painkills2
New Member
Medical cannabis patients have different ways of judging strains, and this is apparent in how they choose to review them. For instance, in my reviews, I focus on strength. Other reviews focus on freshness or the curing method, and still others focus on things like the number of trichomes. As MMJ patients, with so many different types of symptoms and medical conditions, our reviews reflect what is personally important to us.
But most patients don't post reviews for themselves -- they want to help other patients. So in the interest of making my reviews beneficial to a larger group of patients (no matter where they live), I am hoping to have a discussion about what patients want to see when they read a strain review.
Indica or Sativa?
As a reviewer, I am hampered by my inability to tell the difference between the effects of a sativa and an indica. Other patients explain the difference as a head effect for sativas, and a body effect for indicas. Of course, there is a wealth of hybrids that cause a combination of effects, so I'm just not sure how to use this except as a label. For me, that label alone doesn't tell me much.
Bud Photos
I do not yet have the technical knowledge to take and post my own pictures. In the future, I will try to include a picture of each strain if I can find one, but I will not be able to verify when the pictures were taken (i.e., which batch).
Strength and Test Results
For strength, I've been using a rating system of 1 to 10, but this is proving to be inadequate. I was hoping that my rating system would begin to match up with the THC strength as shown by the test results (when available), but that's not how it's working out. And I don't know enough about testing yet to include this in my reviews, except to point out what the results indicated.
So, I need some additional ideas on how to rate strength within my reviews. Since I have experience with a wide range of pain management treatments, I can use those experiences to compare and contrast those with medical cannabis. For example, I could try to rate strength by making comparisons to prescription medications that people are more familiar with: If I say the strength of this strain is similar to Tylenol with codeine, or to something like Vicodin, then maybe that would be a comparison more easily understood than the 1-to-10 scale.
Terpenes
There's also the matter of terpenes, which we can call smell or fragrance. There is a type of strength in this part of marijuana, but it is unique to each user -- as are most things cannabis, I guess. I'm thinking there needs to be a separate rating system for terpene strength, but I'm not sure how to create one.
Strains like High Desert Relief's Island Sweet Skunk or R. Greenleaf's Lemon Sour Diesel have citrus terpenes that, for me, appear to increase the effects. But for patients who don't like that smell, the opposite effect could occur. Anyway, I'm stumped and searching for ideas.
I don't know if there are other MMJ patients out there who need as much as help as I do, but all I can do is ask for it, here, on these forums. Thanks for reading.
But most patients don't post reviews for themselves -- they want to help other patients. So in the interest of making my reviews beneficial to a larger group of patients (no matter where they live), I am hoping to have a discussion about what patients want to see when they read a strain review.
Indica or Sativa?
As a reviewer, I am hampered by my inability to tell the difference between the effects of a sativa and an indica. Other patients explain the difference as a head effect for sativas, and a body effect for indicas. Of course, there is a wealth of hybrids that cause a combination of effects, so I'm just not sure how to use this except as a label. For me, that label alone doesn't tell me much.
Bud Photos
I do not yet have the technical knowledge to take and post my own pictures. In the future, I will try to include a picture of each strain if I can find one, but I will not be able to verify when the pictures were taken (i.e., which batch).
Strength and Test Results
For strength, I've been using a rating system of 1 to 10, but this is proving to be inadequate. I was hoping that my rating system would begin to match up with the THC strength as shown by the test results (when available), but that's not how it's working out. And I don't know enough about testing yet to include this in my reviews, except to point out what the results indicated.
So, I need some additional ideas on how to rate strength within my reviews. Since I have experience with a wide range of pain management treatments, I can use those experiences to compare and contrast those with medical cannabis. For example, I could try to rate strength by making comparisons to prescription medications that people are more familiar with: If I say the strength of this strain is similar to Tylenol with codeine, or to something like Vicodin, then maybe that would be a comparison more easily understood than the 1-to-10 scale.
Terpenes
There's also the matter of terpenes, which we can call smell or fragrance. There is a type of strength in this part of marijuana, but it is unique to each user -- as are most things cannabis, I guess. I'm thinking there needs to be a separate rating system for terpene strength, but I'm not sure how to create one.
Strains like High Desert Relief's Island Sweet Skunk or R. Greenleaf's Lemon Sour Diesel have citrus terpenes that, for me, appear to increase the effects. But for patients who don't like that smell, the opposite effect could occur. Anyway, I'm stumped and searching for ideas.
I don't know if there are other MMJ patients out there who need as much as help as I do, but all I can do is ask for it, here, on these forums. Thanks for reading.
