# Is marijuana aroma correlated with potency?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-aroma-correlated-with-potency/727409>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 9, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-aroma-correlated-with-potency/727409 "2015-08-09T21:54:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-aroma-correlated-with-potency/727409/1 "2015-08-09T21:54:15Z")

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Don’t partake myself, but often pass people on the street smoking what smells like strong stuff. Major herbage.  
Is this the case, though, generally speaking - does strong weed give a strong smell, and gently-scented stuff is more mellow?

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**Author:** ![Last\_Glacial\_Maximum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Last\_Glacial\_Maximum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Last_Glacial_Maximum)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-aroma-correlated-with-potency/727409/2 "2015-08-09T22:39:16Z")

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IME, the aroma of a particular type of weed does not correlate to it’s potency/strength.

For example, many years ago {in college} a buddy and I bought some weed and boy did it have a great aroma…  
Problem was it had zero effect on us whatsoever. YMMV  
.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-aroma-correlated-with-potency/727409/3 "2015-08-10T00:57:55Z")

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Good marijuana can’t reliably be distinguished from excellent marijuana by smell. Good/excellent marijuana has a sweeter odor than does low-quality varieties. Appearance is a better measure though. YMMV.

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**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-marijuana-aroma-correlated-with-potency/727409/4 "2015-08-11T14:51:51Z")

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You can tell if it was dried properly and preserved properly from the smell. That certainly affects potency. In fact, the only real difference between imported dirtweed and expensive stuff is the care taken in growing, harvesting and preserving it. They’re largely the same plant.