Compressed Weed-What Are Bricks of Weed?

Brick Weed is known by many names, such as compressed weed, Mexican Dirt Weed, Mexican Brick Weed, or Mexican Schwag. (All of these terms will be used interchangeably) Brick weed though best describes exactly what it is . . . dried cannabis bud that is compressed into a brick form. Bricked Weed’s consistent and compressed dimensions are valued, by drug smugglers, as large quantities of compressed weed are much easier to transport than traditional bagged cannabis.

Mexican Brick Weed 101

This article will describe bricked weed, give a brief history of compressed brick weed, reasons for it, and tell you why it has such a bad reputation. Afterward, I will give you advice on how to make your compressed bricked weed, or bagged, overly dried cannabis, fluffy. (“Smokeable”)

Brick Weed History

Many OG smokers reminisce nostalgically when it comes to brick weed. However, they are most likely mistaken as it was generally poor quality, low THC, bud. However, during the ’70s and 80s, it was often the only marijuana available, and stoners then may not know of any better weed. So, they made do with what they had.

Brick Weed a Smuggler’s Best Friend

A compressed weed brick is compact and can be consistently made so each brick has the same dimensions and weight. A weed brick’s compact and consistent nature makes them easier to store, conceal, and smuggle. Therefore, as it was easier to smuggle large amounts of brick weed, compressed weed became very popular with the ’70s and 80’s weed growers and smugglers.

Brick weed remained common in the ’70s and 80s and stayed popular until growing cannabis indoors started becoming more common and easier. Now, with US states legalizing weed, and dispensaries becoming commonplace, compressed weed is rarely seen in the United States. However, as the video below shows, brick weed is still used by drug smugglers.

This short video is of Fort Lauderdale, local Jorge Bustamante. This video is entitled “Fisherman calls suspected marijuana catch early birthday gift from Pablo Escobar” where Mr. Bustamante while on a fishing trip, off Pompano Beach, Florida, found bricks of weed.

Brick Weed In The 2020s

Brick weed is now grown in Paraguay and seen mainly in South America. (Brick weed is often the only type of cannabis that you can get in Brazil.)

Brick Weed-Appearance, Price and More . . .

Compressed weed looks nothing like the showcase buds that you normally see at your local neighborhood cannabis dispensary. At best, compressed weed will be densely packed together, dried, and full of sticks and feminized seeds. At worse though compressed cannabis will be full of artificial substances like sand, and reek of ammonia.

To best understand how it looks though you need to look at a compressed weed picture. As a result, I’ve added the below image and a video of brick weed.

Brazillian Compressed Weed Video

Dimensions

The marijuana brick weed‘s dimensions may vary. The following though is the standard.

• Weight: 2.2 pounds or 1 Kilo
• Size: 8 1/2″ by 11″ by 2 1/2″

Mexican Brick Weed Prices

Compressed weed is significantly cheaper than its non-compressed counterpart. A brick of non-compressed, dispensary, dried cannabis flower costs approximately $2,000 to $4,0000. Bricks of weed on the other hand cost from $500 to $1,000.

Is Brick Weed’s Bad Reputation Warranted?

Brick weed had a deservedly bad reputation for being low quality. The weed itself, may not be bad. What does though turns bricks of weed into subpar smoke is the weed compression, itself.

Below are what you should expect if you decided to purchase compressed cannabis.

• Poor Quality-When cannabis plants are tightly packed together, trichomes and the associated terpenes often end up falling off.
• Seed, Stems, and Everything Else-With traditional brick weed, along with the flowers, you will also get stems, seeds, stalks, etc. This means that, as you are paying for the non-smokeable seeds, stems, fan leaves, and so forth along with the flower.
• Convenience-Having to sort and separate seeds, and stems is simply a pain in the A#$. This is especially annoying for the modern-day smokers who are used to just going into a dispensary and ordering cannabis flower, that doesn’t even need a herb grinder.

Final Thoughts

Nowadays, unless you live in a state where weed isn’t legal, you will (luckily) never encounter sub-par, brick weed. However, depending upon if weeds are legal where you live, a brick of weed may be your only option. So, knowing how to make the best out of bad weed is a useful skill. And, If you live in a state with legalized weed, dry weed can happen to the best of us and these tips work for all types of dry bud. So, keep this article in mind, and you may be able to salvage bone dry or nasty compressed brick weed.

Brick Weed FAQ

Mexican Brick Weed- Is It Actually Cheaper?

Back in the 70s and 80s compressed weed was simply popular, in some areas, because that is all you were able to get. Nowadays, with legalized dispensaries and homegrown cannabis being ever more popular, price is the only reason that you would choose brick weed. However, as stated earlier, with a brick of weed, you are paying for the stems, fan leaves, and branches, along with the smokeable cannabis flower.

As a result, compressed weed’s savings is not as much as you would think. According to Tommy Lanier, a director of a section of the White House’s National Drug Control Policy, an ounce of brick weed makes approximately, 60 joints. On the other hand, an ounce of high-quality, noncompressed weed can make up to 120 joints. This means that, based upon price alone, (I.E., you are not factoring in the THC % or the overall better product of the non-compressed weed) for compressed weed, you should pay less than 1/2 of what you would with high-quality weed.

Is The Cannabis in Brick Weed Inferior?

Brick weed is not necessarily processed from inferior weed strains. In fact, some classic, high-quality, cannabis strains were made into bricks. However, quality cannabis strains are abused when they are processed into tightly compressed bricks. Additionally, For example, when weed has been transported the trichome along with vital terpenes will often fall off. Terpenes make the strain. Therefore, lost terpenes mean a lesser quality product.

How Do You Make Compressed Weed Fluffy?

Fluffing brick weeds’ goal is to rehydrate and turn compressed, dense, marijuana into non-compressed, fluffy buds. These techniques are useful for both fluffing up brick weed and also for rehydrating overly dried cannabis. The two methods are the Orange Peel and Steam Method.

Orange Peel Method

Equipment Needed

• Glass Jar
• Tin Foil
• Fork
• Orange Husk (Skin Of The Orange)
• Humidity Packs (Optional)
• Cannabis

Steps

1. Break it Up -Break up and separate the cannabis.
2. Place Stuff In Jar -Put the weed, orange husk, and humidity packs (optional) into the glass jar.
3. Cover It Up -Poke holes into the tin foil (this is essential for releasing moisture and preventing moldy weed) and then cover the glass jar lid with the tinfoil.
4. Wait -Uncover the jar, every day for around 10 minutes, and it should be ready in around a week.

Steam It

This way is quicker. But also, a bit more risky.

Equipment Needed

• Cannabis
• Strainer
• Water
• Cooking Pot

Steps

1. Boil a Pot of Water

2. Drop the broken-up dry buds into the strainer while being careful to not place them too close to the water.

3. Do this for around a minute, check and see the result, and if needed rinse and repeat until you are finished.

Warning-To avoid moldy weed and other issues, make sure that the buds do not have too much moisture.