Here at Best Buds we have a lot of focus on offering the best CBD Flower. Best Buds searches high and low and near and far to find top shelf exotic CBD flower. We look for the best bud, the rarest genetics and partner with trustworthy farms across America to ensure consistency and transparency as well as quality. Best Buds CBD bud strains are all sampled in house and paired against our past favorites in order to weed out the weak and offer the best hemp flower available in the United States. So how do we know? Let us explain a bit about bud.

Best Buds is always searching for the best CBD buds on the market. We have relationships with over 100 hemp farmers which provides us with the opportunity to work closely with growers to understand the industry from their side of the fence. Every season we test dozens and dozens of strains in order to gauge the quality which is being achieved as well as to ensure that we are not missing out on something that our customers would love.

There are essentially 3 major types of CBD Flower: Indoor, Greenhouse and outdoor cultivated flower. While there are tons of ways to alter the growing process for each of these scenarios these are the most common cultivation methods. So what is the difference?

Indoor CBD Flower

Indoor cultivated cannabis is by far the highest quality method of cultivation. Almost all Exotic hemp flower is going to be indoor cultivated. Growing cannabis indoors allows the growers to control nearly every aspect of the growing process like temperature, humidity, lighting, nutrients and pressure. This leads to superior quality across the board: better terpenes, better buds and colas and better cannabinoid content.

Indoor growth does have its pitfalls. Indoor growing takes a lot of money, like a lot. First it requires an indoor facility rather than simply land. Beyond that you need high quality lights, nutrients, soil or hydroponic systems and labor. Cannabis plants need to be checked daily and due to that, growing cannabis is extremely time consuming. While indoor flower is almost certainly the best cultivation technique, it is also the most strenuous and costly.

Greenhouse CBD Flower

Greenhouse flower is a bit of a hybrid between outdoor and indoor methods. Not mentioned above but worth stating, light deprived greenhouse CBD flower is an even more strenuous method over greenhouse. Greenhouse CBD flower is cultivated in, as you may have guessed, a greenhouse. What this does is allow the farmers a bit more control over the plants than they would have in a strictly outdoor environment while also allowing the plants to receive natural sunlight. In a light deprived setting the greenhouse is non-permeable and does not allow light and artificial lighting is used. This is in order to control the light cycle without having to control the temperature and humidity like you would in a indoor setting.

Greenhouse grown CBD flower can be absolutely awesome. Many greenhouse strains are high in terpenes and cannabinoid content and sometimes provide larger buds due to the natural light. Indoor is like having the most preferred ideal CBD bud, greenhouse flower is very close. Many greenhouse strains are stellar in appearance, smell, taste and experience and are only slightly less potent than indoor. The major difference is likely going to manifest in appearance. Indoor cultivated flower is almost always going to have a pristine look to it, like something out of a magazine. Greenhouse flower is going to have a more natural look while maintaining many of the other attributes of the bud, but also are more likely to contain more large buds.

Outdoor CBD Flower

Cultivating cannabis outdoors is the most cost-effective method of growing but this really doesn’t mean anything for quality. While you are almost always going to find high quality strains come from indoor grows and more than likely will see good quality come from a greenhouse or light deprived grow, outdoor growing can also provide some stellar top shelf CBD bud. Take for example the legendary OG below. This flower is GREAT! Terpy, big buds, flavorful and smelly and potent, 20% cannabinoids. While its definitely more rare, FIRE outdoor flower is certainly out there!

In the beginning of our business almost all the flower was outdoor, this was early 2018. When compared to high quality cannabis strains the flower at that point was simply, eh. It wasn’t great, it didn’t smoke amazingly and the cannabinoid content was extremely lacking (probably about 8%). Well, fast forward to 2021 and this certainly is no longer the case. Outdoor cultivation can be just as rewarding and can produce amazing flower as well, like our new Shanti Sour. This sativa is a truly enjoyable strain with heavy tropical notes and hints of fruits and berries. The buds from an outdoor grow will commonly dwarf indoor flower as it has more time in its growth cycle and is being powered by natural sunlight and nutrients from not only the soil but also the air.

Best Buds brings in a ton of outdoor hemp flower to sample but most of it is overlooked for greenhouse and indoor flower. That isn’t to say that we don’t like outdoor flower, as we are certainly game to bring in high quality outdoor strains.

Exotic CBD Flower

Now that you know some of the basics about the different cultivation methods, we can dive into the different strains a little bit. Best Buds seeks out exotic CBD bud. Okay, but what is exotic?

Exotic means rare, unique and stand alone as well as high in quality. Take our Miss B or Blueberry Gelato for example. Miss B is handled by an indoor cultivation here in Edisto, South Carolina and although you may find the genetics being grown elsewhere, no one does it like they do. Best Buds Miss B exotic CBD flower is second to none in our experience. Miss B is potent, clocking in at 27% cannabinoids. Its appearance is stellar with long orange hairs surrounding bring green and orange buds. The terpenes are around 2% which means the smell and taste of the bud is spectacular. These attributes qualify Miss B as exotic. The experience associated with this CBD flower is certainly top shelf.

On the other hand our Blueberry Gelato is exotic for another reason. These genetics alone are rare, not to mention the flower its self. Blueberry Gelato is a phenotype, meaning that it was hand picked from dozens of plants and cultivated over and over again until is was distinguishable from its mother genetics. This strain is cultivated in the High Desert region of California which is known for its ample agricultural conditions. Temperature, humidity and nutrients are all just right in this region for cultivating cannabis. Blueberry Gelato is unique due to its large bud structure, the average bud is over 3 grams. Its appearance is also unique with hues of purple and bright green accompanied by smells and tastes of berries. Rarely will you find flower of this quality with this experience in the hemp industry, and that is what makes it exotic. Genetics, rareness and bud structure.

Different types of CBD Bud – Indicas VS Sativas

Cannabis (hemp flower) strains are commonly classified as either indica, sativa or hybrid. Sativas are more uplifting and energetic and indicas are more relaxing and better for tuning down and unwinding. CBD bud strains are characterized by their terpene profiles. Terpenes are phytonutrients which give fruits, herbs and cannabis their characteristics. For example, take an orange. Oranges are high in the citrol terpene. Citrol creates an uplifting and energetic vibe simple by smelling or tasting the terpenes which make cannabis strains high in Citrol to be more along the lines of a sativa. Now, take lavender. Lavender is a awesome scent for relaxing, that’s why you commonly find night time tea blends with lavender. The terpene responsible for these effects are linalool. Linalool can also be found in certain cannabis strains and these strains would be considered indica dominant. Sometimes in cannabis you will find strains that have a good bit of both of these terpenes, that’s what makes hybrids. Hybrids are a solid mix between sativa and indica strains and provide balanced effects due to the terpenes found in these strains.

Understanding the different types of terpenes is a great way to ensure that you get the effects from the flower that you desire. In general, sativa strains are better for mornings and daytime where as indicas have a more relaxing effect and are better for afternoons, evenings and the weekends.

What to look for in CBD Bud for yourrself

When your looking for some new bud to purchase there are a few major things to keep an eye out for: quality, price, potency and cannabinoid content, terpene profile and bud structure. All of these factors will help you to assess what it is your purchasing, as well as if its a good match for your wants/needs. We are going to try to break these down a little further and help you make a good decisions on where to purchase your hemp flowers!

• When it comes to quality and price just be sure to not over pay for low quality goods, but that does not mean to avoid buying cheap flower and not to buy expensive flower. Buy what matches your desire, whether that be shake for cooking brownies with or top shelf exotic indoor for packing your favorite flower vaporizer. Consider what your going to be using the bud for as well as the cultivation methods in order to pick your quality and price point that your comfortable with. 
• When gauging potency and cannabinoid content consider your own tolerance. If you are an avid user potency may be really important, however, if your just getting into cannabis potency isn't everything. Understanding potency and cannabinoids is essential to getting the best effects for your self. What is the cannabinoid content? Is it high in CBD, CBG or Delta 8? All of these cannabinoids are going to give you different effects.
• Consider the terpene profile and if it matches what your want from the flower. Do you want to feel relaxed but energized, ready to get to it? You'd likely prefer a sativa dominant flower. Maybe your looking to sort of space out and what some movies at night and sleep like a baby. Sound like your looking for a heavy indica. (Fun Fact: Did you know that indica's are commonly called in-da-couch due to their couch lock effects?)
• Last but certainly not least consider the bud structure. Cannabis flower is commonly sold in a few ways. Big buds, small buds and shake. All of these variations have applications. The primary difference between big buds and small buds is simple size, although it is arguable that quality is effected as well. Some people simply prefer small buds, and others love to have larger chunky buds that please the eyes and nose. When it comes to shake, you are certainly giving up on bud structure and are opting for a broken up version of the flower, plant material that is essentially already grounded down. Shake is usually discounted compare to large and small buds, but definitely has a lot of uses. Shake is also for cooking with, mixing into tea's and food and even rolling up and packing pre-rolls. 

Consider where your buying from and what your buying. Be sure to use a trusted vendor when it comes to ordering online and if your purchasing in store just be sure your go through some sort of checklist in order to avoid overpaying for under quality CBD bud.

Shopping for Top Shelf CBD Flower

When shopping for CBD bud keep this article in mind. There is some amazing quality flower available, so if that’s what your looking for reference this Best Buds article and see if the flower your looking at makes it through this checklist: Cultivation method, cannabinoid content, terpene profile (sativa or indica) and bud quality. Of course higher quality is going to come with higher prices, so expect that. If quality isn’t everything just be sure that the flower does have everything that you want and is at a price point that you like. Don’t overpay for under quality flower.

Best Buds has an ever changing selection of Exotic Top Shelf CBD flower, so be sure to check out our hemp shop and see what’s in stock. We commonly have sales to make room for new buds as well, so if you don’t see something you love or a price that you like, be sure to sign up for our email list to get updates about new CBD strains and updates about deals, sales and specials.

Best Buds also has Wholesale Top Shelf Exotic CBD flower available. We offer pre-packed wholesale units as well as bulk flower if that’s more your style. If you want to learn more about our wholesale accounts reach out to us and let us know how we can help!