How To Make Weed Taste Better

An incredible number of cannabis strains are available in the post-legalization world. Depending on how often you smoke, it could take you months or years to try them all. (We know, pot may not be legal where you live yet, but the huge market that widespread legalization has created gives cultivators and growers plenty of customers to sell to.)

Most people shopping for a new strain immediately look for potency, since today’s weed often has a THC content of 20%, 25%, 30%, or even more.

But just like beer and wine drinkers regularly search for beverages with different tastes and aromas, there are cannabis consumers who appreciate the very different flavors and scents of different weed strains.

It’s not hard to find that variety. Virtually every strain tastes at least slightly different; their combinations of terpenes and flavonoids can make marijuana taste floral, diesel, fruity or spicy, with all sorts of undertones including notes of wood, coffee, berries, milk, chocolate, bubblegum, jalapeno…the list goes on and on.

So the best advice for making your weed taste better? Try a different strain.

If it seems to you that all of the buds you smoke taste the same, though, or if there’s a particular flavor you want to add to your flower, read on.

Why Would All Weed Taste The Same?

Some smokers have been known to complain that they can’t tell the difference between various strains of marijuana – or even worse – that they all taste bad.

There are certainly some people with medical conditions that prevent them from distinguishing flavors. Those issues are usually caused by head infections, injuries, or surgeries, but a few patients suffer from a rare taste disorder known as hypogeusia. And as we all know by now, some COVID patients lose their senses of taste and smell.

But the more common issue when “all weed tastes the same” is that there’s something wrong with the way it’s been produced, the way it’s been stored, or the way it’s being smoked.

Clean Your Bong/Pipe Between Uses

When bud is heated to high temperatures, it experiences chemical changes that create the smoke – and create the residue that remains in the bowl. That residue is bitter, and if you refill your bowl without getting rid of it, it can “corrupt” the taste of the weed you’re trying to enjoy.

And even if you’re obsessed with cleaning your bowl between each smoke sesh, the high heat used to ignite the flower can cause chemical reactions that might obscure its taste. Butane lighters generate heat as high as 3600°F (yes, you read that right), a temperature that can easily destroy the terpenes that contribute much of weed’s flavor.

If you find that you’re unable to enjoy the taste of your cannabis, try vaping it instead of smoking it. Lower temperatures are required to create vapor, and most vaporizers operate somewhere around 350°. You’ll be able to taste the nuances of your pot much better when you vape.

Make Sure It’s Stored Correctly

Weed doesn’t “go bad,” but it can certainly be stale or moldy.

If your bud has been around for six months or longer, there’s a good chance that it’s lost at least some of its potency, aroma, and flavor. The taste that may be left after a long period of storage can make it taste almost exactly like any other old weed, meaning that it all tastes “the same.” Stale.

If your weed tastes “off” and smells like hay or a storage closet, it’s probably moldy. You should have seen fuzzy or white signs of mold before you lit up, but they’re easy to miss if you can’t wait to get your buzz on. Not only won’t you be able to enjoy the taste of the strain if it’s developed mold, but it could make you sick.

The key to preserving potency, aroma, and flavor, while preventing mold, is proper storage of your flower. Keep it in airtight glass jars, and store the jars away from light, heat, or excessive cold. A dark closet at room temperature is ideal. It’s also a good idea to put a humidity pack in your stash jar, to keep humidity levels around 60%.

Buy High-Quality Weed

Reputable growers will do all they can to enhance the potency, flavor, and aroma of their products. They use the right growing medium and nutrients, maintain the proper temperature and humidity during each stage of the growth cycle, and flush their plants before harvesting. All of those steps preserve the plants’ important terpenes, which are essential to the distinctive taste of a weed strain.

If you buy from a questionable source, however, the grower may not have taken those steps. That can mean your bud just tastes “like pot,” instead of yummy.

Even more common: growers who are in a hurry to get their crop to market may not dry and cure their plants properly, because those processes can take a month or even longer. Curing, in particular, enhances the taste and aroma of weed.

Buying from a dispensary or a dealer you trust will be the best step you can take to ensure your supply has all of the taste that it should.

Add Flavor With Essential Oils

You can add flavors to cannabis before using it, but you have to be careful. Once you introduce other flavoring ingredients to your stash jar, you could be begging for mold development.

The best approach is to moisten a cotton ball with essential oil and hang it from the lid of your jar. Be sure it doesn’t come in contact with the flower, and do regular inspections to make sure the weed isn’t getting moldy. Condensation on the jar will be an important warning sign. Also, make sure the essential oil is safe for human consumption before using it; you may even want to taste a drop to be sure it doesn’t have a bad aftertaste.

You can add dried fruit, spices, or citrus rinds to impart flavor to your jar, as long as you put them into a smaller container (like an empty tea ball) to keep them separate from the weed. Again, check often for signs of mold.

A better approach is to add flavoring to your joint when you roll it since that will eliminate concerns about mold.

Flavored rolling paper is the easiest option, and many shops will have a variety to choose from. The extra flavor may be overpowering, though. You can have better control over how strong your flavoring will be by buying the flavored drops available at some dispensaries or head shops. They come in a number of different delicious flavors, and you can use as many or as few drops as you’d like.

How To Make Weed Taste Better: FAQ

Q: What about adding essential oil or extract to weed before you roll it or pack a bowl?
A: Some people do that, but getting the amounts right can take some trial-and-error, and you may end up wasting a lot of flowers by doing that. Pre-made drops are a safer choice.

Q: Can you do anything to flavor weed while you’re growing it?
A: There’s a hack for that, but it’s done just before you harvest. You stop watering a few days beforehand to allow the plants to use up all the water in the soil. Then, you mix food-safe essential oil or extract with water, water the plants with it in the morning, and harvest at the end of the same day. It works pretty well, too, although the plants will be more susceptible to mold during drying and curing.