TL;DR: What Is a High THC Percentage in Flower?
What is a high THC percentage in flower? Generally, any flower with 17% THC or higher is considered potent. However, there’s no official standard — user tolerance, cannabinoid type, and desired effects all influence what “high” really means.
Readers will learn:
• Flower potency varies widely, but 17% THC is often the informal threshold for strong cannabis flower.
• The average cannabis flower sold today contains about 21% THC, compared to just 5% in the 1990s.
• Hemp flower can feature many cannabinoids, like Delta 8, THC-A, and Delta 11, with differing potencies.
• THC-A flower is often sold without added isolates and converts to Delta 9 when heated.
• Reputable retailers provide COAs (lab reports) so customers can verify cannabinoid percentages.
What is a high THC percentage in flower? The simplest answer is 17% or higher for many cannabinoid enthusiasts and companies in the industry.
That answer only scratches the surface, however. A high THC percentage in flower isn’t officially or universally defined, and everything from user experience to the size of the dose has an influence.
Keep reading to learn more about THC percentages in flower and find answers to frequently asked questions about this topic.
What is Considered High THC in Flower?
To fully answer this important question, let’s first review a few basic facts about THC percentage and flower:
- Flower refers to dried and cured buds that come from female cannabis and hemp plants.
- Hemp flower is federally legal and legal in many (although not all) states. Cannabis flower is illegal federally, but legal for recreational use in about half of all states and for medical use in about 80% of all states.
- Flower can contain a wide variety of different cannabinoids, with Delta 9 THC the dominant cannabinoid in cannabis flower. For hemp flower, like the kind sold here at Delta 8 Resellers, everything from Delta 8 to THC-A can be found.
- Flower can have naturally occurring cannabinoids, and flower can also be infused with cannabinoid isolate. For hemp flower products, infusion is common because most cannabinoids occur naturally only in low quantities. However, THC-A flower is often sold without the addition of an isolate.
- There isn’t a universal or official definition of high-THC flower, but there is an informal consensus among businesses and users.
Now that we have these basic facts in mind, let’s answer the question at hand: What is a high THC percentage in flower? For cannabis flower and Delta 9 THC, a percentage above 17% is generally considered potent. That means it delivers strong to very strong psychoactive effects, as Vaping 360 points out.
As a point of reference, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board explains that the average THC concentration for flower sold in state dispensaries in 2022 was 21%. How can average flower be considered potent? Here are two key facts to help answer this question:
- The average THC concentration in flower was only about 5% in the 1990s.
- The upper limit for THC percentage in flower is roughly 35%-37%.
As growers improved their techniques and especially as cannabis became legal in several states, a push for higher THC percentages occurred. On a practical level, this means that an average THC content for cannabis flower is also representative of potent flower.
For hemp flower, with its many different types of cannabinoids, it’s harder to land on a simple percentage. While psychoactive cannabinoids all have similar effects in the big picture, they also appear to have different potency levels.
For example, Delta 11 is thought to be especially potent, Delta 10 is considered mild, and THC-A (which converts into Delta 9 when heated or dried) is in between the two. Unlike cannabis, which is always Delta 9 dominant, there are several cannabinoids with different levels of potency in play for hemp flower.
The good news is that, when you purchase flower from reputable retailers, you can count on access to third-party lab reports (COAs – certificates of analysis) that detail their cannabinoid percentages. At Delta 8 Resellers, we make these COAs available on our individual product pages.
If you want to dig into percentages for hemp flower to determine what potent means for you personally, you can! It’s easy to use a notebook or the notes app on your phone to keep track of the percentages of the products you try and compare them to each other.
FAQs and Answers About High THC Percentage Flower
What percentage of THC is high in flowers?
There’s no official definition of high THC percentage in cannabis flower, but the informal standard is about 17%. The maximum amount of THC in cannabis flower is about 37%, which would be considered especially or extremely high. Most cannabis flower sold in dispensaries has a THC percentage of about 15% or higher.
What’s a good THC percentage for buds?
A good THC percentage means different things to different people – some users want the most potent bud available, while others prefer a milder option. However, we can say that somewhere around 7% is the floor for most recreational users.
A THC percentage below that level may offer functional benefits, like help with falling asleep or pain relief, but will only provide moderate psychoactive effects at best. Even those who prefer a lower THC percentage may not enjoy flower below that 7% mark.
How strong is 25% THC?
In cannabis flower, a 25% THC percentage is highly potent – notably strong. While the cutoff for a potent vs. regular percentage of THC in flower is up for debate, few users would argue that 25% THC in flower is not strong.
What is considered a high THC value?
A high THC value in cannabis flower is generally thought to be around 17% or higher. Flower that reaches a 25% THC percentage or more is normally thought to be very high, or very potent.
Most flower sold commercially reaches this level of potency. However, it’s important to note that THC percentage in flower has increased significantly in the past few decades. In the 1990s, the average THC value for cannabis flower was only around 5%. Improvements in cultivating and processing cannabis, as well as customer demand, have significantly increased average THC percentage in recent years.
Is 20% THC strong?
For most users, 20% THC in cannabis flower would be considered strong. The informal cutoff for potent flower is at about 17%, and a 20% THC percentage is comfortably above that mark.
Incredible Hemp Flower from Delta 8 Resellers
Delta 8 Resellers brings you a wide range of hemp flower and pre-rolls from the best brands in the industry! With many different cannabinoids and blends available, as well as COAs that show you exactly what’s in your flower, there’s something for every cannabinoid enthusiast.
Check out our selection of hemp flower and pre-rolls!
