Curing

[Urdedpal]

As soon as the branches are brittle you should consider curing your bud using the canning method. Canning is a great way to get the most from your bud. Find a can with a removable lid. The more cans you have on-hand, the better.

Using a pair of scissors, clip your bud from the branch and place into the can. The branches and stems are not much good to you.They do contain THC, but only in small quantities. Most stems and branches go on the compost heap.

Now take the can and place it in a cool, dark room or cupboard.* Every day open the lid for a few hours (six hours is good) and then seal it again. Also, move the bud around a bit every couple of days.This is the most common curing technique, and it works best. Bud that is cured well smokes the best! I would give the canning process between three and four weeks before you should really sample your goods. Eight-week old bud can smoke extremely well and year-old bud is vintage stuff but can lose potency.

Fresh bud (eight-weeks canned curing) is the pinnacle point of cured bud. After that the THC cannabinoids rapidly change composition and lose potency. Fresh bud is far better than aged bud. You may hear of other curing processes, but canning does work wonders and is affordable too.

Canning also sweats the bud which causes it to retain its smell and flavor but also allows the bud to burn more effectively. By opening and closing the can at different intervals you can control how damp or dry you want your buds to be. Try and use cans that have a large opening at the lid — enough to allow your whole hand to fit inside. This is because some of the trichomes will fall from the bud into the bottom of the can. Use your fingers to get at these trichomes. You can gather these into a small mass that you can smoke later on.

Drying your bud helps to relax THC particles by removing water from the bud. This makes THC easier to burn and thus more psychoactive than when it is damp. Applying heat will also remove water but will affect the overall cannabinoid content of the bud. It is not a good idea to press bud or to pack bud tightly during the curing process as the bunching of THC particles makes them harder to burn.

Curing also helps to break down chlorophyll, which has magnesium-containing green pigments. Magnesium is responsible for the sharp and harsh taste in the back of your throat when you burn fresh bud. This is another good reason to cure your bud. >-,
If you over-dry your buds you may loose too much moisture and this results in bud that has less taste and aroma than it should. The best way to add moisture back into your buds is to introduce new fresh bud to your cans.The new fresh buds will share their moisture with the dried bud, bringing them back to a more even level of moisture and restoring their aroma and taste. Some people uses fruit slice to bring back moisture such as apple or orange slices.These fruit slices will also add their own aroma to the buds.
If you have dried your plants for three weeks hanging upside down you can subtract that time from the canning time. Although you can have good bud to smoke two weeks after your harvest it is better to wait for four weeks or more.
• Chop your plants at the base.
• Cut them into manageable amounts and hang them upside down in cool, dry and dark place.
• Clip/pull the major leaf away.
• Let dry until the branches snap between your fingers.
• Clip the trim from the bud.
• Store in cans in a cool, dry place away from direct light.
• Let the buds air occasionally and check for mold.

[Sonny Cheeba]

wow man,,that was in depth and a good read,,thanks, i was using mason jars, but maybe I'll have to use a can,,,try that,,thanks Urdy!

[freeky4it]

I have that book too! Is that the The Cannabis Grow Bible (the definitive Guide To Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use) by Greg Green by any chance? I am 3 and a half weeks into flowering and I just finished reading that a couple of hours ago before I came on here to look for harvesting and curing techniques. That's crazy, but this book has been a great help the whole time.

[SmokeyMacPot]

Freaking nice read bro... Have I ever told you about the dry ice cure??? Have you tryed it? Works pretty awesome.

[Serpico]

please elaborate cuz that sounds interesting... never heard of curing with dried ice.

[SmokeyMacPot]

Sorry I am pretty drunk reight now. I was trying to write up a tutoreial but as I stated, I'm druck. I think it would be for the best to wait for a time when this wears off. Maybe early tomarrow morning I will have a full tutorial for you. If you don't mind.

[SmokeyMacPot]

This is how to do the dry ice cure.. It is basically freeze drying.

Items needed: Tall tuperware container, Cannabis buds, Dry Ice (you should get the same weight as you have bud), Freezer, Nail, 2 sticks or rods, Piece of window screen

Step one: First get everything you need and put it in your workspace. It is easyer than having to look around later and disturb you train of thought.

Step two: Get your tupperware lid and poke 2 holes with the nail. The position doesn't really matter as long as it is the top.

Step three: Now on your tupperware poke 2 holes at the same height directly across from each other. Repeat.

Step four: Put the rods through the holes. Now you will have a cross like structure inside the container.

Step five: Drop in the dry ice.

Step six: Put the window screen on the cross so it gets held up. It helps if the screen is a bit larger that way it sort of overlaps the walls of the container, adding some integerty to the structure.

Step seven: Place your buds on the screen. You want to allow air movment inside, so dont pack it. Your buds should be pretty dry allready. Just alittle trace of moisture when you squeeze the bud.

Step eight: Put the lid on the container.

Step nine: Slap this mofo in the freezer to conserve on the dry ice.

Step ten: Check on it, and flip the buds every now and then untill completely dry.

Ok how this works is that dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. Which does not go through liquid stage. It's humidity is 0%, or near that depending on purity. As the air passes through the bud, the moisture is stripped from it and into the air. Pretty basic explination, but you pretty much get the point, I hope. If you're having any problems I'm here to answer questions.

Oh and yeah the advantages. You are drying in a cold, dry, and pretty much oxygen free enviorment. Thus eleminating those variables which degrade thc. That way better preservng the effects of your herb.

[Sonny Cheeba]

where the hell can I get some dry ice?

[Brett2theMax]

Sounds super easy, I will try that since I am havesting day after tomarrow. I'll let it hang for a few days and snip some buds and try it. How much does dry ice generally cost?

[SmokeyMacPot]

Yeah I get dry ice for like $2 a pound or something.

[SmokeyMacPot]

O and yeah I just found something out.. Make it alot easyer... You don't need the screen. You can just lay the buds ontop of the ice.

[Exodose17]

How long will buds take to dry and cure nicely?

[PermaFried]

Won't laying the buds on the dry ice cause a burn? you know like when you touch it?

[westbud90]

Ok, im confused, i was reading this and he said you should let them dry hanging for about 3 weeks or untill the branches snap between your fingers, but i thought you had to have a little moisture in the stalk to the point where it would just bend, then jar them up,,,? can anybody help?

[free2blaze]

Originally Posted by westbud90

Ok, im confused, i was reading this and he said you should let them dry hanging for about 3 weeks or untill the branches snap between your fingers, but i thought you had to have a little moisture in the stalk to the point where it would just bend, then jar them up,,,? can anybody help?

I would say you may have read in another post about leaving some moisture in the stems when you jar them? and than this post says dry till the stems snap is two different people giveing there oppinion on how to go about the process, an oppinion that has worked good for them, I would say/think alittle dryer would be better, but use your judjment, maybe try it both ways with two different parts of the same plant and post your findings