Weed Grades Explained: What AAAA, AAA and Top Shelf Mean

What Are Weed Grades?

Weed grades are the letters after a strain name: AAAA, AAA or AA. More letters means the seller rates that flower higher on looks, smell and how carefully it was grown and trimmed.

There is no official grading body for weed in Canada. The letters are industry shorthand, and each seller grades their own flower, so two shops can call quite different bags "AAA".

The good news is that growers and buyers tend to judge the same few things, so once you know them you can grade a bag yourself.

AAAA vs AAA vs AA at a Glance

These are our regular 28g prices. Sale prices change often, so the product pages always have the current number.

AAAA (Quad A)

AAAA is what people usually mean by top shelf. The buds are dense and sticky, the frost looks almost sugared, the trim is tight and the smell hits the moment the bag opens. Death Bubba AAAA is a good example from our menu.

AAA (Triple A)

AAA is solid everyday flower: good structure, real frost and a clear strain smell, just fewer of the big showpiece buds. Gorilla Runtz AAA is a typical one.

AA (Double A)

AA is budget flower, with airier buds, lighter frost and a softer smell. It still smokes fine, and plenty of people roll it every day.

Is AAAA Weed Stronger Than AAA?

Not always. A grade judges looks, smell and handling, while THC is measured separately, so the two often overlap.

Our own menu shows it. Tropicana Cherry AAAA is labelled 27% THC, while California Citrus AAA is labelled 30%.

So if strength is what you want, read the THC on the label. If flavour, smell and a good-looking jar matter more, the grade is the better guide.

What Is Top Shelf Weed?

Top shelf weed is the high-grade flower on a menu, usually the AAAA strains. Like a bar's top shelf, it is where the good stuff sits.

You will also hear "exotic", often for newer, candy-named strains with heavy frost and a loud nose. Both are descriptions rather than certificates, so it pays to know what to look for.

How to Tell Top Shelf Weed

These are the checks growers and buyers commonly use:

• Frost: trichomes, the tiny resin glands on the bud, should coat it like sugar. Research such as Punja et al. in the Journal of Cannabis Research describes these glands as the main source of the plant's cannabinoids and terpenes.
• Density: a good bud feels firm when you squeeze it gently and springs back instead of crumbling.
• Smell: you should get the strain, whether gas, fruit or kush, as soon as the bag opens, not hay or grass.
• Trim: leaves cut close by hand, with no long stems or big fan leaves left on.
• Cure: sticky but not wet. The stem should snap rather than bend, and the bud shouldn't crumble to dust.

What Is Craft Weed?

Craft weed is grown in small batches with hands-on care: trimmed by hand rather than by machine, and cured slowly instead of rushed.

Craft describes how the weed is made, while the grade describes the finished bud. Craft growing tends to produce higher grades, but every plant still gives a mix of big buds and small ones.

All of our flower is grown, cured and hand-trimmed in-house in BC. Our BC Bud strains guide covers the story behind it.

Where Do Smalls and Mids Fit?

Smalls are whole buds from lower on the plant, where less light reaches. They are a size, not a grade, so a plant that gives AAAA tops gives smalls too. Death Bubba smalls are the same strain as Death Bubba AAAA, just smaller buds.

Smalls are not shake, which is the loose bits at the bottom of a bag. Mids is slang for average, mid-grade weed, usually lower AAA or AA.

Which Grade Should You Buy?

• You care about looks and smell: AAAA.
• You smoke every day: AAA, for good flower at a lower price per ounce.
• You grind everything anyway: smalls, the same strains for less.
• You shop on price: our cheap weed page.

Every AAAA and AAA strain we carry is on our BC bud page, with the grade in the name and the THC on the label.