Industrial Hemp vs. Smokable Hemp
What is the difference between industrial hemp and smokable hemp? Hemp is so “new” to this generation that most people don’t fully understand what it is. Let’s start with a little bit of history.
Short History of American Hemp
Hemp has been used in the United States since the the country was founded. In fact people used to be urged to grow hemp “for their country.” This is because hemp was a huge part of the countries economy and infrastructure. Especially in the war effort during WWII.
Prohibition began in the 30’s although World War II brought about a new need for American hemp, so the government granted licenses to grow about a million acres across the country. It wasn’t until the 70’s that hemp became completely illegal with the controlled substances act.
Recently with the 2018 Farm Bill we are seeing a comeback of hemp to America. Hemp and CBD are everywhere and people are becoming more and more aware of the uses.
Industrial Hemp
What is industrial hemp?
Industrial hemp is most commonly male hemp plants. This is because the male hemp plant tends to grow straight up and have a lot more plant material as opposed to the female hemp plant, which has a tendency to spread out and focus on flower production. When you see a large field with 8ft or taller hemp plants they are most likely male hemp plants. You will normally see male plants in the midwest or east coast where the weather isn’t as suitable for growing the female plants.
Female plants can be used for industrial purposes as well. They are the same material as the male plant. The males are just preferred for these purposes because they produce more fiber.
Uses of Industrial Hemp
Although people are finding new uses for hemp daily, there are a few main things people use hemp for.
Some of the main ones are textiles, fuel, clothing, paper, building materials, plastics and food.
Hemp is much more sustainable than wood from trees and is much cheaper and easier to produce. It is also biodegradable unlike plastic, making it better for our planet.
Kind of makes you wonder why we ever banned it in the 1st place.
Smokable Hemp
What is smokable hemp?
Smokable hemp, or CBD as it is often referred to, comes from the female hemp plant. The female hemp plant produces flowers that can be dried and smoked or processed into other CBD products.
Females have a higher CBD content which is the main cannabinoid of interest by most people growing smokable hemp flower.
The stock and other plant material on the female plants are the same as the males and can be used for any industrial purpose. Many hemp farmers that are growing female CBD plants will sell the plant material separate from the flowers.
What makes smokable hemp different from marijuana?
The female hemp plant and the female marijuana plant are the same plant with one big difference.
A hemp plant, by legal definition, is a cannabis plant with less that 0.3% THC. It is cannabis that is bread not to get people high.
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Conclusion
To summarize, industrial hemp and smokable hemp are the same plant.
Hemp grown for industrial purposes tends to be male hemp plants, where as hemp grown for smoking is always the female hemp plant because it produces flowers with a high CBD content.
Hemp has so many uses that we are only scratching the surface of what we can do!
