Ok, I wanted to make this thread simply due to some odd information and mix-ups I have been seeing around here involving the drying and curing process.

Despite what they claim, I don't really beleive there is a better way for the average grower to deal with their final product.

You can claim Dry Ice cures, or water cures, or your mom's food dehydrator, or WHATEVER cures your bud the best, but today, on this thread, no one is disputing that. I am simply spelling out a way for people to enjoy their hard work using the tried and true Dry and Jar method.

There are many personal variations of how to "properly" do this. This is just mine, feel free to add your own!

Ok, It's Harvest Day! After much jubilation, gather your supplies! You are going to need some good scissors (no wuss scissors people, these have to true grit! ) , Something to trim over (ie Newspapers, plastic, a tarp, you get it?), and some twine or fishing line.

Trim your buds of all leaves that aren't worth keeping. Yes you can leave on the leaves covered in crystals! So long as they aren't in abundance (As in half bud, half leaves per nug) they are fine with me! You can throw your waste leaves away or save em' for hashmaking or cannabutter.

Get your twine and hang it like a clothesline. Now you need to hang your buds on the line. You can find a way to clip the buds to the line, hang em', tie em' whatever. Let your buds dry (with the help of a fan if you like) on the line until the stems "SnaP" when you bend them. This may take over a week, but to preserve to flavors and appearance of our precious nugs it is well worth it.

You have waited 8 to 10 weeks for these buds, and you want to start rushing things now?

After your buds are good and dried it's time to seal them in Mason jars; every day you should take off the lid of the jar for ten minutes and rotate the buds. Your buds are ready for smoking (as in can be smoked) but it is in your best interest to wait. The longer you wait the tastier and smoother your buds will become.

Whenever you DO smoke your buds, always, always use a CLEAN pipe, otherwise why did you bother to cure it in the first place?

Hope this helps, if more threads like these are made maybe it will put an end to some misinformation around here

If anyone has any other variations to THIS type of method post em here. Oh yeah, Pics too

[grower54]

I'm sure this will help a lot of us"newer growers". Like you said there is a lot of misinformation that you read that starts you wondering which is best.
At least you helped me,which I thank you for. The main reason I go to this site is for information. Posts like this can help clear a lot of things up for us "newbies"
Thanks again 54

[Telepod]

I am totally in favor of the above advice, based on experience no less. (<-- surprising how rare that can be sometimes)

I want to throw in a couple of tweaks that have made it into my method, for best flavor and cure...

re: use of a fan during initial hang-drying; I recommend against it unless mold or high humidity are problems for you... if you use a fan keep it low speed and indirect (that is, not pointed right on yer buds)

My other step is to monitor the dryness of the herb carefully, and when the outside hairs and leaves get too crispy at the point whrn the stems are still not 100% dry (meaning that the stems don't snap yet when you bend 'em but the buds feel lightly crispy to the touch) I take them down, and put into paper grocery bags. I fold/roll the top of the grocery bag down on itself to form a loose seal, and let them sit there for the last three or four days, usually, of the drying process.

The reason for both these steps is to gradually slow down the drying process... you don't want it to dry out too quickly, if you can extend the drying process without screwing it up you will get the best cure.

After the last few days in the paper bags, when the stems finally do snap when you bend 'em, I also transfer to glass jars. I recommend the wide-mouth mason jars, they are way easier for me to reach my big hands into or to pour shake and kif out of, cos they have no 'shoulder' at the top of the jar. Just straight sides...

anyway, hope this helps someone to smoke tastier pot; it's really worth the effort.

-Tele

Excelent points Telepod. I think the extra steps you have detailed are probably worth the extra effort!

And yeah, Wide Mouth Mason jars are preferred by any stoner who doesn't like alot of hassle when he grabs for his stash

[greenhit]

My buddy has been hitting the cigar shops for
ceder lined wooden cigar boxes, they usually sell
em for 5 bucks, and you can do the middle step
/ rolled paper bag step in these boxes, gives them
a added something. before the jars.

-g

greenhit - Cool idea! I have been wanting to get one of those "Stash-Boxes" from Seeds Direct & Gypsy.

Cigar boxes aren't air tight so it would be good as a sub for the paper bag step.

I wonder if the Stash Boxes are more compable to jars in terms of how fast product degrades in them.

If anyone has one of these boxes I would like to hear about it

I know BOG has one

[zunny]

I made a kif box that is air tight for the purpose of allowing the bud to "cure" while still "picking" at it for an occasional smoke (I have a hard time waiting for the full cure... especially if it is the first time I have grown a particular genetic). I used a cigar box as described above.

It works okay. However, the bud still gets too dried out if left in the box too long. It is difficult to get the box completely air tight.

I still use mine but only put a few popcorn sized nugs in at a time. The rest stay in the jars....

I have ordered a couple of Gypsy's small stash boxes..

Dry herb goes into the jars until used. If the herb is too dry, often a fresh piece of stem or a few leafs from a fresh plant seem to evenly distribute moistue back into the dry herb while sealed in a mason type jar.

... then right into the kief box for transformation into a joint or a bong load.

The box produces nice gold dust instead of getting tossed away with the newspaper.

Gypsy's delux box would be great!

-Joe

[Iron_Lung]

Where can you order/view these stash boxes?

https://www.stash-boxes.com/