Besides drying then curing there’s the matter of abusive mechanical treatment of which i seem to have observed the adverse effects lately:
Previously i was only bothered by the lack of maturity, while these days i get a definite impression that “shaving” or else is being performed to shake off an “excess” of trichomes, then even compression alledged to prevent mold by removing water though i’m worried that could be just a way to scramble the whole picture, if not hints of some late pesticide sprays, go figure!
So, please, i’d appreciate community feedback on such vilifying methods as that’s directly impacting on my consumption method.
Of course these days i figure it’s got to be wireless now, with a 5+ Mpx sensor hopefully… M’well, in case that might inspire the reader in preparation of the next Christmass season!
The picture below was dated 2015-Nov-28:
On top the trichomes have a light milky look which comes earlier before they eventually turn amber as shown right next after that. This is a nearly ideal vaporist layout in days when dry flowers still revealed their beauty to the naked eye. One set of snapshots was early but certainly not immature, the other got quite ready for harvest, maybe even a bit late depending on consumer preferences. Personally i appreciated having both side by side a great deal as i had decades of missed opportunities to compensate for…
Then came Trudeau and the secondary effects of his “legaleezation” tricks, m’well, as far as i’m concerned anyway:
The top row shows mostly immature/early trichomes on left, some looked a bit milky on the right. Below there’s what i consider representative of calixes which lost most of their glands, or even impregnated vegetal tissue as a result of mechanical compression i believe; this capture was taken earlier this month (2017-Oct-11).
Briefly put 2015 spelled abundance while 2017 proved short of aroma/taste, not to mention the texture differs significantly, from that of a sugar/salt mix making a nice distinct sound when stirred, while today’s sample has lost the pleasant texture in exchange for something more like flour lightly seasoned with finely ground spice i’d say.
The lack of trichomes combined to vegetal substrate impregnation reduces contact surface significantly it seems, which would explain difficulties i encounter now, that i wouldn’t have back in 2015. Unfortunately the mechanical treatment causes me to vaporize deeper into dry flower tissues and that’s counter-productive in pulse mode, while a lot of the terpenes carrying a sense of aroma/taste are simply gone i think.
M’well, that’s what those 2 illustrations remind me about anyway!
Your Celestron unit looks pretty much equivalent to mine, yes, but then it reminds me that i should warn the reader about a lamentable mistake i made previously, when buying this other one before:
This is Celestron #44320, avoid it at all costs: that’s a toy designed for children while the plastic filling made it so brittle i never really managed to obtain pictures worthy of publication, because the sensor would no longer hold in place after a few manipulations… Chineese plastic i figured. The ocular finish showed solvent marks, i observed inadequacy in its spring-loaded supports because of their rough scratching edges, the stylo-shaped blue LED lamp died early while it was difficult to keep the other lamp lit as a result of it’s cheap mobile contacts, with a cap that wouldn’t stay put, etc. Ah, and focus adjustment had excess “hysteresis”/“Back-Lash” i didn’t find appropriate in this application.
In the end my only session searching for trichomes lasted 1½ hour only to see trichomes and 3 more hours to capture this:
Take note though that my Celestron 44320 Microscope kit actually came from Khan Scope Centre (Toronto, Ontario), it was paid 128.76 $ CAD (all fees included) and left me such an impression of cheap imitation i’ll bet that’s note for sale anymore. Which would be a blessing!..
My advice: have a good look at the box too and search for hints confirming the product is really meant to be used by adults. Maybe Celestron is still the manufacturer i though it was but in my case this is what happened. Looking at the B & W picture i even recall i had to remove colour for an excess of chromatic aberration!
M’well, always better gauge before you buy i guess.
i think it’s common practice for a lot of people to “tumble” their weed to extract most trichomes before selling it so they get 2 harvests… then they squish the kief in to rosin or make moonrocks etc… i’ve seen lots of dispensary weed which looks like trichome stalks with no heads lately
yeah i saw one youtube livestream where the guy was bragging his new trimmer can do 6 pounds an hour etc etc plus he got 75 grams of rosin from tumbling it afterwards my jaw hit the floor like is he bragging about this?!?!
edit i wish i would have known about scoping trichs in high school i would have been the biggest asshole customer lmao
The only reason to do it is greed. Suppliers that do this don’t advertise on there packaging that they are removing kief then reselling it. Why don’t they, because it makes them look cheap and greedy. They can’t claim to have the best because they took the best part off already. I won’t buy dekeifed cannabis and no one else should either out of principle.
yeah they are basically just leaving organic combustible material with zero medicinal value and selling it under the pretense of medical marijuana, i think dispensaries should be the ones refusing it first TBH - they need to scope it b4 they buy it but most peoples real motives are profit despite all the yelling and screaming they do in courts… so as bad as LPs are at least i can be sure they didn’t steal all the medicine from it first
Noticing this too when I scoped (120x) some Pink Champagne I recently got from a dispensary on the west coast. All of the trichome heads were gone. Just stalks.
Then I see on their menu that they have in-house made concentrates of the same strain. Kind of obvious this is what they are doing.
i’m going to start bringing my scope with me to dispensaries, and i’m going to start telling dispensaries they should be scoping their product too if buying from other people
Above 2 snapshots are dated 2017-Jan, 14 & 21. Today’s samples (below) are showing some “PPP”…
See the difference?
IMO the TrudeauMania effects on “organized crime” gardening are very substancial, actually it even affects my favourite method of vaporization quite significantly i believe. Not to mention (the relative absence of) aroma/taste.
The bottom ones remind me of “white” strains
white widow etc seem to have more of these non-capitate stalks
that look furry
I do think that some is being tumbled though for sure
Would be interesting to know if any of these are outdoor/sunlight harvests
trichomes are a defense against UV and the furry ones seem to “cover” better so maybe they are adapting to different conditions
Thanks, i appreciate all input from a trained eye! Truly.
Whatever the label of this graphic “Sugar Shaker” signature (manicure, scraping or trimming)!.. Yes, indeed!
Nah. Somehow i knew this was low-grade material still with an inflated price-tag (even after some friendly “rebate”…); lucky me vaporization proves resilient enough (if not appropriate) and economic, so i’m quite glad i’ve quit all smoker combustion years ago. I mean vaporism multiplies my supply’s life-time twofold, essentially.
In addition i’ll admit i overheard a timid exclamation about pushing it too far while i was attempting to display some nice captures… The fact is i suspected excessive mechanical processing for months, i just had to produce convincing snapshots but there was no time even using a portable. The lack of shiny spherical terminations ain’t this hard to detect (especially using some comparison templates as those below), evaluation of splattered glands sticking to vegetal surfaces like paint can be significantly more difficult unless trained.
Now lets have another look, this time presenting my slides in direct sequence to render the evidence even more obvious:
Clear vs Amber (2015-Nov-28)
Reasonably “Good” vs “Evil” (2017-Oct-11)
Trichomes (2017 vs 2018)
I almost miss Harper days, euh…
Microscopes should be present everywhere cannabis is traded really.
