Why hemp flower is becoming the trend for millennials in 2020?
Smoking hemp flower or CBD flower has become a huge trend in the US over the past year. To a lot of people, this trend may sound strange but by the look of things, it’s a trend that is here to stay.
If it looks like weed, smells like weed and tastes like weed. Odds are… It’s hemp… 🤷♂️
It’s pretty obvious that CBD has taken over a lot of our news and social media feeds since the federal legalization of 2018…. But just like with olives, the oil seems to get the lion’s share of the attention, rather than the fruit of the plant.
Smokable hemp flower is a “bud” just like a cannabis bud. It’s the female plant that produces a “cola” or cluster of buds that forms at the upper portion of the plant.
The cola is dried and cured just like with cannabis and is then sold for smokable consumption.
*Note that hemp, unlike cannabis, only can contain a maximum of .3% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant that produces a high.
Smokable hemp flower has some pretty cool benefits such as:
- Reducing anxiety
- Relieving pain
- Battling depression
- Reduce inflammation
- Calm stress
- Fight diabetes
- Help with sleep problems
- Etc.
What’s all the fuss about?
The popular cannabinoid CBD is found in its greatest abundance in the flower of the plant, so while a CBD oil could be extracted from the whole plant, smokable hemp is all about pure and rich concentrations of CBD.
You can also find other lesser-known cannabinoids such as CBG, CBN, and CBC, to name a few. However, there are over 100 cannabinoids that are found in the hemp plant.
If you want to feel the healing benefits of hemp and CBD, you are smart to consume it in it’s most un-altered form. IE. in the form of smokable CBD flower.
So why are millennials opting for hemp flower?
1. They are not interested in smoking cigarettes
Millennials are not as interested in smoking regular cigarettes as other generations have been in the past. In fact, cigarette trends have been on a constant decline over the past 50 years with a decrease from 42.6% of adults smoking in 1965 to only 14% in 2017.
Among the youth the number of smokers has decreased from 27.5% in 1991 to 8.8% in 2017.
*Source: https://www.lung.org/research/trends-in-lung-disease/tobacco-trends-brief/overall-tobacco-trends
Smoking cannabis on the other hand has had a similar but opposite trend over the same time period. Where a lot of the younger generations are more experienced with smoking weed than the older generations.
Weed however, has gotten so potent (in terms of THC) that for a lot of inexperienced smokers, consumption causes more paranoia than relaxation.
Hemp flower on the other hand offers a nice break from the strong THC high while conserving the therapeutic properties. And mixing regular cannabis with hemp conserves the taste and smell while reducing the high.
2. The stigma is gone
Older generations see cannabis, hemp and anything even remotely connected as drugs and want to stay as far away from that as possible.
But in later years, the massive presence of cannabis and CBD in the news and all over social media has helped to educate the masses in the understanding that there are therapeutic and holistic values to the cannabis plant that cannot be denied.
The constant dialogue in the media has allowed more people to open up their minds to the removal of the stigma of the plant.
3. Health conscious
With the large anti-campaign against vaping and the vaping industry, millennials have had to look elsewhere for their smoking needs.
The act of smoking has a relaxing effect in and of itself. That in combination with the therapeutic benefits of CBD, is allowing millennials to maintain their healthy lifestyles while still getting the “guilty” pleasure of smoking.
4. Bad sleep habits
Staying up late and looking into bright screens has become the norm for millenials when it comes to nighttime routines.
With that, comes problems falling asleep and difficulties shutting the mind down before bed.
Smoking a hemp pre roll before going to bed can be remarkably effective in helping you fall asleep at night.
But when it comes to CBD hemp flower, it’s a bit trickier than just picking a bud or pre-roll, smoking it and then passing out…
You have to pick the correct strain in order to get the desired effect.
There are some hemp strains that are relaxing and sedating but there are also strains that are uplifting and energizing.
Needless to say, picking the wrong strain can have the opposite effect of what you are trying to accomplish.
Premium hemp flower brands like Green Unicorn Farms, list the effects of each strain on their website in order to help educate customers in choosing the correct CBD flower or CBD pre roll to smoke.
5. Faster effect than oils and gummies
When you smoke CBD it enters into your bloodstream through 1’000’s of capillaries on the insides of your lungs.
This makes smokable hemp one of the best forms of CBD consumption.
By buying the flower, you also get the added benefit of seeing what you are buying. When buying an oil or a gummy, you are running the risk of getting tricked by “snake oil” companies that are selling fake CBD.
But watch out – when buying hemp flower you need to make sure that that company or farm is transparent with their lab results. They need to show you what the CBD and THC percentage is.