A new approach to water curing

statusquo · Nov 17, 2010

Greetings guys. I am going to assume that the people coming into this thread know what water curing is. If not go read (just did a quick search pretty sure this will cover the basics though:https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=437&highlight=water+cure)

The basic idea is that by water curing you are getting everything that is water soluble out of the buds while all the cannabinoids stay. This means that the terpenes/chlorophyll/starches etc etc will all be gone and result in a bud that looks crappy (brown) but is silky smooth and more potent by volume. The bud doesn't smell at all since the terpenes are gone and doesn't smell when you smoke it either. On a side note, does anybody know which chemicals dogs are trained to smell? I always thought it was the terpenes but was just wondering if anyone had a solid answer on this.

So my questions are:
Could one pull up a plant, de-soil the root-zone gently and then dunk them into R/O water. My thoughts are that the mobile water-soluble chemicals would diffuse through the roots into the water and since it's harvest time already you wouldn't need to worry about the health of the plant too much - just within reason. You could also try immersing big fan leaves (whole plant in tact) in water too. Are terpenes mobile? What are you guys' thoughts on this?

Mr. Greengenes · Nov 17, 2010

It's a really interesting idea. I'm not sure how much would be exchanged through the roots in terms of going 'out' though. In New England, we used to pull plants before the first frost with as much roots on as possible and finish them up in the basement in buckets of water. It's possible to keep them alive and developing for a week or more and the buds come out very light green from the lack of light and N. They definitely absorb the water though, and it needs to be refilled. It seems possible that plants could be made to absorb flavorings this way. It's certainly a good method of flushing soil grown plants.

On a seperate but related subject, many species of (land) plants grow happily in fish tanks, either partly or even fully submerged. Maybe a cannabis plant could be finished up its last few weeks of flowering partly or completely submerged in a tank of water?

Nicoli · Nov 17, 2010

Haha.. first thing I thought is, damn you're high.

Second thing I think is.. Why in gods name would you want to remove the beautiful, natural terpenes, from cannabis?

Don't know the answer, but that's my thoughts.

dude06version · Nov 17, 2010

^^ stealth smoking sessions, smooth smoke. water cure rules.

supermanlives · Nov 17, 2010

hell no. people wouldnt buy. flavorless and no smell. looks like tea. no sale. i tried it once and was pissed off that i ruined my crop. havent tried soaking the roots tho

IncredibowlBoss · Nov 17, 2010

This actually has some really intriguing possibilities as a step in other extraction processes. For example, water cure, then prepare BHO from water cured bud... Has anyone had good results with the standard water cure process...

Thoughts on "root-leaching" as water cure - I'm *certainly* not an expert, but I'd imagine that since transpiration (evaporation from leaves) results in reverse osmotic pressure that pulls water into the roots, you'd somehow have to drench the leaves and put the roots in a drier solution (I don't even know what that could be - definitely not a botanist)

Lazyman · Nov 17, 2010

I think it's more practical and rewarding to make ISO hash out of weed if you don't want the weed smell, it's also much more compact and portable. I'm working with a guy on a e-cigarette vape that will burn my alcohol oil for stealth vape sessions.

IncredibowlBoss · Nov 17, 2010

We're developing an e-cig oil vape at the company I work my 9-5 for (infused products manufacturer in CO) - they tell me we should have some prototypes soon (I told them I'll quit smoking tobacco as soon as they get me one)

JNewton · Nov 17, 2010

I water cured far the 1st time when I got a brick that
had gasoline spilled on it worked great

MeltingPOT · Nov 17, 2010

Lots of good questions SQ. I am a fan of water curing when for some circumstance my ganja isn't burning clean. Recently I had mite damage in my garden bad enough that it required an early chop. The girls that didn't go the distance got watercured....Here are two nugs off the same plant, the one on the right had a 4 day watercure.

FreezerBoy · Nov 17, 2010

statusquo said:
The bud doesn't smell at all since the terpenes are gone and doesn't smell when you smoke it either.

Let's be careful here. Water cured weed DOES smell. It just doesn't smell like what most associate as MJ. We don't want folks rolling a fattie and blowing it in the face of the local sheriff, constable or gendarme thinking their impervious to arrest.

As a dedicated water cure guy with a DWC, I've never noticed any difference between flushed and unflushed at the end of the cure. Trimming a plant under water or after it's been soaked sounds like a major pain.

qbert · Nov 18, 2010

This is my experience with water curing. It still smells when I open the jar, doesn't look like crap tea, burns to nothing but a flake of white ash, but tastes sharp and harsh and not really like much except hot smoke.

It would certainly be better than throwing some messed up erb right out, but iso hash is good too.

durka_durka420 · Nov 18, 2010

water cured bud looks like brick weed....i smoke good weed for the flavors and aromatics they provide along with the high it gives why the fuck would i want to ruin that when terpenes have a direct relation on how the high is...water curing is a waste of effort/time if your weed aint the best to smoke make concentrates or hash simple enough......just my opinion of course

jeffie · Nov 18, 2010

Terpens are in resin oils, they can't be gone with water curing. U have lighter green material but u still have the same hash on on it. The anti-sniffer idea is totally flawed.

!!! · Nov 18, 2010

The e-cig vape is a great idea. A friend and I are working on trying to fill his ecig carts with propelyne glycol and a little bit of alcohol/THC.

Water curing has its uses. It really is stealth. A cop once came by my friend and me and asked wtf we were smoking. My friend was dumb and said weed but the cop kept smelling it and saying "really? it doesn't smell like it." My friend insisted it was weed.

If you're trying it, check the ppm of the water every 12 hours. I noticed the ppm of my water goes from 30 to 200 the first 12 hours, and then I replace the water every 12 hours until the ppm is no longer going up.

Smell/taste/looks and some weight are gone. bud is more potent however, and if you mix with tobacco, you can blow smoke in people's face and they won't smell anything but tobacco.

CANNATOPIA · Nov 18, 2010

Nicoli said:
Haha.. first thing I thought is, damn you're high.

Second thing I think is.. Why in gods name would you want to remove the beautiful, natural terpenes, from cannabis?

Don't know the answer, but that's my thoughts.

I agree.

MeltingPOT · Nov 18, 2010

Exactly, !!!...I watched 10 grams of nugs, in 12 oz of H20 and in one day the PPM rose from 130 to 1900! The water was just plain brown and nasty. The nugs tighten up tremendously when dried and the potency is through the roof!!!

statusquo · Nov 18, 2010

I guess I was unclear. I am trying to find a way to water cure to PRESERVE the terpenes. That is why I asked if they were mobile - if there was a way to leach excess salts/everything else without dipping the buds I figured you might be able to water cure and preserve the smell. Thanks for the clarification about the smell - all I've ever done is read about it and that was quite a while ago when it was just becoming 'popular' at IC.

Edit: and yes, I was high

IncredibowlBoss · Nov 18, 2010

I can't wait for a 100% functional ecig vape - we used CO2 honey oil - it's gonna need to be suspended in something (not sure if alcohol is the right thing because of the temps involved) - probably emulsified.

On water curing: I assume the longer the cure, the less green the bud. I'm under the impression that most of the aromatics and flavors are in the essential oils - I would imagine the water wouldn't be able to separate these lipids efficiently.

Which begs the question: Is there any way to remove the aromatics and flavor from bud without removing the cannabinoid-bearing resins? (I know a lot of people won't want to do this, but for the purposes of preparing medicines for people who don't smoke weed, this is HUGE)

FreezerBoy · Nov 18, 2010

IncredibowlBoss said:
Is there any way to remove the aromatics and flavor from bud without removing the cannabinoid-bearing resins?

Sure, it's called water curing.

A new approach to water curing

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