In today’s cannabis scene, “premium” and “high-grade” get thrown around so casually that they’ve lost all meaning. Anything with a little frost and a decent nose is getting labeled top-shelf, no matter how it actually smokes.
That’s the problem.
When every bag is called fire, even when it burns like mids, the entire culture suffers. Consumers get duped into paying premium prices for a mediocre product. New growers lose motivation to push the limits. Standards get stuck. The real heat gets buried under hype.
Somewhere along the way, the cannabis market started prioritizing how weed looks on Instagram over how it smokes. Bag appeal, frosty pics, loud branding — all of it’s been elevated to a point where looks have overtaken experience. But looks don’t have anything to do with smokeability. Photos don’t tell you how clean the smoke is.
Here’s the reality: True quality is how it smokes. How it hits the lungs, how it burns, how it lingers. That’s the only metric that matters.
Right now? There are crews out there putting out “clean mids” that smoke better than half the overpriced, so-called premium in Mylar bags.
If this culture wants to evolve, the standard can’t be set by the lens. It’s got to be set by the lungs. Every time.
— Submitted by Walter Bridger, Mount Maunganui, NZ.
About High Thoughts: Short Hits From the Community
Welcome to High Thoughts, a new series from High Times featuring quick takes, stray thoughts, and stoned wisdom from our global cannabis community. These aren’t polished essays or sponsored posts — just real voices from real people who live this culture every day.
In this edition, Walter Bridger, a third-generation cannabis advocate from New Zealand and founder of Trap Talk, reminds us why smokeability still matters more than bag appeal. Looks don’t get you high. Lungs do.
This article is from an external, unpaid contributor. It does not represent High Times’ reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
Photo by Chiara David on Unsplash
