What Is Shake Weed? Is It Good to Smoke?

If you’ve been smoking cannabis for a long time, you’ve probably come across terms like “kind bud”, “the chronic”, “mids”, “shwag”, and “shake weed”. Kind bud and chronic insinuate a top-shelf nug, whereas mids are just okay. Shwag is considered bottom shelf weed and is usually brown and full of seeds. But what is shake weed? Can you smoke it? Let’s clear the air on what it is, if it’s safe to smoke, and how it affects you. 

What Is Shake Weed?

Despite its name, shake weed isn’t a blended ice cream drink with chunks of bud in it! That might be tasty, but we haven’t personally tried that one. Shake weed, or just “shake” for short, is essentially weed leftovers. 

Shake is a term used to describe the stems, trimmings, and leaves of weed that fall from the buds and collect in the bottom of your cannabis storage container. Dried nugs tend to shed trimmings every time a bud is broken open, handled, or shaken around in a jar, and the collection of these flakes and sticks is what we refer to as shake weed. 

Shake is usually the last of your stash, and chances are, you also smoke it last. However, if you use the same jar over and over again, you can accumulate a lot of shake that is excellent for rolling joints or using to make your cannabis creations. 

Is Shake Weed Good to Smoke?

Absolutely! Shake is good to smoke and doesn’t pose any potential threats or harm. Unless of course it’s moldy, and you should never, ever smoke any moldy weed. Some people find shake to be harsher than fresh buds since the trimmings tend to be extra dry. 

It’s best advised to remove any seeds and as many of the stems as possible. Shake can be smoked any way you’d smoke buds by putting into a pipe, bong, vaporizer, or rolling into joints or blunts. 

Does Shake Weed Get You High?

When comparing shake weed vs. bud, think of shake as the light beer and bud as the shot of tequila. Enough of both will get you drunk, but you might get there faster drinking only tequila. If you’ve been collecting shake from multiple strains in the same jar, it’s more like a suicide slushy, where all flavors are mixed together. In this case, the effects can be harder to predict because of the combination of cannabinoids and terpenes. 

It’s difficult to predict the potency of shake, but it’s likely higher in cannabinol (CBN) due to aging and exposure to light. CBN occurs when THC degrades and is known for its heavy sedative effects. As a result, “old” shake can be really effective for helping with sleeplessness.

How Is Shake Weed Used?

If you prefer not to smoke shake in a bowl, it’s excellent for infusions, edibles, or rolling. Here are a few ways to use shake:

• Blunts/Joints: To roll a good blunt or joint, you have to grind up your herb anyway. Using shake is just one step ahead of the process. You can roll using only shake, or sprinkle it on top of freshly ground buds.
• Edibles: Use your shake to make cannabis butter and add to any recipe that calls for butter. It can be hard to predict dosing, so always remember to go slow and start low. Wait a full two hours before consuming more. Don’t make the mistake of thinking, “it’s not working,” and taking a few more bites. It will come back to bite you.
• Tinctures: Homemade cannabis tincture is easy to make, highly potent, and a great use of collections of shake weed or larger batches of trim. Depending on your preference, you can use alcohol, glycerin, or oil like MCT as the base.

The key is to use it one way or another because some active cannabinoids and terpenes are perfectly usable for medicinal or recreational purposes. 

Common Prices of Shake Weed vs Regular Weed

Many dispensaries sell shake weed from their pound bags because it’s not deemed high enough quality to sell alongside their top-shelf buds. Sometimes they use it for their in-house pre-rolls, but the prices vary when sold as a stand-alone product, much like cannabis strains themselves. 

Some states sell an ounce of shake weed for as low as $40. If the container includes small nugs or “baby buds,” it might be worth as much as $100 for an ounce. Small buds are perfect for placing right into a bowl without the need to grind any weed. A sprinkle of shake tops it off. 

Where to Buy Quality Shake Weed

Ask your local budtenders if they offer shake, and you’ll likely have a plethora of options for buying shake weed. You can also ask about small buds, or “B” buds. These are nugs that are slightly smaller than the top-shelf, but a flavorful and affordable way to stock up your head stash.