Personally, I think the whole white ash signifying good bud is a bit of myth tbh. Iāve smoked plenty white ash that wasnāt great bud and plenty darker ash that was top quality. Fully agree the crispy black crackling ash is always bad, and that definitely does signify bad bud, but the lighter ash in my opinion doesnāt mean better or cleaner bud.
In my opinion, white ash is just a case of combustion, moisture, and minerals. The hotter something is the lighter the ash, just like coals on the barbecue, they go white when they get hot. Cigarettes out of a packet also burn white ash since they have minerals in them but i wouldnāt say that makes them clean. Also, you have to take into account the moisture level of your bud, the skins youāre using, your environment etc. as these can all affect the colour of the ash. Some people would also argue white ash means the buds been cured better or flushed properly, but again I think thatās a bit of an iffy argument, i guess good curing would lead to less chlorophyll, which in turn would produce lighter ash but again thereās too many variables involved to tell.
Itās kind of the same thing as the indica vs sativa myth, theyāre just biological characteristics to differentiate their appearance, and not a way to characterise and differentiate the effects they give you, but now itās just synonymous with the type of effects youāre looking for - sativa = uplifting vs indica = couch locked, when in reality it just doesnāt work like that. so i think the whole white ash thing is kinda the same, where itās now become synonymous with good, well cured, smooth smoking bud, but you can definitely have great bud that doesnāt burn white in my experience, and i feel that avoiding black ash is just an easy way to avoid any bad black ash bud.
But that being said, crispy black ash that crackles in the joint is never ever a good sign and i think that always a sign the buds bad. But yeah just my $0.02 on the matter, can take it or leave it, iām just a random person on the internet š
