What Is Shake? When Pre-Ground Flower is the Right Choice

Many folks love the ritual of grinding their own weed. But if you prefer to skip that step, have too much to grind at once, or if working with a grinder hurts your hands, shake might be the right product to try. Get to know what shake is, the difference between shake and pre-ground flower, and your shopping options at The Travel Agency.

What is shake?

Shake is a slang term that describes loose pieces of bud that have fallen off the flower in a bag. It’s often used to make pre-rolls.

You may see shake for sale in a dispensary in eighths, quarters, halves, and ounces. However, shake and pre-ground flower differ by an important technicality. Shake is flower that has broken off whole buds naturally due to handling, while pre-ground flower is whole buds that have been intentionally ground down prior to packaging and sale. You may hear the terms used interchangeably in dispensaries, but it’s good to know that there’s technically a difference.

Shake is also different from trim. Shake is cannabis flower that has come loose, while trim is made up of different parts of the plant that are purposely removed during the trimming process. Trim often contains other parts of the plant as well, like bud tips and sugar leaves.

When should you choose pre-ground flower?

There are a few reasons you may choose to buy a bag of ground flower over whole buds. If you’re a regular smoker and want a large amount of cannabis flower for a lower price than whole flower, pre-ground flower is a good option.

If you want to quickly smoke up, pre-ground weed eliminates the need to have a grinder on hand. You can pour the flower into a cone or lay it out on paper to roll into a joint in a quick and easy way. It’s helpful to have shake if you’re traveling around New York City and don’t want to bring your entire smoking setup from home with you. For that reason, a pre-ground flower is also a good option for dry herb vaping.

Trying out homemade edibles, topicals, or tinctures? Pre-ground flower makes it easy to decarboxylate your flower before infusing it, without the need to prepare all that plant material yourself.

Pros and cons of pre-ground flower

Pros of pre-ground flower

Cost-effective: Pre-ground flower is typically cheaper than whole bud, gram for gram, making it a wallet-friendly option for someone who likes to smoke on a budget. Many dispensaries will run deals on pre-ground flower, allowing you to get a larger quantity (like a half ounce or an ounce) for less money than whole flower.

Convenient. Pre-ground weed comes ready to use. You can fill a cone, roll a joint, pack a bowl, or make edibles without needing to grind it up. Transferring ground flower from the grinder to the bowl can get messy, and pre-ground flower removes a step from the process.

Flexible. Pre-ground flower still contains the same trichomes as whole bud, which is where your favorite cannabinoids and terpenes live. This means it’s still good weed, just not in familiar flower form.

Cons of pre-ground flower

It may be less potent. Cannabis flower is best stored in its whole form. As a result, the pre-ground flower might lose some potency over its lifespan from processing to packaging to smoking. Similarly, pre-ground flower’s flavor may diminish faster than it would in whole flower form.

It may be difficult to handle. Pre-ground flower comes in pretty sizable quantities. If you drop the bag, all that weed can scatter and it would be quite difficult to clean up.

Shopping for pre-ground flower at The Travel Agency

Old Pal’s Ready to Roll kits are available at The Travel Agency locations in Union Square, Downtown Brooklyn, and Fifth Avenue. Available in Diesel Drifter and Galactic Goo cultivars (AKA strains), these half-ounce kits contain everything you need to roll on the go, including pre-ground flower, hemp rolling papers, and crutches. Notably, Old Pal packages sungrown pre-ground flower, not shake, in its kits.

Pre-ground cannabis is worth it for the right occasion

First things first, keep in mind that shake and pre-ground flower are two different products, even if you hear both terms used for the same thing. Shake is what falls off flower collected and sold, while pre-ground flower prepares whole buds in advance for you. In either case, there’s undeniably a time and a place for both pre-ground cannabis and shake, depending on your goals. Both products are affordable, flexible, and remove a step of your smoking process.

Curious about trying pre-ground flower? Ask a budtender on your next visit to The Travel Agency.