34 Weird Cannabis Terms You Need to Know - No. 14 will surprise you!

When it comes to cannabis, you will probably know by now that there are so many different terms that it can often get incredibly confusing. Some people don’t know what most of these terms mean, so we’ve decided to compile a list of these terms and help you understand them. As you can see, this is a huge list, so strap in, and let us take you on a journey of information and knowledge.

Nug on the grinding block, photo: @mass_super_trikes

Let's start with an easy one...

1. OG

As one of the most commonly used acronyms in cannabis culture, "OG" is an important one to know. You'll typically see this combo at the end of a strain name, as it itself is a strain, OG Kush. It's seen in the name of so many other strains because it has been bred into many crosses. "OG" stands for either:

Original Gangster, or
Ocean Grown

2. OG Kush

It’s hard to say where the term "OG Kush" came from for sure, as a lot of cannabis history has been lost. Whether this is because stoners are simply really bad at keeping records, or because of the illicit nature of the herb, is unclear. However, the exact origin of the name "OG Kush" is unimportant. What is important is to realise that when you see the term "OG" after a strain name, you know that this strain is a relative, either directly or indirectly, of the most well-known strain in the entire world, OG Kush. There are several reasons why so many breeders use this infamous strain to make new strains. Firstly, its THC content is always pretty high, which then carries over to the strains it births. Secondly, the Kush flavour, which is world-famous and highly sought-after. You know that when you see that OG term, it’s a stamp of quality.

Photo: @space_age_bruce420

3. THC

THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol. THC is the active ingredient inside cannabis that makes you feel high. In actual fact, in raw cannabis plant matter, there’s no THC. There is instead, THCA, which is basically raw THC. That is why heat is required (thus, why people smoke weed) to make you feel high. It’s a common misconception that you will feel stoned from eating weed as it is. Although you may feel a little strange, this is more likely to be because of placebo or because your stomach is struggling with the cannabis you’ve eaten, rather than actually feeling stoned. THC is one of two main active chemicals inside cannabis, although there are many, many more. As more research comes out, the focus is less on CBD and THC, and more on cannabis’ other active ingredients.

In a lot of countries, cannabis or hemp themselves are not illegal. It is plants that contain over a certain amount of THC that are illegal. For example, as of 2019 in Italy, some places will sell cannabis in shops that are >0.5% THC. While cannabis itself is highly illegal, they get around this by selling low-THC weed. The same is true in places like the UK where cannabis is illegal. You can only sell CBD if it has under a certain percentage of THC and is also made from hemp. However, in other places where weed is either legal or less illegal they create concentrates that have up to 99% THC inside. Some people argue that the ever-increasing THC dosages are not good for the brain, and, as people smoke stronger and stronger weed, the risk of mental health problems increases. The research is yet to be done on this.

4. HS

In medical terms, HS stands for Half Strength. This could be used to refer to weed that is less-strong than other strains of cannabis that are available on the market right now. For example, you could refer to landrace strains as HS strains, as they are much weaker than today’s strains. Today’s strains can average at up to 15% THC, which is almost triple what they were in the 1960s, when weed first became popular. Landrace strains were far weaker, and were probably a lot better for people’s mental health, than today’s far stronger strains.

Photo: @prohbtd

5. Dispensary vs. Coffeeshop

You may also ask the question what is the difference between a dispensary and a coffeeshop? A dispensary is a legally operating marijuana shop, most likely in North America. In both Canada and the United States, they have ‘Dispensaries’. These are different to coffeeshops in a number of ways. Firstly, coffeeshops aren’t actually legal entities, they operate in what is known as a ‘grey area’. Secondly, coffeeshops are geared more towards recreational users, whereas dispensaries (at least in how they present themselves) are geared more towards medicinal users. Although in Canada and places like Colorado they definitely serve recreational users, a lot of places have strictly medical weed, and therefore they operate more as shops where you can buy your medicine. The third and final difference between a dispensary and a coffeeshop is that coffeeshops are not currently allowed to sell concentrates, waxes, oils, or pre-filled vaporisers. They can only really sell hash, weed, and edibles. Some sell things which are a bit more exotic, but in general, if you’re going to a coffeeshop, you won’t find anything more than weed, hash, and edibles. Dispensaries have a massive selection of cannabis-related products, from cannabis gum to 99% THC concentrates. The craze for bigger and better products is much stronger in Canada and the US than it is in Amsterdam.

Photo: @dust_strainhunters

6. GH

GH stands for GreenHouse, and is a cross between Strain Hunters and GHM to create a medical cannabis company. It is the merging of several parts of each company to try to find the best cannabis strains for patients. It also is doing a lot of research not just into THC and CBD and how they can help patients, but all the other active ingredients inside cannabis as well. It is headed by Dr. Joost Heeroma, who runs the GH Medical Website, as well as the Chemical Analysis Facility. Their research is attempting to show how Cannabinoids could be used to treat a massive variety of diseases including: cancer, epilepsy, Autism, Schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Crohn’s disease, neuropathic pain, MS, migraines, and much more. They are attempting to collect anecdotal evidence and substantiate it through the most rigorous of all scientific methodology. Basically, they’re not messing around, and, as a Dutch company, you can rely on them to bring to light some of the best evidence for cannabinoids and their medicinal uses on the planet.

Photo: @kurilka.in.ua

7. Percolator

A percolator is a type of pot normally used to brew coffee. It continually cycles the water or nearly boiling water through the coffee grounds using gravity, until the desired strength is reached. In the context of weed, a percolator is a bong with an extra chamber that follows this exact methodology, but instead of making the coffee stronger, it instead makes the smoke more filtered. This makes the hit a lot smoother and will help you take the smoke in without coughing a lot. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the hit is healthier. Just because the smoke is cooled down more, doesn’t mean that there are less toxins inside the smoke. There’s a myth that because bong hits don’t hurt your throat, they’re automatically healthy. This simply isn’t true. There's a chance that bongs that have percolators could filter out a little more than those bongs without percolators, but there's no scientific evidence one way or the other.

Photo: @Headies_only

8. Dabs, Shatter, BHO, Concentrates

These are all words for more or less the same thing. BHO stands for Butane Hash Oil. BHO can also be referred to as dabs or shatter, which are highly-concentrated cannabis forms created by following a slightly complicated and potentially dangerous method. They are most popular in North America, where this kind of stuff has been growing in popularity for years. The problem in other places is that obviously weed is either illegal or in a grey area. In the Netherlands, for example, coffeeshops cannot sell Butane Hash Oil as of 2018. Although many coffeeshop owners are pushing for legalisation of these products (and of full legalisation of cannabis in general) this hasn’t happened yet. We already have a guide to making your own BHO, so we won’t go through that here. However, as Butane is highly flammable and pretty toxic, it’s really not recommended that you do this yourself. If you want to try concentrates it’s recommended that you go to Canada or the United States. Practically every single dispensary in North America has some kind of concentrate, so it’s much safer and easier than trying your own. It's worth the trip if you can make it happen!

Concentrates, dabs, shatter, and BHO are incredibly potent. They last a lot longer than your average cannabis high, with some lasting up to 5 hours. Although they’re still not as potent as edibles, it’s much easier and quicker to get high from a dab than from an edible. Although, again, some people believe that this method of taking cannabis is healthy, there is evidence that suggests there could be some residual Butane on your product. Furthermore, burning these concentrates with a blowtorch (at a ridiculously high temperature) and then inhaling everything all at once is almost certainly unhealthy. Just be wary, as there’s a lot of misinformation surrounding cannabis and how healthy or unhealthy it is. If you do decide to smoke your cannabis this way, you will need a dab rig or a bubbler. What is a dab rig or a bubbler? They are basically bongs, but for dabs. You could also get a quartz banger, which is a specific type of dab rig.There are many other types of dab rigs and nails, including carb caps, dabbers, and much more. Carb Caps restrict airflow to allow maximum vapor diffusion of your concentrates. You may also need a downstem, which in cannabis terms is a long tube used to filter water in a dabbing system. Another term for BHO is nectar.

9. Heady High

A heady high or a cerebral high are highs that are mostly associated with sativas or sativa-dominant hybrids. Although some indicas and some indica-dominant hybrids may also have a heady high, it’s much more likely that you will find this kind of high inside a sativa. It basically means that there will be a sense of euphoria, and your high will be mainly located in the head. The difference is that with an indica the high is much more focused in the body, and they tend to be much more relaxed.

Photo: @violalabs

10. Live Resin

Live resin is incredibly similar to BHO, but with one key difference: instead of being made from normal plant matter, it is instead made from frozen plant matter. The wanted chemicals from the cannabis plant (THC, CBD, etc.) are then extracted while the plant matter is at a below-freezing temperature. The main difference is that the plant is immediately frozen after harvesting, thereby retaining most of its original terpene profile. What does this mean? This means that the live resin often tastes a lot like the original plant matter. This is often the process used by vape companies to ensure that their vapes retain the original terpenes of the plant, enchancing the flavour profile.

Photo: @the_roadglide_experiment

11. Vaporization Weed

Vaporizing or vaporising weed is a popular method of smoking cannabis. This is split into two different sections. There are pre-filled vape cartridges, which are created by companies, and are basically concentrates inside a vaporiser. These aren’t really popular outside of North America, mainly because of legal reasons. Vaping weed in the other context is using a flower vaporiser to vape your weed. This is very popular, as it’s a lot healthier than smoking weed in any other form. This is because there’s no combustion of plant material, which is what makes smoking weed unhealthy. What are the advantages of vaping weed? The advantages include:

Healthier, because of no combustion of plant material
Cost-efficient, as you don’t need as much weed to vape as you do to roll a joint or a blunt
Subtle and discreet, also there isn’t really a long-lasting smell after you vape
You can re-use your cannabis to easily create edibles, this is called already vaped bud, and is perfectly decarboxylated cannabis
The taste is a lot better, as you’re not burning flower or paper

12. One Hitter Strain

A one hitter strain is a very strong strain such as Kosher Kush. These strains only require one hit to completely knock your socks off. Another example of a one-hitter cannabis product would be a concentrate, because you only need one hit of a cannabis concentrate to completely blow your mind. These strains are becoming increasingly popular. Whether this is good or bad overall remains to be seen. Only time will tell whether the increasing strength of cannabis is actually a good thing. Many people think it is, but you should have some reservations. High THC content with little to no CBD has been shown to create mental health problems, particularly with prolonged use in teenagers, whose brains aren’t fully developed yet.

Photo: @find420

13. Nug or Nugg

A cannabis nug is a particularly nice bud of cannabis. Nuggs are very popular, as it’s always nice to hold a full nug of some really nice cannabis strain. These are then ground up using a grinder, and then rolled or smoked in whatever way, shape, or form you prefer. You know that a strain is a quality strain if it has large, round nuggs.

Photo: @the_oldschool_farme

14. Ruderalis

You’ve probably heard of sativa, indica, and hybrid. What you maybe did not know is that there is a fourth type of cannabis known as ruderalis. It has a short stature, and a very low THC content relative to its CBD content. It’s not really grown for many purposes, other than for use as medicinal cannabis in certain situations. It grows naturally in some areas of the world still: Eastern Europe and North America are a couple of examples. It is sometimes bred with other strains because it is a very hardy grower. This means that it will grow in a lot of situations, making it a good choice to cross with certain strains that are otherwise difficult to grow.

Photo: @entropy_script

15. Sensimilla

Sensimilla is not a specific breed of cannabis. It is instead a female marijuana plant that is prevented from becoming fertile, and thus will flower without producing any seeds. This means that the THC content is much higher, as none of the potential buds have turned into seeds. It also means that the quality of the strain is massively increased, as it cannot reproduce. The meaning of sensimilla is ‘without seeds’ and comes from California. Sensimilla strains completely revolutionised the industry, bringing a much higher THC dosage to most strains.

16. Rotary Evaporator

A rotary evaporator is a system used in laboratories to ensure that something like ethanol isn’t wasted, and that it is recycled and can be reused in the future. A rotary evaporator in the context of weed is a device that allows you to recover ethanol from the ethanol extraction process, for example in the process of making Butane Hash Oil. Obviously ethanol is quite expensive, so by using a rotary evaporator, you can recycle the ethanol and use it again.

Photo: @jo12dan

17. Liquid Marijuana

Liquid marijuana can mean a couple of things. Firstly, it can be used to describe a concentrate or vape oil. This is because the final form of a vape oil is normally THC and CBD stored inside something like an alcohol. Secondly, it could be a drink that is simply mixed with marijuana. It is often also used to describe a green alcoholic drink, which people who don’t smoke might drink on the occasion of 4/20 as a salute to their fellow mind alterers.

18. E-nail

An electronic nail (E-nail) is a vaporisation device used to vape concentrates on the go. Concentrates contain THCA and not THC, so they require heat in order to become active. Electronic nails, or e-nails, are basically the concentrate equivalent of a flower vaporiser. They are used to provide a consistent temperature to vaporise concentrates, and allow you to dab on the go.

Photo: @terp_house_extracts

19. THC Crystals

THC crystals can mean two things. Firstly, they can mean 100% pure THC crystals that have been collected using a similar process to the production of Butane Hash Oil. These are incredibly popular in dispensaries in California and will get you extremely high. The other definition of THC crystals would be kief. Kief is the collection of THC dust that collects at the bottom of a grinder, and is used to spice up bong hits and blunts. This provides you with a much more concentrated version of weed, and will give you a strong hit. Kief can get you extremely high compared to normal flower.

20. Landrace Strain

A landrace strain is a type of marijuana strain. They are the OG (in this case meaning original) strains that grow naturally on God’s green earth. These strains are the basis for all the other strains in the world, and without them we wouldn’t have any of the products we have today. These strains are heirloom strains, which are often lost or completely forgotten about in today’s world of 99% concentrates and 35% flower strains. They are the roots of all other cannabis strains, and some people believe that they are the eventual future of medicinal cannabis. Thankfully, some people have worked hard to preserve landrace strains. A list of landrace strains can be found below:

Thai - Thai Sativa strain
Luang Prabang - Laos Sativa strain
Afghani - Afghani Indica strain
Panama Red - Panama Sativa strain
Hindu Kush - Hindu Kush mountain Indica strain
Durban Poison - South African Sativa strain
Punto Rojo - Colombian Sativa strain
Acapulco Gold - Mexican Sativa strain
Lamb’s Bread - Jamaican Sativa strain
Malawi - African Sativa strain

Some people refer to landrace strains as schwag weed or bush weed.

Photo: @timezglass

21. Heady Glass

Heady Glass refers to bespoke blow glass dab rigs, dabbers, hand pipes, and bongs. These are much higher quality than your average piece of smoking equipment, and each piece is considered to be a work of art in itself. They are created by artists, and are considered to be collectors pieces. You'll fork over a decent amount of money for heady glass, but that's the cost of smoking out of art!

22. Agitation

Agitation is used to remove the trichomes of the cannabis plant from the buds and leaves. The safest and most effective way of doing this is to use water and dry ice. The kief is then collected and then either used to make concentrates or hash. Care must be taken, as if you agitate the plant material too much, it may simply break down.

23. Budder or Wax

Budder or wax refer to cannabis concentrates with a much more buttery consistency. As with most terms in cannabis, there are a lot of terms for the same thing. You can also call it crumble or cake batter. It is more like a soft wax, and you can smoke it a little bit easier than something like a shatter. Budder cannot be below 90% THC, otherwise it’s called something else.

Photo: @trendyasdabbers

24. QWISO

QWISO is a method of making hash quickly and easily. It is also considered to be very high quality. It stands for Quick Wash ISO (isopropyl). It concentrates cannabis where you extract the trichomes from the flower and use the kief to make hash. You shouldn’t use any other alcohols for this method. This is different from BHO because it’s a completely different extraction method.

25. Blasting

Blasting is another way of making concentrates, and is similar to BHO. You simply force the solvent through plant material in order to collect all of the oil possible from the plant. Butane is the most commonly used substance. Simply pack the cannabis into a tube, preferably glass, and then force the butane through it. The oil will seep out the other end of the tube.

Photo: @cannabisdaily01

26. Dank

Dank weed is simply weed that is considered to be very strong or very high quality. When you’ve got dank weed, you will know it after the first puff or after the first sniff. Dank weed smells good, tastes good, and hits good. The whole point of weed nowadays is to be as dank as possible, and they’re definitely living up to the hype. The kings of dank weed are the North Americans, who are nowadays breeding some seriously dank strains.

Photo: @decarbdelta9

27. Pistil

A pistil is the female reproductive part of any plant. All plants have pistils, and the cannabis pistils rise on the stalk and they consist of the ovary and future seeds. The pistil is essential to the reproduction method of plants. The pistils can easily be seen on the picture above: they are the points of the flower that are pointing out the furthest.

28. Weed Tube

The weed tube is a youtube channel or channels where people… get stoned. Sounds exciting right? They do all kinds of crazy things for views. An example of a weed tube channel would be states snaps og. Another definition of the weed tube would be the glass tubes that people use to replace blunt wraps. These tubes mean that there’s no combustion of paper, meaning the taste is supposed to be a lot better than a normal blunt. They are basically paperless blunts.

Photo: @acrossintl

29. Vacuum Oven

Vacuum ovens are used to purge concentrates of all residual materials after you create them using a process such as Butane Hash Oil concentrate creation or blasting. It ensures that the final product has no toxic materials remaining. You can also make Butane Hash Oil inside a vacuum oven. Smoking concentrates that haven’t been through a vacuum oven is not recommended.

30. Cheeba

Cheeba is simply a slang term used to describe weed, mainly in North America. It is a slightly changed version of the word Chiva, which in spanish means heroin. In the more common context, cheeba is used to describe heavy or potent THC edibles, which will knock you off your feet. These are a common medicinal choice these days. Some companies use this name for their brand, like Cheeba Chews.

31. Endo

Endo in British English would probably be called hydro. It refers to mainly indoor grown cannabis, and is also just a general slang word for strong weed. It could also be a reference to the endocannabinoid system, which is the reason we actually get high in the first place.

32. Greened Out

Greened out means that you throw up because of cannabis. In British English we call this Whiteying, which is a reference to the peculiar colour that you turn when you’re about to vomit. If this hasn’t happened to you, good job. It’s also associated with drinking a few beers and then smoking, because this normally makes you feel a lot more nauseous. You may also feel dizzy, sweaty, and have anxiety.

marijuana pot leaf

33. Backcross

Backcrossing in weed is an incredibly popular method of creating much stronger or more desirable cannabis strains. Backcrossing itself is simply the method of crossing a hybrid with one of its parents. This means that you would cross an OG Kush phenotype or OG Kush relative with its parent strain (OG Kush) in the hopes of making an even danker strain. This is one of the main reasons so much cannabis is so ridiculously dank these days.

Photo: @prohibition

34. MIP

MIP stands for Marijuana infused products. These are simply any products that have been infused with cannabis. However, there is a big difference between something you make at home (which is called an edible or an infused product) and MIP. The difference is that MIP's have gone through some kind of rigorous testing to ensure that they are safe to consume. They will also have a potency guide on the front of the packet, and will come in actual packaging. This makes it a lot safer and easier to dose than your average edible.

With that we come to an end! We hope you learned something from this journey through the cannabis dictionary. Do you know of another term? Drop us a comment below!

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Written by Megan Medeiros (BA)

Megan Medeiros has a bachelor’s degree in English and is currently working on a master’s in English at James Madison University. She's the owner and operator of Medeiros Writing, and has been working as a cannabis writer for the past three years, mostly following the legal climate of marijuana, especially in areas like California, Colorado, Oregon, Canada, and other legal areas.

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