i was referring as to whether the bud is compressed into brick or not . not actually the quality of the smoke .
but yes there are a few visual clues that when comparing a bud can point you as to its quality . structure , colour, trichomes , the overall appearance .
as an example , that bud i referred to , if it was placed next to something like the pic below , without being able to smoke them first and going just by looks i would always pick the one below .