If you're new to buying weed, it's a good idea to get familiar with the typical quantities in which it is sold. One of the most commonly-sold quantities of cannabis in the United States is the eighth.
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If you're not familiar with the imperial system of measurements, you may be wondering: “How many grams are in an eighth?” We'll go through what an eighth is, what it typically costs, and how to make sure you're getting what you paid for.
How many grams are in an eighth of weed?
Also known as a “slice,” an eighth refers to ⅛ of an ounce of cannabis. An eighth of an ounce technically weighs 3.5436904 grams, but dispensaries and other purveyors typically round down to 3.5 grams. This allows for easier measuring and calculation.
Before you get too bent out of shape by this approximation of convenience, consider that if you use an eighth per week, it would account for only 2.27 grams rounded off per year. Cannabis retailers tend to use the 3.5-gram figure as the basis for selling larger quantities as well. For example, a “quarter” is typically sold as 7 grams, a “half” is sold as 14 grams, and an “ounce” typically weighs 28 grams.
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What are 5g eighths?
As mentioned, an eighth of an ounce weighs approximately 3.5 grams, but you may have heard the term “5-gram eighth” before. Is this simply terrible math or something else entirely? 5-gram eighths refer to 5 grams of cannabis sold at the typical price of an eighth. This is usually used as a promotional deal and essentially means you get the same price for more weed.
What does an eighth look like?
Using your own scale that is accurate to the nearest 0.1 g is the best way to ensure that you’re not being cheated out of part of your purchase. Weed varies in density and moisture content which makes estimating weight by sight extremely difficult, but we understand that an accurate scale is not always available.
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If you have to eyeball it, an eighth should fit easily in your palm or pocket. It’s usually enough cannabis to fill the bottom of a plastic sandwich bag. Consider using common household objects as a reference: a paperclip, a pen cap, and a stick of gum each weigh about a gram.
How many bowls is an eighth?
Now that you know how many grams are in an eighth of weed, you might be wondering just how long an eighth will last once you purchase it. This depends on several factors including what you typically use to consume cannabis (bowls, bongs, joints, blunts, etc.), how often you partake, and whether you’ll be sharing with friends. Let’s go over some of the basics:
Typical glass bowls can hold anywhere between 0.25g and 1g. If you assume the bowl you’re using holds roughly half a gram of weed, then you’ll be able to smoke about 7 bowls when you purchase an eighth. If you smoke one bowl or less per day, an eighth can provide about a one week supply of cannabis.
Joints typically contain between 0.5 and 1 gram of cannabis, so you can expect to make three to five joints per eighth. Blunts often contain over one gram of weed, so you may only be able to roll two or three blunts using an eighth of weed.
Using these numbers, we can extrapolate how much other quantities of cannabis are likely to yield as well.
- 1 gram: approximately 2-3 bowls, 1-2 joints, or 1 not-so-fat blunt.
- Quarter (7g): approximately 14 bowls, 6-10 joints, or 4-6 blunts
- Half (14g): approximately 28 bowls, 12-20 joints, 8-12 blunts
- Ounce (28g): approximately 56 bowls, 24-40 joints, 16-24 blunts
How much does an eighth cost?
Recent data shows that among legal dispensaries, an eighth costs between $30 and $35 on average. In some regions you may find an eighth for as little as $25 or as high as $65. The price of an eighth depends on a number of factors:
- Cannabis Quality: Naturally, more potent strains often fetch a higher price on the market. It’s not uncommon for a high-THC strain to cost more than an average or low-THC product. Prices may be higher if the strain has been recently developed or was grown using organic practices as well.
- Taxes and Overhead: Dispensaries are businesses like any other. While cannabis has not been federally legalized, cannabis businesses are still subject to taxation and operational costs including facilities, utilities, payroll, administrative costs, and more. Taxes and the cost of living in your area can cause the cost of an eighth to be higher or lower than the average.
- Supply and Demand: Like other businesses, the cannabis industry is also subject to basic economic principles. If local growers suffer a bad crop or other unforeseen circ*mstance, the lack of supply can drive prices higher. If advances in growing technology improve, resulting in greater output with similar input costs, the increased supply can cause prices to decrease. Similarly, black market dealers may charge higher prices in an area without an abundance of other supply options, while illegal dealers in states that allow recreational cannabis may entice customers by setting their prices slightly lower than the average retail rate in the area.
How do people weigh weed in other countries?
The United States, Myanmar, and Liberia and the only three countries that still officially use imperial units like inches and feet, pounds and ounces, and degrees Fahrenheit. The rest of the world uses the metric system, and elsewhere in the world cannabis will typically be sold in units of grams and kilograms. One kilogram, or 1000 grams, is equivalent to 2.20462 pounds.
Other ways to measure weed
We’ve talked about many of the common amounts of weed you can purchase, but these are not the only options. Other common terms include a “10-sack” or “dime bag” which refers to $10 worth of weed. Quantities vary based on your location but this is essentially enough for one bowl.
A “dub” or “20-sack” contains $20 worth of cannabis, which may equate to 1-2 grams, depending on your location. These smaller quantities don’t tend to give you as much bang for your buck as purchasing an eighth or more, so keep this in mind when making your purchase.
AuthorKelly Pitts
Kelly focuses on writing educational cannabis content for Wikileaf. She is a freelance lifestyle and wellness writer. Her guilty pleasures are coffee and celebrity gossip. When she’s not hard at work creating content, you can find her traveling the world, being a crazy fish mom and cooking vegan food.
