Cure All Cure: 420 Magazine's Connoisseur Cure Technique

[Captain Kronic]

I guess everyone has their own ways but, as far as the freezing method goes, here is a bud that is from 3 years ago that a friend of mine recently gave me some of:

These are TWxKush and believe me when I say, even 3 years frozen... they smoke like a dream... cheers!

 

[mds1309]

Damn Capt., that looks sweet after 3 yrs on ice. I'm convinced, my kinda frozen treat!

 

[sully508]

hello fellow growers. i just started curing batch after drying for 3 days.
its been about 5 days in a mason jar. i picked about 6 grams to sample. How long does it take for the bud to start smelling like killer weed?
it does'nt smell or taste bad, but it does'nt smell or taste like the good skunky sweet bud. I veg'd for 13 weeks, and it's been 9 weeks of budding, so far. tricomes are starting to amber and will be pulling it after a week of flushing. how long in the mason jar before its at its smoking peakness?
buds are rock hard, red, and faded green. wonder woman by nirvana. 8 to 10 weeks budding time.
if anyone could let me know. that would be awesome. so i know when its really at its full smell/taste point. a week 2,3? i need that sweet skunk smell.
i have sampled and its definitely a mind and body red eye balls and for hours type high. it.s just not that smooth yet.
also is it true the longer you cure the better the quality and potency?
i just dont wanna do anything to f this up. especially after vegging for 13 weeks and 9 weeks of budding. ive been very patient and still am.
thank you

 

[Franknstrain]

Cure longer. Take your bud out of the jar for an hour a day. some buds can up to a month to cure properly.

 

[sully508]

thank you frankenstrain!
thats exactly what i wanted to hear. i was worried about it
they go through that nasty smell first before getting sweeter.
the 1st batch is starting to smell more normal like actually sweet sensi skunk now. got 4.5 oz's dry from the 1st wonderman plant. im giving the 2nd WW plant an extra week also a master kush plant. to take a break from trimming. it took about 4 hours to trim and my fingers got sticky and blistered. but well worth it. the master kush is almost done. i will give that one 2 weeks more as it is 2 weeks behind the wonderwoman plants.
its the 1st week that it goes through that nasty smell. good luck and

 

[Bolivar]

thank you frankenstrain!
thats exactly what i wanted to hear. i was worried about it
they go through that nasty smell first before getting sweeter.
the 1st batch is starting to smell more normal like actually sweet sensi skunk now. got 4.5 oz's dry from the 1st wonderman plant. im giving the 2nd WW plant an extra week. to take a break from trimming. it took about 4 hours to trim and my fingers got sticky and blistered. but well worth it.
its the 1st week that it goes through that nasty smell.

If you still don't like the smell after normal curing, try water-curing a little bit of it to see if it gets better. I did that with some year-old stuff that had been sitting in the jar and smelled unpleasant. After 5 days in water and about a half day of drying, it was good as new and tastes great.

 

[sully508]

thank you bolivar. ive heard of other people also doing that also. ive done that before. but you get less yeild from what i heard. now i just make sure they have a good week of flushing w/ distilled water. then no water for the final stretch. let me ask you guys this. its week 9+. i plan on a good 3 weeks of cure.
do you do a 48 hour dark time at the end? should i be doing it? i did'nt do a dark time on the first plant.

 

[sully508]

as far as rehydrating the batch. could you use a bud that's in the process of drying? or sugary leaves and clippings from trimming.

 

[Bolivar]

as far as rehydrating the batch. could you use a bud that's in the process of drying? or sugary leaves and clippings from trimming.

If you have any large fresh stems, they'll hydrate a jar. Cut them into pieces that'll fit and leave them in overnight. Lemon or similar rinds will do as well, as long as they're fresh. They won't permanently change the smell, at least in my experience.

 

[NH4 Organix]

Personally, I wouldn't add wet organic material to rehydrate. That just opens the door to more problems if you're not vigilant.

I've heard of so many rehydrate methods in the years i've been around cannabis. One person i knew several years ago tried giving me herbs he had in between 2 pieces of bread (i politely declined because bread creates mold spores).

The best option, that many MMJ centers I've been around also use, is to purchase Relative humidity packs. The company is up in WY, and are nice people working for a good cause.

You can buy them at tobacco stores
You can purchase them in different sizes, and humidity levels. Literally put one in, wait a day (or more if not satisfactory moisture level) and take it out. I personally don't let it sit in the container for over 24 hours without opening it for a couple minutes, but I may be over cautious.

This method works really well in dry climates, but I've heard of success in very humid places.

I've never tried Lettuce and Lemon peels, so I'm not saying don't try it. But this option has worked perfectly for me.
Hope this helps,
Nh4

 

[TheKiller]

NH4, I'm with you on this method! You can buy humidity disc's for around 50 cents on line or from tobacco shops. They sit in water for an hour and then are placed in the jar.. check every few hours..simple with NO worries about adding foreign mold spores from plant material into your jars..

 

[Chester B. Green]

all I know is that if I were to let my harvests air-dry for 10 days.. LOL, holy shit those buds would be CRISPY dry. Not only that, but if you let them get TOTALLY dry like that during the air-dry.. guess whats gonna happen?!?! You won't have any moisture left for the cure.

So, with that said.. I have to disagree with the 10-day air-dry.

I personally don't wait until the stem snaps into two pieces before I start my cure process. There are simple reasons for this.. the most important reason is the fact that you need SOME moisture left in the buds in order to take full advantage of the curing process. If your buds have no moisture left in them.. well, then you won't get a cure. You won't be able to cure it.. because theres no moisture left inside the bud for the cure to take place.

I personally air-dry my buds for 36 hours (day and a half) to three days depending on my air temp and RH value in the area I air-dry the harvest in. Oh and like I was saying.. I personally like to wait until the outside of the bud is dry and the inner/middle stem crackles (makes a cracking noise) when bent.. but DOES NOT break into two pieces. If you wait that long.. you won't have enough moisture left to take full advantage of a long cure.. or you could possibly (as I mentioned earlier) dry it TOO Much and not have ANY moisture left, which again.. if this happens you won't be able to cure the harvest resulting in a very harsh and nasty tasting/smelling harvest.

Just my 2cents.

peace.

 

[kbuggins]

Good thread - I think the drying days are a variable, it's probably better to go by feel because there are too many variables. I agree that waiting til the stems snap in half IMO is a little long, I'm more of a crackle guy but I'm a newb -- a few questions:

Is it best to let the plants dry "on the vine" for a few days before they're chopped?

 

[kbuggins]

And also, aside from mold, is there anything in particular about a cure that will affect or preserve color?

And lastly - after the dry and when the buds go into the jar, they will still have the chlorophylly smell - the cure is essentially them losing that chlorophyll and revealing the floral smells and terpenes? Is this correct?

 

[ottothief]

Being my first grow i remember as a child my dad making a big deal to my mom about throwing away mason jars.Now i know why.I think i will adopt this curing method.Thank you for sharing.

 

[UGHH]

Has anyone tried leaving the larger fan leaves on during the hanging period to protect the outside of the buds from drying too quickly? If so does it help? I find that if I cut the fan leaves off right off the bat the out side of the bud dries quickly while the inside isn't quite dry enough. Which leads to some funky smelling bud once its put into a jar.

 

[Snowman309]

a new sponge cut into a 1" soaked in water then sqeezed and left damp works well. Doesn't take long about 24 hours and ur good Hope that is useful for the dehydrating question.

 

[LilSteve47]

I don't know.about the sponge.....the old school way of using a thin slice of a fresh apple in the jar or bag for a couple of hours always works for me

 

[Snowman309]

Never tried the apple. Sounds like a good idea. I've had bad experiences with the orange peel thing. Always makes the weed smell and taste weird. An apple slice i bet would work great though...Good call Steve. I know what i'm trying next

 

[Vick074]

+1 on the dried apple slices..
It works wonders for re hydrating the bud in mason jars, without the smell of lemon/citrus.
The key is, keep an eye on it. It only needs a day or two (max) to bring the whole jar up to about 60% humidity.
Check every day, or you'll be opening up a jar to fuzzy budz!