What is Marijuana Shake?

You’ve heard the term “shake”… but do you actually know what it is?
What is Marijuana Shake?
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Have you ever bought weed and wondered why half of it was, essentially, scraps and dust? Or, better case scenario, you smoked most of your good buds, and you’re left with scraps at the bottom of the bag? While it might not be your ideal set of buds to pack your bowl, it’s not like it won’t get you ripped.

The proper term for your less-than-perfect scraps is shake. It is, at its core, the leftovers from your bud. But it can also be so much more.

So what is marijuana shake, exactly?

Let’s take a look into the less-than-glamorous remains of weed, and how exactly you can best utilize it.

What Is Marijuana Shake Used For?

So what is marijuana shake used for, exactly? Well, the same thing any type of pot is used for—smoking!

When it comes to marijuana shake, there’s really not much one has to know. Basically, when you’re storing a large amount of cannabis, it’s not going to stay perfect forever. Some bits of leaves, stems, or segments of the plant get lost in the mix. This, clearly, isn’t the best of your buds but the good news is, it’s actually quite usable. In fact, you might be smoking shake regularly without even knowing it.

Back in the day, your friendly neighborhood weed dealer might give you the deal of the century on some shake that he could not get rid of otherwise. Maybe a half an ounce of shake for 25 bucks.

Now, however, in the legal landscape of the cannabis industry, shake is being sold to you, often without you realizing it.

A lot of the pre-rolled joints at dispensaries are shake. Like any place of business, dispensaries want to sell as much of their product as possible—even the stuff that some might deem unsalvageable.

However, shake actually isn’t as bad as some people think. At its core, it’s essentially the same as bud you put through a grinder.

While some shake might be sold under the guise of a freshly rolled J, this isn’t always the case in dispensaries. In fact, many dispensaries sell a lot of their shake at a discount. So if you’re someone who rolls a lot of joints, blunts or spliffs, you may want to consider buying shake, as opposed to shelling out top dollar for buds you’re going to have to go through the trouble of breaking up, anyway.

The Pros And Cons Of Marijuana Shake

After reading the above and knowing the answer to the question “what is marijuana shake”, you’ve probably come to a crossroads—is marijuana shake a good thing, or a bad thing?

The short answer is both.

One of the pros of shake, is, again, it’s cheaper than nugs. If you’re going to be using it for rolling a bunch of joints, or even making edibles, where the consistency of the bud doesn’t really matter for extraction purposes,  you might as well get the best bang for your buck.

There’s also an off chance that some of your shake is extra potent. If it’s sitting at the bottom of a vacuum-sealed bag for some time, it could accumulate some kief on top, making it stronger than regular weed. But if it hasn’t been in storage long enough to make that happen, then it’s less than likely that your shake is as strong as a regular nug.

However, there are a few risks when buying shake.

Some shake might come complete with trimmings—something you most definitely do not want. One of the most aggravating parts about smoking is removing the stems and seeds, yet you may find yourself with a surplus of them if your shake contains plant trimmings.

Secondly, it’s hard to identify shake. It could be a mixture of leftovers from different strains, so there’s no real telling what you’re going to get. So if you’re using the herb for medicinal purposes, or you just prefer a certain strain, getting pre-rolled joints or buying shake, in general, may not be your best bet.

And an obvious flaw, of course, is that shake tends to be dried out. If you do purchase marijuana shake, you’re either going to want to use it quickly, or store it in a jar before its condition worsens.

Alternative Uses for Marijuana Shake 

Of course, there are other ways to maximize the potency of marijuana shake. If you don’t want to smoke leftover shake because you don’t think it will get you high or you consider yourself  “weed snob,” and prefer to smoke fresh buds, you can always utilize it for non-smoking methods of ingesting THC.

If you’re of the holistic sort, you can opt to put some marijuana shake in your tea. This method won’t get you high, but if you were already under the pretense that shake wouldn’t get you high enough anyway, there’s no harm in putting it in your hot beverage. This method allows you to unlock some of the potent, non-psychoactive effects of CBD.

Another great way to utilize shake—again, without actually getting stoned—is using it to make CBD-derived skin topicals. This method is a bit more time consuming, but it’s well worth the wait, especially with a “burning” passion for natural self care methods.

For skin topicals, decarb your weed into a fine powder. The extracted plant material is already rich in essential oils, but combining it with other all natural oils like lavender, lemon, and rosemary can be incredibly effective in improving the condition of your skin. Once you mix the oils with the extracted cannabinoids, cooke them, and then let the concoction sit for a few hours, feel free to apply it to any blemishes, dry skin patches, or scars. Regular application of this simple topical can improve the condition of your skin slowly, but surely.

On the other hand, you might be somebody who likes to get the best bang for their buck out of their weed, and that’s ok, too. Maximizing the THC in your shake is certainly one way to do just that.

Using the remnants of your marijuana shake to make edibles is perhaps the best way to do just that. This way, you’re extracting all of the remaining THC from your flower and maximizing its potency in a highly-condensed form. We’d suggest making cannabutter out of your shake, as it’s a simple and relatively fast process that will certainly get you stoned…to say the absolute least.

Refer to our instant pot cannabutter recipe if you really want to maximize your remaining marijuana shake.

Vaporizing your marijuana shake is another way you can get the most out of your cannabis flower. While smoking it in a bowl, bong, or joint might not be the most enjoyable form of consumption, at least taste-wise, vaporizing the shake will better maximize the remaining THC while tasting the same as, well, any other time you vaped your weed.

Regardless, whatever method(s) you choose, at least you can go to sleep at night knowing that you utilized, quite literally, all of your weed. And that, friends, is all that really matters.

(Updated from a previous post.)

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3 comments
  1. Amazing article, it gave me the exact answers I was looking for. Never smoked shake before because I was doubtful but this cleared it up. Great job and thanks!

  2. Just a note on putting it into a hot beverage: In order to get the effects of CBD you need to decarb it too. The precursor CBDA exists like THCA before processing so simply putting it in a hot beverage will not get said benefits, however there are many cannabinoids that are beneficial without decarbing, just THC ans CBD will be minimal that way.

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