Ranger, I start a the bottom too & let the dummy be all excited thinking he got the best of the rest! Look at it this way, when a sativa bud runs, like say from a light leak or something, where does that running new growth come from? The tip top part of the bud, right? Where does the hairs start browning first? Last? I like that couch-lock knock me out kind of high, & the bottom part, being older, is riper. By the time the top trichomes are just starting to turn slightly amber, sometimes the bottom is becoming over ripe.
-- Pheromomes! HA! HA! Good one Ranger! LMAO!

-- OMB, my little handheld microscope is 60x - 100x magnification. $12.99. + tax @ Radio Shack. Its a great little tool. Need a steady hand though & you'll still want to keep your loop. Dutch Pimp posted that for us a while back. He posted a link to 'drying & curing your buds' too & I used to send noobes to it when they harvested their first grow. Its on here somewhere. You'll have to find it & book mark it. Its the best tutorial you'll find on the subject, & you'll be needing it soon!