I'm like pretty certain it's mostly placebo so just keep telling yourself it does what you want it to and it should keep doing that.
I buy "sativa" gummies fairly often and after taking them, I get active. I wanna clean, I wanna focus on tasks, I wanna paint and draw and sing.
My roommate is weed clueless, but enjoys it, took some, and got a mild couch lock. He likes to take em to calm down to sleep when he's stressed. I think companies will try to pitch you otherwise, but I think that's mostly to, well, sell you two bags of grass instead of one.
Sativa vs indica is the biological distinction. Personally I don’t believe it has much impact on effects. The active cannabinoids do more so. Aka CBG/A couch lock, THCV energy.
THC and CBD are mind altering substances. Their concentration and ratio are what determine effects. We don't measure alcohol strength by the grains used to make it; we measure it by alcohol content. You can buy indica with 30% THC and 0% CBD and indica with 0% THC and 30% CBD and they're going to have way different effects in the same way you can buy grain alcohol at 2% and 40%.
That being said, there isn't a lot of studies on what ratios give what affects and in what dosages. Because of that, it isn't bad to see how people rate a particular product, assuming the product always has the same amounts of THC and CBD.
I've become more receptive to this take. Ultimately the differences between sativa and indica are physical and more related to growth and structure. Having dense flowers doesn't effect the contents of it.
Unfortunately, you will need to taste test a strain yourself to see how it effects you.
Theres no hard evidence on why different strains produce different experiences. Some think it is the terpene profile, or the plant age at harvest, or your mentality and expectations and mood, or your personal bodily chemistry, etc.
Maybe its one of these, maybe its a mix. Maybe its something we havent considered.
Sadly, this means no website or budtender can accurately tell you how a strain will make you feel.
In my personal experience? Strains with similar terpene profiles have similar-ish effects. Sour, heavy citrus strains give me headaches and make me anxious, while pine heavy strains make me sleepy and mellow. I trust my nose with strains I do not know.
Try and find a pattern that works for you. Stick with it until the science can catch up.
I'm not sure where leafly pulls data for its effects, it could be terpene profile, customer review, or even minor cannabinoids.
Terpenes can influence a high to feel certain ways, find out what terpenes have the effect you are looking for and target those.
Of course, everyone is unique, so what works best for you for certain effects may differ. However with a little bit of trial and error, and paying attention to the characteristics of how that strain affects you will help you dial in what to look for :)
It’s all subjective. All of our bodies and minds are different and might have slightly different feelings that come out as extremely different effects. Sativa vs indica to me only matters when the strain is high in thcv. Thcv is like ADHD meds for me. So much so I don’t take my meds on the weekend I smoke Durban poison in the mornings and again in the afternoon to keep me up. Other strains can straight up make me feel gravity and have to sit down. So there is a vast difference. But sativa vs indica is an archaic and old definition of the plants biology not its effects imo.
I think it's a nature vs nurture issue, it can be accurate under ideal conditions, but grow conditions vary. With a grain of salt, strains seem to be sort of accurate, but also wildly variant, kind of like dog breeds.
what I find that works is asking the budtenders, they usually use the products and know which are couch-locky and which aren't. i ignore the numbers and the smell and the size and just ask the folks who use the stuff.
when i tried to just buy by the numbers i was rarely as satisfied as this method and usually end up spending less. One of the times i find tipping to be appropriate, too
YMMV, I know what the old addage says but for me sativa = headaches while indica = hours working in front of the computer. I think it's what your habits are while smoking. I know people who can drink and code but I can't even use a mouse while on alcohol.
You’ll in general react to different strains differently. I find that recommendations generally steer me in the right direction, but it’s not the word of god.
Sativas tend towards more energy and brighter highs, but can just as easily have you in the couch.
Indicas tend the opposite, being more mellow.
However, there’s no pure strains of anything anymore, so they’re more trends rather than concrete fact.
Try a bunch of different ones and find something you like. Just like alcohol, you won’t like everything, so try something else.
Personally I prefer indica dominant strains even for energy, as sativas tend to trend towards paranoia for me specifically
Pretty much the only thing you can trust is indicas will probably make you sleepy, sativas will probably make you not sleepy and hybrids will be somewhere in between. Keep in mind though there are overlaps and you might not get an indica that makes you sleepy. The terpenes won’t make a much of a difference other than flavor.