Ask a Stoner: Are Popcorn Nugs Another Result of the Pandemic?

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Dear Stoner: A lot of dispensaries have been selling popcorn nugs recently. Is that because of the pandemic and demand level? I just want normal nugs, man.
Brandon

Dear Brandon: You can still find normal nugs out there, but you’ll have to pay an extra $5 or $10 for the time being. Legal cannabis sales set the roof on fire in Colorado in 2020, breaking monthly records on their way to passing $2 billion for the first time in a calendar year. But as you’ve noticed, all that demand during the pandemic led to a shortage over the summer, and we’re still not out of it. Wholesale flower prices haven’t been this high in over four years, so dispensaries turn to popcorn buds — smaller buds with less potency — as a way to still sell flower at $20 an eighth.

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Unsplash/Add Weed

Another potential supply factor that dispensaries won't tell you about: Colorado’s new required testing for residual heavy metals is seeing more failures than anticipated, according to the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, which recently issued an executive order to study remediation techniques for weed containing traces of cadmium, arsenic, nickel and other potentially toxic heavy metals.

We saw similar shortages connected to mold problems in 2019, but that's not a topic the industry loves to talk about, either.

Send questions to [email protected].