If you are looking to turn over a new leaf this year, cannabis can help. Here’s a quick guide to help you incorporate cannabis into your positive new routines and goals for 2021 in a thoughtful and fun way. New year, we got you.
1 Swap smoking for vaping
Smoking flower is the most common way to enjoy cannabis, giving you a rich sensory experience and the chance to really savor a strain’s particular character. But if you are looking to switch things up, dry herb vaporizers use high heat to activate the THC in cannabis without burning the flower itself. As well as being a more convenient format, you inhale a smooth vapor that is less fragrant (and therefore more discreet), treat your lungs more gently (because there’s no smoke), and consume fewer unwanted by-products (because little to no plant matter actually burns in the process). Convection vaporizers are truly “smokeless” but take time to heat up, while conduction vaporizers are faster, resulting in some minimal cannabis burn but still far less than traditional smoking. For even greater smoothness and discretion, cannabis oil vaporizers are sleek, tiny and allow you to control your desired strength more mindfully. All the oil-based vape carts that we carry come from Michigan-based producers we know and respect and are scrupulously lab-tested to ensure purity.
2 Try low-THC flower
Lower-strength flower often gets a bad rap, but the start of the year can be a good time for a gentler high that doesn’t get in the way of your other New Year’s resolutions. Well-bred lower-strength strains can still give you the lovely terps, cannabinoids, and THC that you love while being a great way to economize. Just allow our budtenders to help you explore a growing range of lush, lovingly cultivated low THC flower, and you might be pleasantly surprised. Apothecare Rainbow Cookies is a great place to start – it’s organic, mellow, and won’t detract from your desire to focus or be sociable if that’s what you need.
3 Find healthy edible options
Chocolates and gummies are tasty and fun, but you might be looking to make healthier choices after the excesses of the festive season. One option is to swap your edible jones for tinctures – alcohol-based cannabis extracts that are sugar and gluten-free that you ingest by putting a few drops under your tongue or adding them to water juice. To get you started, Tree Town makes a great tincture with a 1:1 CBD and THC ratio that gives you both a sustained high and holistic wellbeing benefits in a single drop. Concentrated THC sprays are another great alternative to edibles. Choice Labs make a great cinnamon-flavored oral spray that is about the size of a lip balm – spray a shot or two of the 5mg measured spritz under your tongue, and you’re good to go. And if you absolutely cannot resist your sweet tooth any longer, Wana Gummies are delicious, vegan, and cruelty-free.
4 Get active with cannabis
If better fitness is part of your “new year, new you” plan, we highly recommend micro-dosing before you go running, hit the yoga mat, or go hiking. Cannabis makes the outdoors even more invigorating and will help mitigate any aches and pains you might feel along the way. In fact, there’s a growing body of research around the benefits of keeping your endocannabinoid system well-fed with tiny doses of THC/CBD throughout the day as part of your busy lifestyle even when you’re not exercising. Levitate gummies are perfect for both – take half of one for a 2.5 THC and CBD dose for just the right amount of uplift without an overpowering high. Cannabis can also aid your work-out recovery. Instead of Icyhot or Ibuprofen, you can opt for soothing cannabis balm-like Michigan Organic Extra Releaf. It’s all-natural, gentle on your muscles and joints, soothes and relieves pain, and enhances your hard-earned exercise high.
5 Rest better
Regular, quality sleep is essential to mental and physical wellbeing. Still, according to the National Sleep Foundation, almost 70 million Americans struggle with sleep, while one-third of the population will experience insomnia at some point in their life. So if one of your New Year goals is to get more rest, cannabis is useful because certain strains help calm an anxious and over-tired mind and because cannabis generally helps reset your body’s natural sleep cycle. That said, not all strains will promote sleep – Sativas are known in particular for their energizing properties, so speak to one of our budtenders who can help you find an Indica or hybrid flower that will help you rest. You may also wish to try a transdermal patch, which ensures a steady, slow, measured dose over 8 to 12 hours. Edibles can also help if you take a higher strength dose. For example, if you’re very comfortable with 5mg, try 10mg about 45 minutes before you go to bed so that the plant can take full effect as you are drifting off to a well-deserved rest. But as always, with cannabis, everyone’s journey and preferences are different. We recommend experimenting when you don’t have a hard wake-up time or early start so you can find the best way to rest, recharge, and be your best self more consistently in 2021.
