What is Sinsemilla? 29 Dec, 2020
What is Sinsemilla?
If you’re interested in cannabis, you may have come across the term “sinsemilla.” You may have also heard that sinsemilla tastes better and is more potent than other types of cannabis, which is true. But what is sinsemilla, exactly? Is it some special kind of cannabis? How is it more potent than other types of marijuana? Below, we’re answering all these questions and more as we go over everything you need to know about sinsemilla.
What is Sinsemilla Weed?
In Spanish, “sinsemilla” means “without seeds.” This is a perfectly descriptive name for sinsemilla, which is simply marijuana flower that does not have any seeds.
Sinsemilla is very popular. Sinsemilla is loved not only for its lack of seeds, but also because it has more cannabinoids and terpenes than seeded flower, making it more potent, aromatic, and flavorful.
What Makes Sinsemilla Weed More Potent?
Sinsemilla has more cannabinoids and terpenes than seeded cannabis specifically because it doesn’t have seeds.
Female cannabis plants, which produce cannabis flower (aka buds), have a finite amount of energy. A female cannabis plant uses its energy to do things like grow taller, grow flower, create resin, and produce seeds. Creating seeds actually takes up quite a lot of a cannabis plant’s energy. So, when a female cannabis plant is producing seeds, it has less energy for doing other things, like growing more buds or creating more resin.
Speaking of resin, that’s what holds a marijuana plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes. As female cannabis plants mature, they grow buds, which sprout trichomes that create and store resin. Resin is a sticky substance that’s packed with cannabinoids like THC and CBD, along with aromatic terpenes like myrcene and pinene. Generally, when a cannabis plant has more resin, it has more cannabinoids and terpenes. That’s why people often say to look for bud with lots of trichomes (these are glands that look like little hairs), since more trichomes means more resin.
As mentioned above, when a female cannabis plant is growing seeds, it has less energy to do things like create valuable resin. So, in order to make sure that their female cannabis plants don’t start growing seeds, growers keep male cannabis plants far away from their female counterparts. Male cannabis plants disperse pollen from their flowers. When that pollen gets caught in the sticky resin on a female cannabis plant’s flowers, the female plant starts making seeds, so growers want to make sure their female plants don’t get pollinated.
When a female plant doesn’t get pollinated, it has more energy to grow flower and make resin. It also tends to naturally kick its resin production into overdrive in an attempt to increase the likelihood of catching any pollen that’s in the air. So, when a female cannabis plant doesn’t grow seeds, it tends to have much more resin. Therefore, it also tends to have more cannabinoids and terpenes, making it more potent, flavorful, and aromatic.
Alternate Definitions for Sinsemilla: Understanding the History of Sinsemilla
Today, most cannabis experts would say that you can use the word sinsemilla to describe any seedless cannabis flower. However, some people argue that flower needs to be more than just seedless to be sinsemilla. Some say that the word sinsemilla only describes top shelf, expertly grown seedless cannabis flower, while others say that sinsemilla only describes specific strains of highly potent marijuana that comes from Amsterdam or the American Southwest.
If you look back at the origins of sinsemilla, you can see that these alternate descriptions for sinsemilla are rooted in its history. Before the 1970s, there were two types of marijuana available in the United States: hashish and seeded cannabis buds. This dried flower, imported from places like Mexico and Jamaica, was actually very heavily seeded because it was wild-grown and it underwent very little processing.
In the 1970s, domestic cannabis production started to ramp up in the United States. During this period, some American growers discovered that culling male plants before the maturation stage resulted in seedless buds. Thus, sinsemilla was born.
We don’t know who first created sinsemilla or who first called seedless cannabis by this name. However, it’s commonly thought to have originated somewhere in the American Southwest, which is why many believe that sinsemilla needs to come from the southwestern U.S.
The fact that sinsemilla was both seedless and highly potent earned it instant popularity. Due to demand, cultivators started to focus more and more on producing sinsemilla flower. This led to the development of breeding techniques that made growing sinsemilla easier. Gradual advances in greenhouse technology also made growing sinsemilla easier, as it’s much easier to keep male and female cannabis plants separate indoors (especially when you have airtight containment available).
Over time, sinsemilla started to become the standard flower that circulated in the United States. This actually led to fewer people calling sinsemilla by this name– instead, people would just call it bud or flower.
So, sinsemilla was once only top shelf, expertly grown seedless cannabis flower. And it also was once specific strains of highly potent marijuana that came from specific regions, like the American Southwest. However, today, sinsemilla is much easier to grow than it once was, so you don’t necessarily need to be an expert to grow sinsemilla (though, experts do still grow it). Sinsemilla is also now grown in many regions across the U.S. and the rest of the world, so it’s no longer tied to any one region or strain.
Is Sinsemilla Rare?
Sinsemilla used to be rare, but it isn’t rare anymore. Advances in greenhouse technology and breeding techniques have made sinsemilla much, much easier to grow than it once was. With the advent of feminized seeds, even home grower hobbyists can now grow sinsemilla. Since this more popular type of flower is now easier to grow, it’s much more prevalent.
You can actually see how much more prevalent sinsemilla is by looking at the rising potency of cannabis found in the United States. Over the last 20 to 30 years, the average THC level in U.S. cannabis has jumped up dramatically. Back in the 1960s, the average THC level of U.S. cannabis was 2%. By 1995 it was 4% and by 2014 it was 12%. Research has shown that this is due to a production shift. Growers are growing less seeded marijuana and more sinsemilla.
Is Sinsemilla Weed Always Better?
Generally, sinsemilla is considered better than marijuana flower that’s full of seeds. Today, virtually all high quality marijuana is sinsemilla. Seeds are much more commonly found in lower quality flower, simply because the best growers don’t want to produce seeded cannabis. Most people prefer sinsemilla, which is more potent and flavorful, not to mention free of annoying seeds that need to be picked out.
That being said, all sinsemilla is not created equally. Just being seedless doesn’t always mean that a strain is the best. So much goes into creating top-quality cannabis, like genetics, nutrition, environment, and the overall skill and attentiveness of the grower. In the modern era of legalized marijuana, there are many types of sinsemilla out there, some of which may be considered better than others.
FAQ: Is Sinsemilla Indica or Sativa?
One of the most frequently asked questions about sinsemilla is whether it’s an indica, a sativa, or some type of hybrid. There’s actually no single answer to this question, since strain type has absolutely no effect on whether or not flower is sinsemilla. Any flower that hasn’t been pollinated and doesn’t have seeds is sinsemilla. So, if an indica, a sativa, or a hybrid strain doesn’t have seeds, it’s sinsemilla.
Final Thoughts on Sinsemilla
This wraps up our guide to the potent and flavorful sinsemilla. We hope this information has expanded your understanding of what sinsemilla is, as well as its advantages and history.
As always, if you have any additional questions for us at Essence, please feel free to reach out. Our team members have an expert understanding of all things cannabis and are always happy to share their knowledge with our customers. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can contact us through our website or call your closest Essence Dispensary location during our regular business hours.