[log roller]

Hey folks, what's up? This thread is to discuss a new way of curing cannabis, called log rolling. We will be producing a new type of cannabis product, known as logs. Come on in...

Let me start by giving credit to Tangwena, whose thread "Malawi style cob curing" has been inspiring. It was his thread which got me thinking of a new and better process for curing weed. His method, a modification of ancient cannabis curing practice from Malawi Africa, involves wrapping buds tightly in corn cobs, vacuum sealing them, then heating to a certain fixed temperature to "cook" them for a period of time, which results in color change (browning, darkening) and considerably improved potency and effect, especially when the cob is allowed to rest for a couple months afterward. This process also makes the weed edible, with high potency.

A link to Tangwena's thread:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=309172

There has been some attempts in that thread to theorize why and how this works. One person helpfully suggested looking into tobacco curing practice to get some clues. After studying that subject, specifically the process of flue curing, I designed a curing barrel to try this idea on weed, with excellent results. Here this experiment is documented.

All of the details of this process are not yet worked out. There is much more experimentation needed to be done, but this thread will hopefully get the gears turning in people's heads, and we can figure this out together.

Here is one of the plants we will be working with, a nice pheno from my breeding project. The strain is called Bubba Gah and it's a cross of pre-2010 Serious Seeds Bubblegum with a unique Afghan strain called Lashkar Gah.

(I ask those of you who find this thread in the next few minutes, to please hold your comments until after I finish uploading the pictures and explaining. Thank you!)

[log roller]

I modified a 55 gallon drum by cutting two round holes in the sides, directly across from each other, at the bottom. A propane hose goes in one hole, to a burner bought off the internet, and the other hole is a viewing port to light the flame and keep a watch on it.

After the burner was installed, a wire mesh cage was built surrounding it to create a burner chamber. Lava rocks were then piled on top of this, and leveled out, until the cage was covered.

Then more rocks were piled in around the sides, to create a crater in the middle, in which was installed a large sheet of aluminum foil. It needs to conform to the crater shape with no leaks, so that any water dripping down from above will be collected here and not be allowed to drip down on the flame.

More lava rocks are then piled in until this sheet is covered, and leveled out smooth. Then another sheet of aluminum foil (this time a flat sheet) is spread out in there, with many small holes punched in it evenly, through which water and steam can pass, also acting to spread out the steam evenly in the chamber. A final thin layer of lava rocks is then spread on top to hold everything in place.

Grates are then installed inside the barrel to hold weed. I find it better to hang whole branches rather than lay them down on a shelf.

Two pieces of wood are installed on the barrel rim for the lid to sit on, thus ensuring there is an even gap around the perimeter for steam to escape. You can see the evolution of the design from one picture to another.

Finally, a water dripper is needed to ensure a slow, steady drip of water on top of the lava rocks.

There were some problems with this design which should be corrected by future experimenters. The cage at the bottom of the barrel was a bit too weak to hold up the weight of lava rocks, and tended to try to collapse, plus the thin wires would burn through. The burner is also too large; it had to be turned down to the bare minimum setting and even then was a bit too much. Your burner should ideally be about 1/4 of the size as that one. The design did not initially include the aluminum sheets, which turned out to be a mistake, as they are needed to spread out the heat and the steam evenly in the chamber. Also, my water dripping setup was less than ideal, tending to drip too much water and being very difficult to properly adjust. You need to provide a slow, steady drip, to ensure the proper humidity level is maintained (not too low, not too high; to be discussed) without flooding the barrel.

Despite the issues, this setup yielded some great results in a short period of time, as you will see!

To start the barrel, begin by soaking down the lava rocks with a water hose. They need to be soaked good before lighting the burner, and maintained in a moist condition. The water carries and regulates the heat and spreads it out in the chamber. If the lava rocks become dried out due to insufficient drip rate or lack of foil heat/steam spreaders, it will make the temperature impossible to regulate, causing it to skyrocket out of control.

[mushroombrew]

What is the purpose?

So are they eaten? Seems like you are basically decarbing?

[log roller]

When you've got the rocks soaked and barrel lit, you then warm it up to the proper temperature and humidity to begin the first part of the curing process. In tobacco flue curing, they do it in stages, starting around 90* or so and gradually progressing on up to about 140*. The first stage is called coloring. This is where the leaf changes from green to brown. I believe this stage requires something like 70% humidity for best effect.

In my initial flawed design, with the too-big burner and difficult to control water drip, I was unable to maintain humidity below about 90%, especially at lower temperatures. Therefore the coloring process did not proceed like it should, however, it didn't seem to really hurt anything. I do think it is possible with the right humidity to get cannabis to color itself brown exactly like tobacco does. I also think that hanging a light down in the barrel, just a simple incandescent bulb, would improve and speed up coloring, but I'm not sure. More experimentation is needed to get this figured out. Even if the weed does not color "correctly", you can see that it does change color somewhat.

To prepare the plant, cut it into individual branches short enough to hang in the barrel without touching the lava rocks, trim off the fan leaves and the larger and uglier of the smaller leaves, and leave most of the sugar leaves intact. They won't hurt anything. Then when the barrel is at proper temp and humidity, or as close as you can get, hang them in there and start the coloring process! Ideally you should start around 90* I think and gradually increase to maybe 110*.

When the buds have colored to your satisfaction, then you turn off the water drip (maybe turn down the burner a bit also), and let the barrel dry out. When the plants dry out in the heat then they will die and the coloring process stops. This is called colorset.

When color is set, soak down the lava rocks again, restart the drip, and bring the barrel back up to temperature, and high humidity (100%, with steam coming out the barrel.) Steam them for a while so that the branches will become water-soaked and the plant tissue swollen. Now remove them from the barrel.

The pictures you see below aren't a result of the 'proper' way of doing it; these were heated at 110-120* and around 90-95% humidity, due to design issues mentioned. As you can see however they have definitely changed in a positive way.

When the colorset is done and buds are re-hydrated, the tissue will be nice and spongy. Now cut the buds off the branches and pile them up on a large piece of paper. U-Haul has big boxes of large paper sheets for $10 which is perfect for this, basically blank newspaper print. I start by folding the paper in half and laying it out, piling the buds in the middle. Now you simply roll it into a log shape, as pictured! You could then vacuum seal; I just wrapped tightly in saran wrap instead.

After wrapping the log place it in the chamber, turn the temperature up to your desired setting of 110-140* for this stage (higher temp = darker, stronger buds, shorter processing time) and let 'er rip! You'll want to go anywhere from 6-48 hours depending on temperature chosen, yielding different end results. This is (should be) where the anaerobic microbes really kick into high gear.

When the process is done, take your log out and unwrap it, and let it air dry, still in the paper. Won't take long. I think it took 2-3 days and the log was ready to smoke!

Per Tangwena's learning on this subject, after logs are dried to proper storage level they should be stored in a container and let to rest for 45-60 days to allow them to develop, however, they are smokeable as is, and what a damn fine smoke it is!

[log roller]

Picture 1 -> Pile of re-hydrated buds, after coloring

Picture 2 -> Log rolled and placed in chamber

Picture 3 -> The end result!

[log roller]

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[log roller]

Well, that's basically it! Let the discussion begin. Please read Tangwena's thread from beginning to end before asking questions; the 'why' to do this is exactly the same as his process, with the same results I think. This experiment was conducted from Jan. 13th to Jan 27th of this year and those are the results. Here are some excerpts from my journal in that period, recording the results from a different pheno, #9:

29 Jan 2017 8:40 AM - sampled first bowl of the partially dried, then quick dried "high temp" #9. this stuff is GREAT! has a minty smell when broken up, burns nice, smooth good tasting smoke, excellent potent effect. not as much clarity in it so far but we'll see how it develops, and compare and contrast with the other end products. #winning

31 Jan 2017 I've been smoking the high temp #9 and this stuff is amazing. the smoke gets cleaner and smoother each day. tastes great and the potency is outstanding. if this stuff improves as much as Tangwena says it will after 2-3 months, I can't even imagine how strong it will be. I don't see these logs lasting three months to find out! as of right now, this is top shelf commercial product, right out of the box. it has some level of couch lock, not debilitating, but perfect for sitting there getting totally absorbed into something like watching a movie, playing a game, reading something, etc. one's level of focus goes way up and one tends to "zone out", but with a sense of clarity. it's really different from and much better than the usual! one would imagine that the buds would be ruined by this process but the log turned out great; looks exotic, not low grade at all, and the trimming just before rolling the log is perfect, especially when the branch is dipped in water also to make the remaining leaves wrap tightly around the buds!

[log roller]

Originally Posted by mushroombrew

What is the purpose?

So are they eaten? Seems like you are basically decarbing?

Yes, that is theorized, however someone did a test on their cob in Tangwena's thread a while back and found the bud didn't seem to be decarboxylated much. I think the reading was in error and that the bud must be decarboxylated, judging on the apparent potency when eaten. It's possible that the oxygen-free environment in presence of mild heat helps carboxylation, or maybe there is something else going on. It could be microorganisms at work. We, the cannabis community, do not know the answer yet. The effect is much different than that obtained during conventional decarboxylation, I think.

[log roller]

What y'all know bout them logs??

[Tangwena]

Thanks for this thread my friend. As you stated this is used to cure tobacco, we dont smoke or chew green dried tobacco do we?
In the Congo they cure their cobs this way so you have hit the nail on the head.
Apart from needing a flue set which is no big deal itself and would be easy if you were doing large amounts it looks easy.
Much respect brother buds in the pics look outstandingly cured and no doubt a bit of fine tuning and experimentation will bring even better results down the track.
Much respect my friend you have made another stride in the right direction for curing buds properly.