Hemp Flower Beginners Guide | How to use CBD buds & more FAQ

The most common ways to take CBD is through CBD oil and vape juice. However; another less-common but yet amazing way is by using hemp flower, also known as “CBD flower“, “hemp buds“, “CBD buds” or “CBD weed“. But what is CBD flower exactly? What kind of effects does it provide? And how do you use hemp flower? These and several other frequently asked questions will get answered in this hemp flower beginners guide.

What is CBD flower?: The difference with regular weed

Let’s start this hemp flower beginners guide by looking at the questions “what is CBD flower?” and “what are the differences with regular weed?”. CBD hemp buds look and smell exactly the same as regular weed. So, you can’t tell the difference between them visually. Both are cannabis after all.

There’s only one big distinction between CBD flower (which comes from the hemp plant) and regular weed (which comes from the marihuana plant); Regular weed contains high levels of THC (the psychoactive compound that provides a ‘high’ effect), and low levels of CBD (the non-psychoactive compound that relaxes you). CBD hemp buds on the other hand contain high levels of CBD and very low levels of THC. Hemp buds always contain a trace amount of THC (below 0.3%). So, there is no such thing as CBD flower without any THC at all.

Hemp flower effects (Does it get you high?) (‘Buzz’)

If you never used it before, you will probably wonder what the effects of hemp flower are and if it can get you high. CBD itself is non-psychoactive, so can’t get you high. THC is the cannabis-compound that provides a ‘high’ effect. Since there’s almost no THC in hemp flower (as explained above), using hemp buds will not get you high in the same way regular weed does. However; because of the trace amounts of THC in CBD flower (plus several other cannabinoids and terpenes), it is possible to feel a slight ‘buzz’ effect. In which degree you experience this feeling depends on your sensitivity and how much hemp you use.

This so-called ‘buzz’ is not comparable to the high that you get from regular weed. Most people would describe it as a relaxed feeling that will not space you out but keeps your mind clear. This CBD flower buzz can feel either a bit energetic or sedative, depending on which strain you use and how you react to it. The strain effects will be discussed more detailed later in this article. Because most people experience this buzz-effect as a pleasant feeling, you can also use CBD flower buds recreational (instead of only for the potential benefits). If you’re afraid of getting too much of this buzz but do want a relaxed feeling, it’s recommended to start with a very low amount of hemp flower and check how you react to it. For a more detailed description of possible effects you can read our own experience in this hemp flower review.

Are CBD hemp buds legal in my state / country? (Laws)

CBD hemp buds are legal in all 50 states of the US, as long as the THC content is not higher than 0.3%. In most other countries they’re legal as well, but there may be some countries where hemp buds are not legalized (yet). CBD laws are changing often, so you should check the legal status of hemp flower in your country.

Even when you live in a place where CBD hemp buds are legal, you still should be careful. As described earlier, hemp flower looks and smells exactly like regular weed. This means that the police can’t tell the difference without testing it, so they may mistake your legal hemp flower for illegal weed. Officers don’t carry the technology with them to test on the spot, so try the avoid unnecessary trouble.

How to use hemp flower buds?

So; how to use hemp flower buds? This can be done in several ways. The most common ways are:

● Orally: There are several ways to use hemp flower orally. You for example make edibles (such as cookies), capsules or drinks (such as hemp flower tea or juice). *Note: you should first decarb CBD flower when using it orally, as explained below.
● Smoking: Just like regular weed, you can smoke CBD flower. You can also use it as a tobacco alternative by mixing some of it into your marijuana.
● Vaping: You can also use hemp buds for vaping (also called “dry herb vaping”).

Decarb CBD flower (for oral use)

You should decarb CBD flower before using it orally. Decarbing is the process of heating the hemp flower (for example in your oven) to a certain point over a certain period of time, whereby the cannabinoids will covert from the “acid form” (for instance CBDA) to the active compound (so; CBD). Your body uses the active form, so this process will make the CBD flower (more) effectively when consumed orally.

Decarbing CBD flower is only required when eating or drinking. For vaping and smoking you don’t need to decarb CBD flower, because the heat already decarbs it while vaping/smoking. When you make CBD tea or mix hemp flower into foods, regular cooking usually isn’t enough to fully decarb it. Therefore, its best to decarb CBD flower separately before adding it to your foods or drinks.

Smoking vs vaping CBD flower: The differences

Smoking and vaping are the two most common ways to use hemp flower. However, some people are not aware of the differences between these two methods. That’s why we’ll get further into the differences between smoking and vaping CBD flower below:

● Smoking hemp buds is done in the same way as smoking regular weed; grind it, roll it, light it. Vaping CBD flower is done by using a vape device that is specially made for ‘dry herb vaping’. These vaporizers are different than the devices for vaping E-liquids.

● The main difference between smoking and vaping CBD flower is that there is combustion when you smoke it, while there’s no combustion when vaping it. Vaping is done by heating the hemp flower to a point where it doesn’t burn, but does create vapor containing the activated compounds of the hemp.

● Although CBD hemp buds don’t contain harmful substances such as nicotine, burning something and inhaling it (as you do when smoking) is never healthy for your lungs. A huge pro for vaping CBD flower is that you avoid inhaling burned substances such as tar.

● Because you’re not burning something when vaping CBD flower there’s also no smoke created, just some slightly visible vapor. Therefore vaping CBD flower smells way less than smoking it, making it way more suitable to do indoor.

● Another benefit of not burning the hemp flower when vaping, is that it feels way smoother on your throat than when you smoke it. It also has a cleaner taste.

● When you vape CBD flower the buds will also last longer. When smoking, you burn the hemp so it’s gone immediately. When vaping it you can reuse the CBD flower until the color becomes dark. When the color gets dark brown most of the cannabinoids are gone. However; you can still use this as “ABV” as described below.

● Both smoking and vaping are an efficient way of using hemp flower because of the high bioavailability. The ‘buzz-effect’ you get from both methods can be a bit different though. The feeling you get from vaping CBD flower will be a lot ‘cleaner’, whereas smoking hemp buds has a heavier (not necessarily better) impact on you. This is possibly due to the burned substances that you’re inhaling can have some additional side-effects on your body and mental state.

● The only downside of vaping CBD flower we could think of is that dry herb vaporizers can be quite expensive. Nevertheless, it’s an investment that will totally be worth it in the long run according to many people (including ourselves).

Looking at all these points you’ll understand why we from CBD Oil Articles prefer vaping CBD flower over smoking it.

Eating hemp flower (‘ABV’ / ‘already been vaped’)

After vaping CBD flower, most of the cannabinoids are gone. However; there are usually still some useful cannabinoids left in it. Since vaping decarbs CBD flower (as described above), you can reuse this ‘already been vaped’ (ABV) by making edibles. It may sound weird to you at first, but eating hemp flower is really a thing. There are a lot of different ways to do this, for instance by making “firecracker” edibles. When you saved enough ABV, you can make some pretty potent CBD edibles. So don’t throw away your already vaped CBD flower.

Hemp flower strains (Indica, Sativa & hybrid)

Some people think that all weed is the same. However, there are thousands of weed strains. Just like with regular weed, there are a lot of different hemp flower strains as well. Every strain has a unique chemical profile and therefore its own effects, taste and smell. So, there is a great variety to choose from.

A lot of people (including some vendors) still use the terms “Indica”, “Sativa” and “hybrid” to classify buds. Although these terms used to be relevant, they’ve become less and less relevant over the years. Especially for CBD hemp buds these terms don’t mean a lot. Back in the days Indica’s tended to provide sedative effects due to its high levels of CBD and low levels of THC. That’s why Indica’s were generally used at nighttime. Sativa’s on the other hand tended to provide an energetic/uplifting effect due to its low levels of CBD and high levels of THC. That’s why Sativa’s were generally used at daytime.

The distinction between those two became less and less because of crossbreeding over the years. Nowadays almost all strains are more likely a “hybrid” (so a combination of both). It’s hard to find a pure Indica or Sativa these days, and even pure strains can contain new traits when grown in different conditions. So even if you could find a pure Sativa or Indica, it’s the chemical composition that will decide the potential effects. Therefore it’s possible that a “Sativa” provides you a calming effect, and an “Indica” could provide you an energized effect. Also; CBD buds are usually derived from Sativa plants, while they always are high in CBD and low in THC. The only real difference between Indica’s and Sativa’s nowadays is just the look of the plant itself, but you should not use these terms anymore to determine the potential effects.

Nevertheless, it is true that certain strains provide uplifting effects (“daytime“) and certain strains provide sedative effects (“nighttime“). This just isn’t because of Sativa/Indica. What’s more important to determine the effects (besides the CBD vs THC content and other cannabinoids), is mainly which terpenes are present in the bud. Besides the strain-type, the chemical composition is affected by several other factors as well (such as climate, soil type, fertilization methods and harvest times). So even buds of the same strain can differ slightly in effects.

After reading this you might still wonder; “how do I know what effects a certain hemp flower strain provides?”. The first thing you should do is read the description and reviews on the website you’re buying the hemp flower from. If you’re buying in a store then ask the seller. Next to that, you can search the specific strain (or the terpenes it contains) on Google or Reddit to see which effects the strain generally provides. However; since people can react differently to the same strain, the best way to find out is by just buying several CBD strains, trying them out and see which one gives you the desired effects. So; if you’re trying CBD flower for the first time and don’t like it, you can always try different strains to see if you can find some that you do like.

Buying high-quality hemp flower

It’s very important to use high-quality hemp flower, this will make a huge difference in whether the effects are great or not. There are a lot of sellers on the hemp flower market, including a lot of bad ones unfortunately. Most people buy CBD flower online, as it is very convenient. This way you obviously can’t see, smell and touch the CBD flower beforehand to check if the quality is good. That’s why we listed some of the most important aspects that you should pay attention to when buying hemp flower online:

● The total CBD content (CBD + CBDA) could be a useful quality indication. CBD flower buds containing less than 10% CBD(A) are considered low-quality (the lower the worse). High-quality CBD flower buds should have at least 10% CBD(A) (preferably more). The higher the better, but keep in mind that the total CBD content differs per strain, some strains just have lower general CBD(A) levels than others. Therefore you should only compare the CBA(A) percentage with hemp buds form the same strain. This percentage tells you how much CBD the buds contain. For example; if you buy 1 gram of 20% CBD flower, it contains 200 mg of CBD in total. So; if you vape or smoke 0.1 gram of it, you’re using 20 mg of CBD.

● The hemp buds should be lab-tested by a third party. Check if the results are published on the website of the vendor.

● Check for reliable hemp flower reviews of the seller; preferably not on their own website (as they potentially could be manipulated) but on an independent external website. The online store that we recommend ourselves when it comes to hemp flower is this one. Their CBD hemp buds have very high quality and provide great effects. The CBD(A) levels of their hemp buds are high, plus their flower is grown organic and trimmed very well. Their hemp is lab-tested by a third party, and the results are published on their website. They also have a great variety of CBD strains to choose from, so there’s always a strain available that you like. So; if you’re looking for a place to order top-shelf hemp flower online, we highly recommend checking out this website.

Vape juice & CBD oil vs hemp flower

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, CBD oil and vape juice are the most common alternatives to hemp flower. That’s why we described the biggest reasons to choose CBD flower over CBD oil or vape juice below:

● According to a lot of people on Reddit (including ourselves), the effects of CBD flower are way stronger noticeable than the effects of CBD oil or CBD vape juice.

● CBD flower comes straight from the hemp plant, so it’s unprocessed. There are no substances added and there’s no extraction done. Therefore, CBD hemp buds are 100% natural and pure. CBD oil and vape juice on the other hand are processed and contain several additives. Among those additives in vape juices there could be certain thinning agents that potentially can become toxic when heated. When you dry vape pure CBD buds you’ll avoid that. The processing in order to make CBD oil or vape juice can also destroy some of the cannabinoids and terpenes.

● Because CBD oils and vape juices contain additives, the actual CBD content in them is usually lower than in pure CBD buds as well.

● All these things explain why the effects of CBD flower seem to be stronger than the effects of CBD oil and vape juice. Therefore, using CBD flower buds is generally also cheaper in the long run than using high doses of CBD oil or vape juice to get similar effects.

Wrap-up

After reading this hemp flower beginners guide you should understand the basics. Still got any questions about CBD hemp buds? Then don’t hesitate to leave a comment below, so we can help you. If you’re interested in other CBD-related information we highly recommend checking out the other articles on our websites as well.

Disclaimer: We do not claim that any testimonial or experience is representative of what any other consumer might experience. Individual results may vary, and no experience has been clinically proven or evaluated. All opinions expressed are strictly the views of our team.
CBD is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information on this website is not meant as a substitute for information from health care practitioners. Always consult your health care professional before using CBD.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate CBD for treating health conditions.