WHY BIGGER isn’t always better.

Searching for the perfect THC percentage among the many nuanced strains of flower and edibles on the market can be a daunting task. Will a slight percent increase in THC really make a difference? What about slight differences in CBD? How much THC actually enters my bloodstream?

There’s one thing for sure and that is that higher THC percentages aren’t necessarily “better,” i.e., they won’t necessarily produce a heightened effect. For example, a common grievance with edibles is that the high percentages advertised don’t always correspond to a better effect. Consumers often are disappointed after ingesting edibles with high THC percentages only to find the effect to be moderate.

The milligrams advertised on edibles are slightly deceptive. This is because most of the THC in edibles never reaches your bloodstream. The bioavailability of THC, or the amount of THC that enters the bloodstream, is only 10 – 20% when consumed in an edible. That’s why edibles with seemingly high THC percentages don’t always produce the expected effect. But edibles aren’t the only method of consumption affected that lose THC in the process. Likewise smoking, vaping, and dabbing also lose a significant portion of THC through consumption. Studies suggest that 20 –40% of THC is lost through side stream smoke in the average joint. The bioavail- ability of THC when smokes fluctuate, within the range of anywhere from 2% to 56% primarily due to variables like inhalation volume, amount, duration, and spacing of puffs.

Higher percentage THC products will generally produce heightened effects. However, depending on the methods you are using and on your consumption patterns, the effects of higher THC might be counterintuitive. Generally, vape products trump smokable products in terms of bioavailability, and edibles come in last. So, a moderate percentage of THC on a vape pen might actually produce a better effect than a smokable product with a higher THC percentage. Similarly, smokable products may produce higher effects than edibles, depending on other factors like your metabolism too.

Another interesting thing about THC percentages and how the chemical interacts with our bloodstream is a phenomenon called “self-titration.” Self-titration is commonly used in the medical community to describe increasing doses to find the “perfect” amount for a consumer or patient. Though not widely studied, some cannabis researchers have found that consumers naturally self-titrate when ingesting cannabis. In a 2007 study by UCSF’s Donald Abrams, he found that when offered three strains of increasingly potent cannabis, users tended to smoke the cannabis until they felt satisfied. Although some strains were stronger, the levels of THC in each participants bloodstream were about the same, only varying slightly. His findings suggest that even if we are offered higher percentages of THC, we tend to keep our consumption within the bounds of our comfort zone.

THC percentages are not the end all be all the cannabis experience. There are other factors at play that have a compound influence on the ultimate experience. A lot of time cannabis users think that they want higher percentages for a more intense or enhanced effect when really, they might just benefit from a different combination of other variables like terpenes and CBD percentages. Emerging evidence suggests that all plant compounds in cannabis work together synergistically—this is known as the entourage effect. When we smoke or vaporize cannabis, our bodies take in hundreds of botanical compounds.

Each one arrives with unique effects and benefits, and their behavior may change in the presence of other compounds. The combinations of these compounds ultimately can enhance the effects of cannabis more than THC content alone. Coupled with the right consumption method like vaping, smoking, or through edibles, your ultimate cannabis experience might not have anything to do with THC alone but the search for the perfect combinations of the right variables that suit your preferences.