A perfect cure every time

[laylow]

@ laylow:

hey dude, i dont post on this thread very often, but have been subscribed since early 2010, and have been using the Calibers for over 15 months. very experienced w different humidity% and differing temps.

i find that the best humidity to be @ is 55-58, with temps between 62-68. that will give you a 8-10 day drying period, if you wanna jar right before the stems snap. a 5 day dry is most definitely too fast.

i follow Soma's method of drying/curing/trimming for the HighTimesCannibusCup;

i have a 2 x 4 area sectioned of w parts of an old tent and some outdoor fabric that is black/opaque but fully breathable. inside there are two CALIBER III's, mounted at eye level and at the lowest point there is any bud hanging. there is a 2600 can filter, hooked up to a 4'' duct booster fan, just enough to scrub and move some air around. i exhaust into the flower room, which is also scrubbed. thanks to negative pressure, there is no stink in the living area.

personally, i like to dry whole branches, only plucking off the fan leaves that i can see the stem of/on the leaf. hang the whole harvest like that on a folding laundry rack, can fit 2 lb's on the rack. i have been drying for at least 12 days these last few rounds, so the plant can pretty much be trimmed w/ my fingers. all stems, even the largest(1/4") snap, and the buds will feel sticky but dry-overdry.

once my girl uses her little fingers to trim most of the fans to powder/dust, i come through w/ some fiskars and touch up the buds. put the buds in one of many sealed 1/4lb cookie jars overnight w a CaliberIII, and the buds i wake up too are absolutely obsurd.

the humidity inside the jar after 8-12 hrs is never below 55%, and seldom above 58%. if above 60%, i will leave the top of the jar open, close after 2-4 hrs. this herb is ready to smoke/sell/store immediately. as long as you grow good weed, no cure is neccesary. this method i learned a fews years ago, tested it with a few plants here and there, because up until last march, i always trimmed wet.

super sticky, a bud will stick to one finger and come off the table like it was duct tape to my finger. the kind of perfect pot that u cant break up w yer fingers, cause its so sticky. grinds perfectly in a grinder. when rolled in a joint, the grined up bud will take the shape of the joint, rolls effortlessly, burns like a cig.

to wrap it up, damn, this Chemdog be having me rambling, rambling, rambling. the longer the dry, the less need for a cure. but yeah, your humidity%/temps are spot on.

i love my hygrometers. i gave one to two of the peeps i link up, and instruct them to tell me if it ever goes above 62%.


and to end my post, a warning. trimming the buds after 12 days drying will stink about 500% worse(better.lol), than trimming wet. and your fingers will get about 3-4 millimeters of hash on them. wohooo!!!!!

thanks for taking the time to right that long post lol....

 

[Chris1]

Just grabbed a hygrometer pen by Extech, model 44550. Will let yall know how everything turns out!

 

[RetroGrow]

@ laylow:
as long as you grow good weed, no cure is neccesary.

Hmmmmm....I would take issue with that statement. If you are just slinging herb, it's understandable why you would want to get it out fast. However, for personal stash, herb is better when cured. It smokes much better and smoother, and it tastes better. Potency also increases up to a point. There is a reason why people cure herb.

 

[mafia]

I kinda agree with redbud, curing seems over rated to me.
Best weed ive ever tried was hung to dry and then sold. awesome smell and awesome taste.
Ive never gotten anything close myself trying different curing methods.

 

[redbudduckfoot]

at laylow, no prob brotha, we all here to learn and give back to the community, ya know?

at retro- grow; believe me, i was in your corner until i tried it. if you hang the plants until the stems snap!!!!!!!!!!!! with a good SNAP sound, i really dont feel you need to cure.

Soma, a HTCC winner, is the one who turned me on to it. at his old website, he had a bunch of excerpts from his Organic Grower book, including tips on pruning, growing in 4'x4' soil beds, and curing, to name a few. he says when he prepares his entries for the Cup, he dries until the plant is completely dry, taking up to 14 days, jars before he goes to bed, and the herb is "cup" ready the following morning.

now im not gonna argue the fact that i have cured some Personal Stash for 8 weeks, and that herb(ecsd, mid90's AK47, NYCD) was amazing.

and yes, Soma's method is great if you are growing for more than yourself. who in their right mind wants to store 2+ lbs of "curing" herb at the 3000w grow site, or at the apt/house you live at but dont grow at. the difference in quality isnt noticeable enough to my peeps.

i also repeat; gotta be growing the goods. Chemdogs, ECSD, Strawberry Cough, Jack Herer; you get the idea. auto flower strains, i doubt it, strains like "Chronic," no way.

 

[simon]

...he dries until the plant is completely dry, taking up to 14 days, jars before he goes to bed, and the herb is "cup" ready the following morning.

I've never been to the cup. A few months ago, by chance, I came upon a number of videos (on Youtube) from the cup, some outlining the judging, showing the product being judged, and the process itself as a whole. I'd urge any serious grower to sit down and take a look at this stuff for himself.

Simon

 

[redbudduckfoot]

could you give me a link? is there a specific video? i am guessing you were not impressed by the bud? everything i have seen from the cup looked proper; i have a friend in burlington, vt that went to the 01,02,04 cups; he said most of the entries were top notch.

anyway, in no way am i discrediting your method, Simon. i personally own at least 8 CaliberIII's. they are a great way perfect your cure. especially for long term storage, as well as those who are cursed with humid climates, these are a necessity.

RBDF

 

[420tyme]

Do you just leave the meter in the jar the whole time until it reads around 60%

or do you put it int their every so often for a few mins to get a reading

 

[SKAGITMAGIC]

Hang till the stems snap??? Please help QUICK!!

Hang till the stems snap??? Please help QUICK!!

I've got my Mazar hanging in a dark shed at about 58 to 60 degress F. when I bend the stems is the snap a feel rather than actually breaking the stem off, a little felt thing rather than a hear and see thing?? I

 

[Chris1]

Do you just leave the meter in the jar the whole time until it reads around 60%

or do you put it int their every so often for a few mins to get a reading

Hygrometer is in jar closed to get reading

 

[420tyme]

Hygrometer is in jar closed to get reading

The whole time though

or just when you take a reading

 

[Weezard]

Zackly!

Zackly!

I've got my Mazar hanging in a dark shed at about 58 to 60 degress F. when I bend the stems is the snap a feel rather than actually breaking the stem off, a little felt thing rather than a hear and see thing?? I

Bending the main stem, it should give suddenly, but not break clean.
When the main stem actually snaps in two it's too dry
Another good indicator is "string".
Pull down on a lower budlet and it should snap free from the stem.
If it snaps but pulls a string from the stem, it's still too wet to jar.

'zat he'p?

Weeze

 

[Weezard]

In until.

In until.

The whole time though

or just when you take a reading

Both.

I leave it in the jar until the humidity stabilizes around 60%, then remove it.
Our ambient can be 80% so I keep one meter outside the jars alla time.
No wanna "burp" a jar and have it get wetter, yah?

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[SKAGITMAGIC]

I bought a hygrometer and I've got it going, My Mazzar tastes sweet already, I really need more of the hygrometers, I figure to have 50 quarts this entire grow, not packed quarts by any means, but like the pics,

 

[THC123]

taking up to 14 days, jars before he goes to bed, and the herb is "cup" ready the following morning.

getting the herb like that is easy thats how i did it before

the problem is keeping it that way for a long period of time

 

[SKAGITMAGIC]

forgot my quarts lol

 

[THC123]

i was wondering why my cured herb makes me cough a lot in the volcano

if i vape herb that has just been dried and then frozen after 14 dayss dry , the taste is smooth and rich , the high is more electric


if i vaped herb cured with this method(caliber 3) , first of all the taste is less nice then the non cured and it makes me cough a lot(herb has been curing for 3 mopnths is a 58-60% rh)


but it gets me wayyyy more stoned then the non cured herb , not high , just really stoned


if i smoke the cured herb , it does not make me cough , only when i vape it plus when smoked it does taste good

 

[Donald Trump]

interesting

 

[chappie]

A question of aromatics

A question of aromatics

Pardon if this is too off-topic, but this is the greatest thread on curing I have seen and I value the opinions of the participants greatly.

I've been using this method, and still end up with herb a little less aromatic than I have achieved using other methods. This method is the most reliable, but I still feel I am not getting the best possible expression of my flowers. I have some jars about 2-3 weeks in, and when I open the lids to vent and smell inside and near the jars, it is very very faint. However, 2 rooms away, the aroma is a powerful, powerful cloud of the type of aroma I want to find.

Is this a common experience for anyone else? Is there something in the nature of the oils which requires them to be dispersed before being as smellable? I've been worried that my sense of smell is fading as I get older, but this is a wall-of-dank in your face that is hard to deny. But why don't my jars smell like this??

I notice a similar effect with my stash jars. They have very little aroma. Even breaking open a bud smells only moderately. But if I leave a bud out to breathe for a while, it smells up the room.

So I guess I am growing the dank I want, but something about storing it in jars mutes the perceived aromatics?

It seems kind of silly to put the buds out onto some kind of tray to warm up if I want them to be intensely aromatic, but that sounds like the logical thing to try.

Has anyone else experienced this, or do I sound as crazy as I fear I might?

 

[SKAGITMAGIC]

I'm right in the middle of cureing a 16 plant Mazzar grow, I can't really smell anything unless I put my nose in the jar, If someone drops by they go whoa dude when the door opens, I think we get (climatized) to the smell, man they smell sweet, I pull mine out of the hanging shed a little early,they're already manicured and I completely skip the paper sack, I slow it way down out in the shed controlling humidity and temps.,anyway no sacks, straight to jars, I just gotta play with it a little more so it doesn't spoil, burbing etc. but it's so smooth, I haven't had any real stinkweed since Regan scared me off in 1980, I bought a house!!! and ZERO TOLERANCE, and Mama, Just Said NO> LOL. The best of luck to you.