Curing for Smoothness

[D.S. Toker. MD]

I hate hack/choke weed and have spent a considerable amount of time over the years using differnent methods of testing and trying to determine how to cure so that my smoke isnt harsh.
After a bunch of seasons and cures, its clear to me that that the longer the buds are left on the stem, the harsher the smoke is. I now cut my buds from the stem/plant while its standing in the field and dry them completely within 48hrs.

Ive come to believe that Moisture seems to be the enemy of smoothness and the more moisture that remains in the weed in a cure state, the harsher the weed is. I dry the buds completely for storage.


Anybody doing anything special or have any suggestions for increasing smoothness?

 

[stonedar]

I been experimenting with a freezer cure after reading the thread here about it, it seems smoother and to me.

 

[Phaeton]

Hmmm, almost reverse from my experience. I used to cut the buds from the standing plant, trim and dry them immediately. The buds came out harsh, the harshest were the ones I dried at 140 degrees for three hours. Bone dry and got you high, but dang it hurt going down.
I still like my bud dry enough to crumble when loading the pipe, but a long slow dry getting to the bowl helps my strain immensely.

 

[D.S. Toker. MD]

I think its somewhat strains specific phaeton. My sensi star is smooth if quick dried, my Maple leaf indica isnt.

 

[AGBeer]

Water cure FTW. This has taken some of the nastiest/harshest mexi-brick-schwag and turned it into a synthetic-silklike smoothness.

Best part of it is you can have the cure done in 10 days from harvest

 

[Rowdy420]

+1 for the longer you can cure the buds and not smoke them, the smoother and pronounced the subtle tastes will emerge. 30 days is my beginning point at taste testing after dry and burped. You can tell a big difference between fresh dried buds ( 2 weeks or less) and the same product after two weeks of burping and maintaing at or near 50% humidity to slow sweat the rest of the moisture in the bud. Soo... much smoother. Hope you find smooth, cause harsh coo!

Good luck ,Peace

 

[The Boys]

As far as I know if you quickly dry the bud completely you wont be able to cure out much of the chlyrophil, iv read that chlyrophil gives fresh bud its fresh "planty" taste and smell and needs to be slowly cured out. The best bud I have ever had was home grown that i cured myself for up to about 4 months, it was by far the smoothest smoke of any kind I have ever had. What I did was dry the bud for up to 6 days ( for the biggest buds ) mabey 4 for others. Then jarred them up and aired them out (burped) in front of an open window for a minute or two, 5 times the first day 4 the second etc. and eventually ended up airing them out once a month. I read about curing this way and the benefits on either OG or IC MAG, I tried it and was pleasently surprised by the results. Iv always read that the best way to cure is to allow the bud to lose its moisture as slowly as possible for (in general) up to about 6 months, at wich point it begins to lose its flavour. As far as I know if you completely dry your bud in two days you wont be able to cure any chlorophil out of the bud, and will be left with harsh bud that has a sub par taste.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Hmm. I've got some buds that are dried now, but in the curing process, the jars got left open for tooooo long. Now the RH in the jars is about 45%.

Anything I can do to correct it? (I'm not looking for the orange peel/bread/whatever solution either..)

 

[Weezard]

Look on da bright side.

Look on da bright side.


Sadly, no.

The curing is over at about 54%.

And adding back moisture will only make it moister.

Mo' better than moldy, though.

Too dry, is still usable and will keep well for a long time.
And, it's still medically active.
Just not gonna taste great.

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[WelderDan]

IMO, a good flush cuts down on the cure time and increases smoothness, but I also think it is strain dependent. Some strains are just better after a longer cure. I also will throw some buds on top of my DVR, and I get smokable buds in 24 hrs. I've tried curing the DVR dried buds and natural dried buds and find the cure time is about the same for a given strain, so long as it isn't over dried when it hits the jar. I usually let the buds dry partially on the stem, then cut them off and continue drying. Smaller ones dry faster and end up in the jar sooner.

Never really considered how leaving them on the stem vs. cutting them off might affect taste. I'll have to do a side by side experiment now because it has me curious.

 

[soil margin]

I find the smoothest bud to be produced by a progressive cure, in which the buds are moved from paper bags to sealed glass jars and back again repeatedly over a 10-14 day period. As the bud gets dryer it spends more of the day in the jar, when it gets wet it spends more time back in the bags. Monitoring the bud and the humidity carefully over the period of a couple weeks allows you to fine tune the moisture content very gradually and produces some world class smoke when done right.

 

[budman678]

slow and steady wins the race

 

[captaincanabis]

Only one post on the water curing. you want the absolute smoothest cannabis smoke and you want all the salts and chlorophyll out then water is the way. quicker and easier than bags and jars and fans and all that other shit. try it and tell me what you think dont do it all maybe an once. wonderful you will be hooked

 

[sso]

dunno, i like my buds dry.

i like them crumbly.

have sometimes found bud that i forgot somewhere in a wooden closet (i havent been sulfsufficient so far, learning curve and situation)

and much more smooth smoke with much more taste.

found once leaves i had left around for 6 months or so. pretty damn smooth (especially since they were unsmokable at the beginning, still harshish but we talking green mean leaves before.)

now i just use a lil wooden cabinet i own. plunk the weed in there.
but i guess it depends alot on your location how this goes.

here its dry and cold. (chapped lips dry and sweater and heavy parka cold)

 

[Kushed_]

My opinion is it starts with an organic grow with a good flush (2 weeks in/4 weeks out). Dry in a dark, 45-55% humidity, and 75 degrees for 5-7 days. When the smaller stems snap it is dry enough. Put the buds in mason jars. Open the jars every couple days and see how the stems are snapping. If they just bend after a week, leave the lid off half a day, Repeat until stems snap and the buds are firm and a little spongy. 6 mo. cure in jars.

Water cure sounds interesting!

 

[sso]

watercure gets rid of all smells, a plus and a minus.

 

[cody2white]

Great info guys

 

[mad librettist]

anyone who has had properly cured bud will not know whether to laugh or cry at water curing. It is nasty!

you are so much better off making oil from your buds if you are in a hurry.

 

[supermanlives]

i would never water cure good weed. its for chemmy crap weed.