Strawberries and balsamic, peanut butter and jelly, fries and gravy, mangoes and weed. All wonderful combinations, right? If the last mixture has thrown you for a loop, hear us out! We’re here to explain why it’s a winning combination.
Throughout the cannabis community, tokers are constantly sharing tips and tricks for a wide range of practices, such as extending your stash, imparting wisdom through various how-to’s or supplying methods for enhancing a high.
Examples of such guidance may include how to hide your high, how to roll a Backwoods blunt, tips for managing the munchies or even advice for taking a tolerance break and how to quit smoking weed.
It’s anything but a frigid or unwelcoming space when it comes to existing within the world of weed. Most of the time, blazers are happy and willing to share their knowledge, and we’re no exception!
In fact, on top of supplying stellar deals on various cannabis products, we at Pyro are passionate about spreading the good word about all the benefits that marijuana has to offer.
With this in mind, today, we’re sharing a secret method that serves as a quick workaround to take your marijuana high to the next level. All you need to do is take a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up one particular piece of fruit – mangoes.
It sounds totally weird. We hear you, but what if this healthy, tropical treat could actually boost your buzz? Would you be interested?
Of course, you would!
Many intrigued stoners have taken this theory for a ride, and it turns out that, for the majority, it seems to work a treat! Eating a mango before toking up appears to enhance the effects of cannabis and helps to draw out your stash.
While the scientific evidence surrounding this stoner hypothesis is minimal, many ganja enthusiasts have conducted their own research, and tested it for themselves and found it to be accurate. If you would rather forge your own opinion on it, you could always try it out and share your findings!
That said, how on earth could eating mango add to your high? Well, dear reader, it’s not magic. It’s science.
Let us explain.
How Weed and Mango Work Together
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of what makes mango and weed such a winning duo.
While it may not seem like mango and weed have a lot in common, some parallels are worth mentioning. First and foremost, they both have a very unique scent. In other words, if someone were to stick a sliced mango under your nose while wearing a blindfold, you’d probably be able to guess what it was.
Well, there’s a reason for that! The delicious aroma of mangoes is thanks to a high dose of a terpene called myrcene that all mangoes carry. Similar to how mangoes have a distinct aroma thanks to myrcene, cannabis also contains terpenes, as do most other fruits, vegetables, and plants.
If this isn’t your first reefer rodeo, you’ll likely already know that, with marijuana, different strains will have different smells.
For instance, some smell like berries, others like lemon, some can be woody, and you’ll even find a few that carry a peppery scent. These variations are due to the particular combinations of terpenes – otherwise known as a terpene profile – that naturally occur in each strain.
What Exactly are Terpenes?
Terpenes, also known as terpenoids, are naturally occurring compounds that provide plants with their distinct scent while also supplying various therapeutic benefits, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, and even cancer chemopreventive effects.
They’re mostly found in plants and form the major constituent of essential oils.
On top of their therapeutic and fragrance-producing properties, terpenes also serve an evolutionary purpose through protecting plants from external threats such as fungus, animals and insects.
The most common plant sources of terpenes are tea, thyme, spinach, broccoli, citrus fruit and cannabis. It’s crazy to think that there are over 20,000 different terpene profiles in the world, and cannabis has over 150 of them!
Myrcene, the prominent terpene in mangoes, is also one of the most plentiful found in cannabis. It can sometimes comprise over 65% of the entire terpene profile in many strains. If you’ve been around the smell of weed, you’ve probably had a good nose-full of this terpene a time or two!
The smell of Myrcene tends to come across as musky and earthy, with a subtle grape-like aroma. You may have heard the cannabis community refer to this pungent smell as ‘dank,’ or ‘pungent.’ High levels of myrcene are also evident in lemongrass, hops and basil. If you’ve ever tried any of these flavours, you may have found that they’re quite an acquired taste!
Myrcene is one of the 5 primary terpenoids that have the ability to draw out a THC high and enhance the effects. Mangoes contain some of the highest levels of myrcene within the fruit family. So, what does the myrcene in a mango do?
Can Eating Mangoes Before Using Medical Marijuana Actually Get You Higher?
Great. The science behind the terpenes found in mangoes and weed is all well and good, but how do they actually work together to intensify your high? Don’t worry! We’re about to tell you.
Essentially, Myrcene can boost a THC high by increasing permeability to the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Without getting into it in too great of detail, the blood-brain barrier acts as a safeguard or barrier around the brain, limiting the number of foreign substances that can access it.
Since it can lower this barrier, Myrcene allows various substances, including THC, to get through, which, in turn, gets you higher. In other words, since more THC is getting through to your brain, the effects of smoking or ingesting marijuana will be more noticeable and intense.
Another fascinating tidbit related to adding extra terpenes to your cannabis consumption is that it produces ‘the Entourage Effect.’
The entourage effect happens when cannabinoids and terpenes play off each other to modulate the overall effects. This effect means that you get the whole cannabis plant experience. In other words, not only do you get to reap the benefits of the wonderful feelings that come with being high, but you can also indulge in the medicinal value of all these compounds.
When it comes to the therapeutic properties of the myrcene terpene, specifically, it has powerful antibacterial and pain-relieving abilities, as well as sedative effects. As we mentioned before, the effects of THC are dramatically enhanced when combined with myrcene. This reaction often causes a ‘couchlock’ feeling.
Strains that contain over 0.5% of the Myrcene terpene are usually classified as indica due to their sedative capabilities. Because of this, Myrcene-heavy cannabis strains are widely used to treat insomnia, chronic pain or even as a supplement during cancer treatment for its pain-relieving properties.
Strains rich in myrcene include but are not limited to:
How to Use Mango and Weed to Get Higher
Regardless of whether you choose to eat mangoes before, during or after consuming weed, it will most likely intensify your high. The beauty of this newly-found method for more intense effects is that, even if you’re a seasoned toker who hasn’t taken a tolerance break in a while, it will still work!
As long as Myrcene and cannabinoids are floating around your system at the same time, they’re going to complement each other and make magic.
However, some argue that timing does matter. So, before you go off mixing mangoes and marijuana all willy-nilly, there are some things to consider first – namely, your particular metabolism.
Many users claim that you only need to eat one mango roughly two hours before indulging in some icky sticky or one hour before ingesting an edible if you have a relatively slow metabolism. However, if you have a faster metabolism, it’s more advantageous to eat two to three pieces of the tasty tropical fruit to yield the best results.
That said, as we stated, the rules around timing are up for debate. So, no matter when you ingest the mango or mangoes, as long as myrcene, the cannabinoids and other terpene profiles present in your cannabis are in your system – it should still enhance your high and make the effects feel more intense.
Mango and Weed – A Match Made in Marijuana Heaven!
Aside from lengthening your high and providing medical relief, adding mango into your smoking routine is great for your overall general health. Packed with Vitamin A and, for the most part, made up of water, mangoes provide 12% of our daily fibre.
In other words, you’re going to feel full without eating half the contents of the fridge! So, on top of taking the effects of our marijuana high to new heights, eating a fresh mango can also help keep those pesky munchies at bay. It’s a two-for-one special!
If you’re looking for a harder-hitting, longer-lasting high, next time you’re gearing up for a sesh, consider eating a mango beforehand.
You can thank us later!
Have fun and enjoy!
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