I wonder how they decide what to label a specific bud in the dispensaries. Probably some of the "variation" people complain about is just personal biochemistry, but I wonder how much stems from growers/dispensaries randomly tagging purchased material, trying to place it based on Leafly data and previous reviews. If they have a strain they don't have a detailed history on, and it's a sedative type, they might decide to label it as one of the known sleepy Indicas in the Leafly database, when in fact it could be something else. I hope that's not all that frequent. With all the info we're starting to acquire, that's impressively accurate, it would really screw things up. The fact that I can search in Leafly and actually get the expected effects by buying specific strains just blows me away. Way to go, cannabis Community! As pharmacologists we didn't have anything like that level of knowledge 30 years ago. It's tragic that most doctors and researchers are still just as clueless now.
Granddaddy Purple strikes me as an Indica with focus, very thick, friendly and mellow but a little too up for sleep. It helps with my sciatica pain. Master Kush is similar but more focused - a nervous person can even find it helpful in the daytime.
I've found Purple Kush very sedative, I don't know if it's THE knockout, but it's a pretty convincing last curtain call.
On the more Sativa side I'm surprised that Red Congolese (my current favorite daytime med), which is energetic and focused, and in spite of around 20% THC is not confused or scattered (especially if vaped, & without overheating), also helps some with my sciatica/lumbar pain.
Headband and Sour Diesel I have less experience with. They're fairly energizing, especially Sour Diesel, but so far they seem more scatter-brained. Blue Dream too, and more of a high. A lot of THC without some compensation from the other compounds easily goes that way, with confusion, flashing, and then anxiety and paranoia can set in.
A Trainwreck oil I tried was even more zoingy. It was so THC-scattered I kept forgetting what? So dysfunctional it was unpleasant, and I was desperate. I managed to find some Harlequin in the stash, that's a very CBD-heavy one, and as I was hoping, it straightened that trip right out. Harlequin is only around 8% THC, but has around 6% CBD, and it apparently does wonders for a lot of maladies. It also worked as a sort of THC leveler. Good to have.
The Leafly.com database is worth getting into! In the absence of a "Confusing" metric, it strikes me that strains that have a protruding "Euphoric" bar in the Leafly graphs tend towards that THC flashing confusion, sort of epileptic type thinking or laughter, and can easily turn paranoid. Really hate that confusion, it's why I quit cannabis decades ago. So aside from Red Congolese, that I find nearly perfect when vaped, and only makes me anxious if I overdo it - especially by smoking, I'm now hunting in more Indica-laden hybrids. Where a mostly Sativa like Red Congolese is like driving a sports car, and helps pain by rewiring da head (at CB1 receptors), a mostly Indica seems like an 18 wheeler. It hugs the road, nice and massive, and works on pain throughout the body, CB2 receptors in the spine, etc.
It's a rare Indica that's also focused, awake, sensual and cerebral, but that's how I found Master Kush. I dabbed some that was pretty harsh-tasting (and with a killer cough), but the effect was like wow, this thing DRIVES great - it doesn't drive ME. Same thing with a Master Kush O-Pen-vape prefilled cart I tried. Hideous taste, but YEAH!
Given the different boiling points of different elements, it makes sense that vaping at lower temp is a different thing from high temp vaping, let alone smoking. Vaping seems Lighter, more energetic, better for daytime. High temp vaping and maybe smoking might be best for evening/night, and probably gives stronger pain control all around. Make sense?