It’s a modern world, and today’s cannabis enthusiasts have a vast selection of boutique and artisanal buds to select from. Top shelf dispensaries carry high-dollar cannabis exploding in vibrant colors and practically dripping in resinous trichomes. Extracts and concentrates are more pure and potent than ever before. Cannagars (cannabis cigars rolled in a marijuana leaf) can sell for upwards of $1,000.
In this new era of highfalutin hemp, is there still room for those who want to buy the cheapest cannabis possible? For the cash-conscious cannabis connoisseur, purchasing trim rather than whole flower may seem appealing. After all, you’re getting a lot more for less money, right?
Well, not exactly. There are some major differences between trim and flower that you ought to consider before making a mistake.
What Is Trim?
If you’ve ever seen a wild hemp plant blooming, then you know it looks a lot different than the stuff you see at stores. The stalks are thick, the buds are long, and it’s covered in those iconic seven-point leaves. So what happens to the rest of the plant?
Before the cannabis you buy ever gets sealed in a glass jar or mylar bag, it’s first cured and trimmed. Excess bud tips and sugar leaves are carefully manicured off of the plant. Instead of just tossing this extra biomaterial away, it’s collected together, often along with bits of the stalks, pieces of stems, and stray hemp seeds. These leftovers are packaged and sold as trim.
Difference Between Shake And Trim
Don’t confuse trim with shake, though it’s an easy mistake to make. Unlike trim, shake isn’t intentionally removed from the original plant. Cannabis can be a delicate flower, and as it’s handled during the curing, trimming, and packaging processes, pieces of it simply break away and fall off. These droppings are packaged and sold as shake. Despite being considered of less quality than whole flower, shake has the benefit of being much cheaper. Plus, it’s already broken up and can be added directly to a joint or pipe.
Can You Smoke Trim?
Unlike shake, trim typically isn’t smoked. While the sugar leaves and bits of bud tips do have trace amounts of cannabinoids in them, it’s significantly less than whole flower. Not to mention, the taste of the smoke will be atrocious and end up hurting your lungs and throat.
So if you don’t smoke trim, what is it even used for?
What Do You Do With Trim?
Even though it’s not suitable for your bong, trim has a few uses that make it worth the effort of saving it. For one, it can be used by extractors to create extracts and oils. Even though the large majority of the cannabinoids and terpenes in cannabis are found on the whole flower, there are still trace amounts of the compounds in the trim. With enough trim, extractors can create potent oils and tinctures. However, unless you’ve been trained, we don’t recommend attempting to create your own extracts. It requires specific equipment and can potentially be dangerous if the right safety precautions aren’t taken.
For the average person, trim is usually used as a base for edibles or other infusions. For example, trim can be a great way to brew a relaxing cup of hemp tea. Alternatively, trim can be decarboxylated, turned into cannabutter, and used to make any kind of edible you want.
Hemp Flower Benefits
The truth is, you get what you pay for. In this case, the benefits of hemp flower are definitely worth the extra few bucks unless you’re a commercial extractor.
By choosing whole flower, you’re choosing a naturally versatile product chock full of cannabinoids and terpenes that work together to give you an unrivaled experience.
