According to research, 12% of Americans consume cannabis. This equates to over 30 million people. However, we are in the minority when it comes to how we measure our weed.
The US is one of a few countries in the world that still use the imperial system. Some recipes, ingredient labels, and medications specify amounts in grams, but most of us aren't very familiar with this metric unit and might still be left wondering, "how much is a gram?"
When it comes to using cannabis, grams are a commonly used measurement. Worldwide, cannabis is typically weighed and sold by the gram. Therefore, here in the US, there is a mixture of gram and ounce measurements when it comes to marijuana.
This can feel quite confusing at first. Fortunately, once you know how, it's easy to convert grams into other units such as ounces and eighths.
If you're wondering, "how much is a gram," keep reading to find out what one gram of cannabis looks like and how to convert grams to imperial measurements.
How Much Is a Gram?
So first things first, how much is a gram of cannabis?
When converted to imperial measurements, one gram is 0.035 of an ounce of cannabis.
A gram is also how much cannabis goes into one average-sized joint. A small joint typically requires half a gram of cannabis.
To get a visual on much is a gram—a gram of cannabis is generally the size of 2-3 small heads of cannabis, one cotton ball, or an average-sized grape.
How Many Grams Is An Eighth of Cannabis?
Cannabis is often measured in eighths. Converted to grams, this is 3.5 grams and is enough to roll 4-7 joints.
This is the most common marijuana measurement when buying at dispensaries. One gram amounts are typically the smallest sold.
Although cannabis is most often sold in eighths, as the US embraces more metric measurements, it will probably become increasingly useful to know how to work with cannabis in gram amounts. Metric units are being increasingly used for food and beverage labels, so they will likely be utilized more for cannabis as well.
Grams to Ounces Cannabis Conversions List
Once you know that 1 gram is 0.035 ounces, you can convert any ounce amount to grams and vice versa.
However, here is a quick conversion list you can refer to see at a glance what is the gram equivalent of common cannabis amounts in ounces:
- 0.035 ounce = 1 gram (grape-sized amount of cannabis)
- Eighth ounce = 3.5 grams (kiwi-sized amount of cannabis)
- Quarter ounce = 7 grams (apple-sized amount of cannabis)
- Half ounce = 14 grams (grapefruit-sized amount of cannabis)
- Full ounce = 28 grams (coconut-sized amount of cannabis)
- 16 ounces (1 pound) = 448 grams
If you make a lot of edibles and are often converting between grams and ounces, you may want to print out these conversions and stick them on your refrigerator for easy reference.
Why Weight Is Important
When it comes to weight and cannabis conversations, knowing what a gram of cannabis looks like and how many ounces it is is important.
Not only do you need to be familiar with these measurements when purchasing cannabis, but they are also important for usage, especially when it comes to baking and edibles.
As with most things, the devil is in the dosage. Too little, and you might feel like the effects are wasted. Too much, and you'll be wasted!
If you have made or consumed edibles before, you probably know how tricky it can be to estimate strengths. Not only is it hard to gauge how much cannabis to use in edibles, but it also takes some time to feel the effects.
For instance, if you ingest cannabis gummies, you'll only be able to tell how strong they are a few hours later, once the THC starts to enter your system. In the meantime, you might be tempted to consume more if the effects aren't forthcoming.
This can lead you to have too much.
On the other hand, if you wait until you feel some effects and realize you did not consume enough, it's still tricky to know how much more to consume.
To avoid all this uncertainty, the easiest thing to do is weigh out and calculate how much cannabis you need for the edibles you are making.
Cannabis Calculations for Edibles
Most edibles start with making cannabutter. Therefore, the best place to begin is by making the right strength butter. If you know how strong your cannabutter is, you can determine how strong each serving of your final edible is.
A standard cannabis butter recipe will call for between 14-28 grams of decarboxylated botanicals per cup of butter.
This is a loose measurement and leaves some room for error when it comes to potency.
To be sure of how much THC is in each serving of your edible, it's best to drill down into the THC content of your cannabis, convert this into your butter strength, and then divide it up per serving.
Let's take a look at how this works.
Calculating THC per Serving for Edibles
Let's say you are looking to make brownies, but with a herbal spin. Our from-scratch recipe calls for 1 cup of butter and yields 16 brownies.
To work out how strong each brownie will be, you'll also need to know the THC percentage of your cannabis.
Let's say you have some potent bud with a THC concentration of 20%. This means that each gram will contain roughly 200mg of THC.
If you use 20 grams of cannabis butter for your brownies, this will mean that the batter will contain 4 grams of THC.
20 x 200mg = 4,000 mg = 4 gram
Divided into the 16 pieces, this means that each serving will contain 0.25 grams or 250mg.
So what does this mean? Is 250mg a good dose per serving? No, it's not!
In fact, 250mg of THC is bound to put even the most tolerant of people on the floor.
Here is a guide to pure THC milligram amounts to get an idea of how much we should aim for in each brownie.
Milligram THC Doses and Their Strengths
When calculating the strength you want to aim for with your edibles, it's a good idea to know how much pure THC there should be in each serving.
Here are the uses/effects of different amounts of THC:
- 1-10mg: micro-dosing
- 20mg: ideal for infrequent consumers
- 50mg: a strong dose for first-timers, a normal dose for regular consumers
As you can see from these amounts, 250mg of THC per serving for brownies is very strong. Anything over 50mg is strong, and doses of 150mg and over can result in some uncomfortable effects.
It's always best to start small and experiment.
Easiest Way to Calculate Dosages for Edibles
We just outlined how one can manually calculate the THC content in servings of edibles. While you can work this out with a bit of math, there is a quicker way.
To make things easier for you, we have created a dosage calculator for edibles. Simply run your amounts through, and you'll know exactly how much THC and CBD are in each serving of your edible.
Ways to Adjust the THC Percentage in Edibles
You might be wondering why many cannabutter recipes call for such large amounts of cannabis, given that in the above example, you might end up making edibles with it that are way too strong.
One reason for this is that, over the years, cannabis has gotten stronger. Research shows that back in 1995, cannabis had an average THC potency of 4%. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find strains testing well above 20%.
When making cannabutter and edibles, you can either choose less potent cannabis, or you can adjust the amount of cannabutter, canna-oil, or infused alcohol you use in your recipe.
For instance, in above brownie recipe, you can opt to substitute out only a few tablespoons of the regular butter with cannabutter. This will give you a much lower dosage per serving.
Edibles Made Easy
One of the most confusing parts of edibles is knowing how much cannabis to put in. If you aren't familiar with gram measurements, this can just make things feel even more complicated.
The good news is that gram measurements are easy to work with since they use the decimal system. This makes them ideal to use in baking and cooking.
Now that you know that answer to "how much is a gram"—as well as how to work out how many grams of cannabis to use in edibles—are you eager to start cooking up some infused recipes?
If so, we have a wide array of recipes for you to try.
What's more, we also want to make the process of cooking cannabutter easy. If you want a plug-and-play way to make cannabutter, go and check out our Magical Butter Machine!
