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As a smoker, my scale is a important part of my arsenal. Whether or not I am purchasing, hooking a friend, or just checking up on my stash its good to know my scale is accurate. That is where having a well callibrated scale comes into play. Since most people dont spend the extra money for a calibration weight, I have created this tutorial to show you how to calibrate your scale using only nickels!

But first, what is calibration? Digital scales use something called a load block to measure the pressure applied to the scale as a weight. They can be very accurate but over time their measurements can drift away from the true weight. To get back on center the scale needs to measure something that is at its “calibration weight” so that it can feel exactly how heavy something at that weight is. For example, the calibration weight of my scale is 100 grams so by putting a 100 gram weight onto the scale it can match its own 100 g measurement with the weight it feels. Just to show you the amount that a scale can drift without proper calibration I have included this picture of a small nug weighing in at 1.39 grams on my scale after getting it back from a four month loan to a friend, this will show you the vast improvement from a calibration.

To calibrate your scale the first you will need something that is the correct weight. Since a dime weighs exactly 5 grams a stack of them makes a very good calibration weight. The calibration weight of a pocket scale is generally its maximum capacity, you can probably find this number written somewhere on your scale. If not, the information will certainly be available online. The maximum capacity of my scale is 100 grams, so I used 20 nickels (20x5=100).

Tip: By washing the dimes you can remove any dirt or oil that would make them weigh over 5 grams each.

Each scale will have a different method to calibrate, but they should all go something like this: 

1. Turn on your scale and zero the weight
2. Use the mode button to find and make active the calibration option
3. Take a stack of nickels that add up to the correct weight to the center of your scale
4. remove coins and turn off scale 

When you turn your scale back on it will now be accurately calibrated! By making a habit of calibrating your scale often you can be confident that you know exactly how much bud is REALLY on the scale. Now that my scale is calibrated I tossed the same nug from the tutorial back on for an accurate measurement of 1.57 grams. This might not seem like a huge jump from 1.39, but that 11% error is certainly enough to bust my groove which is why I calibrate my scale often!