Wax vs Weed: Which Is Better? Potency, Effects, and Cost

Quarter of Weed vs Eighth of Wax - Straight Comparison

Wax vs Weed has been a long standing debate amongst cannabis enthusiasts. Some prefer to smoke flower over dabbing, allowing them to have more controlled experience and some believe dabbing concentrates is far more efficient than smoking flower. Wax will always be potent than flower containing 20-90 percent thc while flower contains roughly 15-25 percent. Simply put, a little wax goes a LONG WAY. Weed / flower / dry herb, whatever you prefer to call it, is a bit more user friendly, while wax / concentrate / dabs are far more quick and efficient for long time users that have a higher tolerance.

What is Weed (Cannabis Flower)?

Cannabis has tons of different names, depending on where you live you might hear loads of slang terms for it. Universally it's known as weed. Weed is just dried up cannabis flower, its green, leafy, it can appear purple, orange, yellow, white, it can be crystally, tightly packed and dry or fluffy and sticky. Dried flower is what you would find smoked out of a joint, a bong, or a bowl. As previously mentioned, the thc content of flower is around 15-25%, remember that the 25% is on the high end, the average is around 20%.

Pros to Using Flower:

• Flower is super easy to use, it doesn't require any special devices. You can simply break up your buds using your hands and roll it up in a joint for consumption. The cost of a pack of papers is very inexpensive and the cost of flower is pretty affordable.
• One of the main reasons why some users prefer flower over wax is because the thc content is much lower and it's easier for them to control their consumption without overdoing it.
• Cannabis flower is so easy to find since its growing and drying process is simple, anyone can complete these steps right in their own home. When compared to wax, the extraction process can be lengthy, driving up the cost and lessening its availability.

Cons to Using Flower:

• For more experienced users with a higher tolerance the lower potency of flower can cause them to run through their entire stash within a day. This is hard on your pockets, as well as your lungs.
• Since weed consistently burns throughout your sessions, you might be burning through most of your flower without actually consuming most of it lessening your efficiency.
• The number one con to smoking flower is the smell, everyone knows that the smell of weed can be caught even from the next car over. If you are looking for discreet sessions, flower is not the way to go.

What is Wax (Cannabis Concentrate)?

Wax is a hardened oily looking substance that is extracted from cannabis flower. Imagine this, you take a bunch of dry or frozen buds and you squeeze all the good stuff out of it, discarding the leafy materials, leaving just the thc, cannabinoids, and terpenes. Just like flower, wax can have drastically different appearances depending on the way it's extracted. It can be yellow, amber or even white in color. It can be hard like glass, soft and whipped like butter, or crystalized like a diamond. It's best to vaporize wax for consumption since high temperatures can waste the cannabinoid and terpene content - which is the complete opposite of what we want.

Wax concentrates are vaporized using a rig, banger, and torch setup or an electric device like a dab pen, electric nectar collector or electric dab rig. Our all time favorite method and the most controlled and efficient experience of course, would be using your wax with an e-nail. Concentrate has a much higher potency level than dry herb, its thc percentage is around 60-90 percent, with the average being around 80% thc.

Pros to Using Wax:

Cons 

• The higher thc percentage found in concentrate makes it so you would need very few dabs to match the effects you would find in smoking a ton of flower. If you want a further break down of this check out this blog - how many dabs from a dab pen equal a joint.
• Expanding upon the previous section, since you need way fewer dabs to get the experience you are looking for, wax lasts much longer than flower does. This is especially true for experienced users.
• Wax is a more concentrated form of weed, besides the thc potency being much higher the terpene content is also much higher. Terpenes are a major player when it comes to your overall experience and they can be particularly beneficial for certain things like pain relief, anxiety, mood boosts and more!

Cons to Using Wax:

• Wax isn't really a grab and go type of item, you need a specialized device to vaporize your concentrates properly like a dab rig, a banger, torch or some sort of battery powered device. However, the new wave of all in one disposable wax pens made this problem a thing of the past. If you have wax in a jar then you are out of luck without the proper equipment.
• Higher potency does not always mean it's better, although concentrates are incredibly useful for experienced users, it might not be the very best option for beginners. Being TOO high real thing.
• As noted above, the extraction process involved in making wax can sometimes be long and laborious. Also, the amount of flower used and the cost of equipment for extraction is factored into the cost as well. This leads to wax being more expensive than flower, the initial outlay is higher but its prolonged use and effectiveness can make up for it.

Weed vs Wax - Key Differences

Comparison - How Much is an Eighth of Wax and How Much is a Quarter of Weed

Alright so to give this a REAL apples to apples comparison, we would probably have to drop the weight of wax down to an eighth which is 3.5 grams.

How much is a Quarter of Weed?

The average cost for a quarter of weed is roughly around $65 dollars. I know some of you might be reading this like “what a rip off”, however this number is based on average from state to state. States like Oregon have a quarter of weed averaging at around $45 dollars while New York averages around $70 dollars. Dispensaries need to include state taxes, and obviously New York has higher state taxes.

This price can also change based on the quality of the flower; premium or top shelf flower will always be slightly more expensive than the rest of the mid range and lower tier options!

A quarter is 7 grams of flower, at a 20% thc content you're averaging at around 1400mg of THC in total.

How much is an Eighth of Wax?

The average cost for a gram of wax is around $50 dollars, since an eighth is 3.5 grams you can expect to pay around $150 dollars. Again, this number can change depending on the state you are purchasing your wax from because of state taxes. However, a lot of dispensaries offer bulk discounts when you are purchasing a quantity of a specific type of item.

Also the price can change based on the extraction process used, lab equipment is not cheap and the cost to upkeep and purchase this equipment is factored into the cost.

An eighth of wax, at an 80% thc content you're averaging at around 2800mg of THC in total.

This ultimately means, you would have to purchase around 14 grams of flower to equal the same amount of thc you would find in 3.5 grams of wax.

The Actual THC Break Down of Wax vs Weed

I know what you're thinking, 130 dollars compared to 150 dollars seems like a no brainer to go with flower instead. Here is the kicker, not all the thc you are consuming is absorbed, the bioavailability with vaporizing thc is much higher than burning it. While dabbing gives you around 10-30mg per dab, smoking flower gives you around 2-5mg per hit.

So on the higher side you're getting around 280mg of thc with a quarter of weed and 1400mg of thc with an eighth of wax.

• 400mg per gram of wax
• 40mg per gram of flower
• Ten grams of flower to equal one gram of wax
• 10 grams of flower 92 dollars 1 gram of wax 50

Does Wax Last Longer than Weed?

Yes, ultimately wax does last a lot longer than weed because of the thc breakdown listed above. You need much less wax to get the same effects from flower, and let's face it, taking a couple dabs seems much less time consuming than smoking joint after joint. The potency and overall milligram absorption when comparing wax to weed just blows flower out of the water.

Based on the breakdown above, a single gram of wax can equate the same effects of multiple grams of flower. Choosing wax over flower might seem like the more expensive option with upfront costs, however in the long run it's more cost efficient.