Quote Originally Posted by micjen
You know I read these threads about how the bud looks, etc. All my life until about a month ago I just smoked whatever whoever had. How am I supposed to know what great bud looks like? If there is mold can you actually SEE mold? Yea I am naive but at least I am trying to learn! The disp. I go to (yea only one - because they started me out and have always been cool) seems ok - but since I don't REALLY know the difference in good and bad bud, I could just be their sucka! Anyway, school me --please.:hippy:
I'd really suggest getting a little handheld microscope so that you can check out meds for yourself. Also, be wary of any dispensaries that don't have a nice magnifying tool available for you to use, as that probably indicates that they'd rather people not take too close a look at their meds...

Here's a post I did on a moldy strain I got from a dispensary with some pictures so you can see what to look for: MMJinColorado - Moldy Meds Warning! | MMJ in Colorado. Basically, anything that seems fuzzy (it's generally white) and is not crystals, is most likely mold. It's difficult to see with the naked eye unless it's VERY bad -- the sample that I got I didn't notice it at all until I checked it out with the scope, then I could see the tiny white splotches on the leaf surfaces with my naked eye.

As far as general quality, here's what I look for:

1) Well-dried: meaning that the stems snap easily when bent and don't bend, as that indicates a LOT of residual moisture.

2) Well-cured: this is a lot harder to tell, but generally if a strain is not cured it will smell like hay, grass, or simply vegetable matter rather than something pungent like you'd normally expect. some strains simply don't have a lot of smell, but if you can't get much out of it when pinching it underneath your nose, etc., then it's probably just either a very crappy strain or it wasn't cured properly. Another way to tell is how it burns -- if it can't hold a "cherry" and you have to keep relighting it, or if it burns and there's a good amount of black ashes left as opposed to fluffy white ash, that means it probably wasn't dried/cured properly.

You can't cure it properly without drying it out well basically... shops that sell wet meds are likely not curing it at all and simply are trying to push out product as quickly as possible.

3) Good trich coverage: Trichomes are the crystals that you see all over quality bud. I generally make sure I see a visible layer of trichs before even considering a purchase. It's VERY rare to see strains without many trichs, but generally that means that it has been harvested for hash by the dispensary (probably by using a screen or something similar to knock the trich heads off of the plant) or was just of poor quality (possibly not let grow long enough, possible just an amateur grower).

That's my general guide. There's of course more to it, but that along with the basic mold inspection should help you get nice meds. Aside from the trichs/mold inspection, I rely almost entirely upon my nose... I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I've been impressed with a strain's smell but it did not deliver... that's my go-to measuring stick.