size. Many think of a dab as exponentially stronger than flower, but Prichard says if you compare a full, .9-gram joint with a single dab you are getting the same amount of cannabinoids.

You’re also missing out on a lot of potential taste, Prichard says.

“By the time you get halfway through a joint a lot of weed tastes the same, but a concentrate is different every time,” Prichard says in the above clip, “and it’s always fresh.”

But what about people who don’t smoke a whole joint themselves? Prichard says a vape pen is the ideal middle ground between buds and dabs.

Concentrates can be intimidating to a casual user. In the above video, marijuana editor Ricardo Baca admits he’s curious about them but that he’s respectful of his own tolerance. Prichard says one major reason to make the move is that concentrates are a refined product. He makes the comparison of eating bread, not raw grain. Vaporizing extracts is like smoking the finished product, and it’s also how to get the best flavor from the bud.

“It’s a better flavor experience. It’s a deeper experience. You’re not only concentrating the cannabinoids in there but you’re concentrating the terpenes,” Prichard says.

Back on the show, Prichard again addresses the “crack cocaine of cannabis” nickname that dabbing has been given. He adds that whether you’re smoking wax, shatter or live resin, extracts are the cannaseur’s best option for taste and high. And since there is also less of a smell to concentrates, not smelling like an ashtray is an added bonus of moving from flowers to concentrates.