How to Weigh Weed Without a Scale: 5 DIY Methods

You can weigh weed without a scale by building a simple balance (a coat hanger, a ruler on a pencil or two folded sheets of paper) with your buds on one side and something of known weight, like a coin, on the other. When it levels out, both sides weigh the same. It's not as precise as a digital scale, but it beats eyeballing it — and since weed is valuable stuff anywhere in the world, knowing how much you've got matters for a lot more than what it's worth.

Sometimes, though, you just don't have a proper scale on hand. Don't sweat it: that doesn't mean you can't figure out how much your buds weigh. Here's how to weigh weed without one.

Why weigh your weed?

What if you use cannabis for medical reasons and need a precise dose? Or it's your first time and you want to avoid a high that's way too strong? Maybe you're just on a tight budget and want your stash to last until the end of the month.

Whatever your reasons, knowing how much weed you have matters. Nothing beats the accuracy of a scale, but not everyone has one. What's the next best thing? If you know the trick, you can weigh your herb using everyday stuff you already have at home, like a coat hanger, some string or even a piece of paper.

Common weed measurements

Before we get into the best ways to weigh weed without a scale, it helps to know the standard cannabis weights. The most common are:

• 1 g (a gram)
• 3.5 g (an eighth of an ounce)
• 7 g (a quarter ounce)
• 14 g (half an ounce)
• 28 g (an ounce)

How to weigh weed without a scale

Use a coat hanger

Basically, this method turns a coat hanger into a simple balance: weed on one end, an object of known weight on the other, until both sides even out. Here's what you'll need:

• A coat hanger
• String (or tape)
• Two plastic cups
• A mug, plus an object of known weight (for example, a 1-euro-cent coin weighs 2.3 grams; a US penny made after 1982 weighs 2.5 grams)
• Find a level spot to hang the hanger, then attach a plastic cup to each end with the string. Next, tie the mug to the center of the hanger (with the string), since that helps steady your homemade scale; make sure it's dead center so it doesn't throw off your measurements.

To weigh your weed, put the buds in one cup and the object of known weight in the other. Once the hanger is balanced, the weed in one cup weighs the same as the object in the other. Not sure what to use as your "known weight"? Coins are the easiest bet — just look up the official weight of the ones in your pocket.

Ruler and coin

This method works a lot like the coat hanger. But instead of a hanger, you balance your two loads on either end of a ruler.

Start by resting the ruler on top of a pencil, with the pencil right in the middle of the ruler, to make a little seesaw. Then put an object of known weight (coins, in this example) on one end and your buds on the other. Keep adding weed until the ruler is more or less level, and that's it! You know how much your weed weighs.

Hands and eyes

Sometimes the only way to measure weed without a scale is by hand. Some people like to hold buds in both hands and try to weigh them that way. Unfortunately, that's pretty inaccurate, since it's almost impossible to feel small differences in weight with your hands alone.

Instead, you can try splitting the weed by eye. Say you bought a quarter ounce and need to split it with a buddy: spread it all out on a smooth, white surface and divide it into piles of about the same size. Again, it's not an exact science, but it's more reliable than trying to feel the weight in your palm.

It's not the most accurate method, but you can estimate how much weed you have by comparing its size to some common fruit.

For example, 1 g of weed is about the size of a grape, while 3.5 g is closer to a medium kiwi. We know these comparisons are a bit fuzzy, but in a pinch they'll give you a rough idea of how much you've got.

Here are a few more size comparisons:

• 7 g: a medium-to-large apple
• 14 g: a large orange
• 28 g: a medium coconut

Your phone

If there's one thing most of us always have on hand, it's a phone, so why not put it to work as a digital scale?

Sure, weighing buds can be tricky even for high-end phones, but there are some apps that can help you estimate the weight of an object — or, in this case, your buds. For the best results, check the reviews before picking an app, and use it alongside one of the other methods on this list.

Paper

If everything else fails and you need to know how much your weed weighs, nothing's simpler than two pieces of paper. That said, this method works best for small amounts.

To make a scale out of two sheets of paper, take one sheet, fold it in half and stand it on the table (it should look like a little tent, peak facing up). Then take the second sheet and fold it into four equal parts, zigzag style, before setting it on top of the first. The middle of the second sheet should balance on the "tent," giving you the simplest scale in the world.

Put a folded bill on one end of the second sheet and your buds on the other (a US dollar bill weighs about 1 gram). Add more bills or more weed until you hit the weight you want.

Nothing beats a real scale for weighing weed

The methods above aren't the most glamorous or the most precise, but they'll give you a ballpark idea of how much your weed weighs. They won't beat a scale, but they're a lot more reliable than just eyeballing it.

Still, like we said, for some people weighing weed accurately really matters. In those cases, the best move is a scale. It won't be as cheap as two pieces of paper, but a good digital scale can make the difference between getting the relief you're after and ending up way too high. If you decide to buy a digital scale, make sure it reads to 0.01 g for maximum accuracy.