Education

All About Popcorn Weed & 3 Reasons to Try it

What is popcorn weed? No, it isn’t weed-infused, buttered popcorn (although that would be amazing); it’s a term used to describe popcorn nugs and popcorn buds!

The cannabis community is known to produce some odd and sometimes straight-up wacky names for its beloved products. From crazy strain names to weed slang used to describe various states of being high, cannabis terminology is rife with clever jokes and odd terms.

Popcorn weed is no exception.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what popcorn weed is and have been wanting to “pop’ the question, look no further. Today, we’re going to break down what popcorn weed is, where it comes from and whether or not it can get you high!

What’s Popcorn Weed?

popcorn weed guide

Popcorn weed is a term used to describe tiny nugs of weed. Popcorn nugs, like popcorn chicken and regular ol’ popcorn, are significantly smaller than their full-sized counterparts. Sometimes, you can see popcorn weed being sold at dispensaries at a discount, or you might even find a few smaller nugs in your stash box when you pick it up.

Although it’s available for sale at most dispensaries, popcorn weed is misunderstood within the community. Due to its small shape and less-than-stellar bag appeal, many incorrectly assume that popcorn nugs are low quality, not potent and taste horrible.

However, this is far from reality.

In actuality, popcorn weed delivers almost the same potency and flavour as full-sized buds, albeit in a smaller form. The only thing that’s separating popcorn buds from regular buds is the size and form factor. As the adage goes, “good things come in small packages,” so it’s disappointing to see so many enthusiasts and tokers treat popcorn bud the same as ditch weed! 

How is Popcorn Weed Made?

Popcorn weed doesn’t have a unique production process. More often than not, the smaller buds you’ll find in your stash bag are just pieces of bud that broke away from the main one. This can happen during transport or storage. While it isn’t an indicator of poor quality, it could mean that the bud was stored or moved improperly.

Compared to these faux popcorn buds, the way that quote-on-quote “real” popcorn weed is made is just slightly different. 

Growing weed in large quantities for commercial sale is an entirely different ball game than a few homegrown plants. Cannabis plants, like regular plants, need water, space, water, time and attention to thrive. Like many fruits and vegetable plants, they also need to be routinely pruned. Pruning allows the plant to focus energy and nutrients it receives in a more productive way.

For example, if there was an apple tree with five fruit-bearing branches, a farmer might prune 3 of the branches so that the remaining fruits can grow larger in size. 

The process with weed is very similar. Instead of fruit-bearing branches, cannabis plants have colas, the upper branches of the plant that produce buds. 

Cannabis colas are pruned regularly during the plant’s growing cycle to ensure that the remaining colas produce bigger, danker buds.

Sometimes, the sheer volume of colas needing to be pruned can prove overwhelming, and cannabis farmers can miss out on a couple. These colas tend to be located near the bottom of the plant or shaded behind a larger cola which can cause them to be easily overlooked. Although these colas can still develop, they receive fewer resources and attention than colas that are properly taken care of. 

Once the plant reaches maturity, these colas will produce smaller buds, otherwise known as popcorn buds! 

Can Popcorn Weed Get You High?

popcorn nugs getting high

Yes! Popcorn weed will get you high.

As we’ve covered above, the reason why popcorn weed is so small is due to the fact that they’re from smaller colas. For the most part, popcorn bud will retain almost all the potency and flavour of its full-sized counterparts. However, their smaller size means less surface area, which means less kief on the bud’s surface. You might be missing out on just a tiny bit of potency, but you might not even notice it! 

With that being said, this slight loss in potency shouldn’t deter you from enjoying popcorn weed. On the contrary, many enjoy popcorn bud for its low price point and accessible price. 

Should You Try Popcorn Weed? 3 Reasons to Try Popcorn Bud

This question nets another resounding “yes” from us! Popcorn weed offers many advantages over full-sized bud, which we’ll get into below:

Popcorn Weed is Affordable

Since popcorn buds lack the bag appeal of regular bud, they’re priced at a lower price point. While a gram of regular bud might cost you anywhere from $6 and up, a gram of popcorn bud will be half of that. For tokers looking to get high on a budget, popcorn weed is a great option.

Popcorn Buds are Versatile

Popcorn weed is not only affordable; it’s versatile. Not every occasion calls for rolling up a fattie. Not only can you risk a green out, but you might also just throw away the joint entirely if you find yourself peaking on the high scale

Popcorn buds are small. Similar to perforated rolling tips, you can pick and choose how much you want to smoke without biting off more than you can chew. Nobody wants to return to a grinder with some leftover, dried-out weed. Popcorn bud’s smaller serving size ensures that you finish every joint down to its last toke!

Popcorn Bud is Perfect for Edibles

We have many recipes on how to make edibles, including:

All weed edibles, regardless of how they’re made, will require weed. However, unlike smoking, what strain you decide to use is not nearly as significant compared to when you’re smoking it.

Since the plant’s terpenes, the strain-specific compounds that give each strain its unique properties, are lost in the decarboxylation process, the kind of weed you use does not affect the final product. Whether you choose to use an expensive AAAA strain or a cheap bag of popcorn weed will not influence how potent or tasty your final product will be, so why spend more than you have to?

Popcorn buds are perfect for making edibles due to their low price point and smaller size. They’re also ready to be decarboxylated right away without any additional prep! Talk about convenience! 

Pop the Myths on Popcorn Weed!

The myths surrounding popcorn weed are many, but we hope that we were able to convince you to give these lil’ buds a try! 

If you’re looking for a cheap and affordable way to get high without having to break the bank, there’s no better way than popcorn weed. Tiny but mighty, popcorn weed is just as tasty, potent and dank as regular bud but in a smaller package!

At the end of the day, weed is about getting high. If you’re not particularly concerned about bag appeal or how a strain looks, popcorn weed is the choice for you!