Long term storage of cannabis

[OrganicBuds]

Like the title says, what are your preferred methods of long term storage? I have heard people like to vac seal and freeze their herb. Some like to vac seal and refrigerate. Some bury in the back yard.

I usually grow all my weed for the year in an outdoor harvest, so I am looking for something to keep my herb fresh all year long. I was thinking of buying a chest freezer, but not sure if freezing is the answer. Maybe a fridge would be better? Any and all advice is welcome, thanks for the help.

 

[WelderDan]

Any weed I've ever had that was buried for any length of time tasted like dirt, no matter how well it was sealed. IMO freezing is only good for the short term. Over the long term it will dry out your buds. Especially if there is any chance of freeze/thaw/freeze happening.

I would say vac seal then jarring, or simply jarring and storing in a cool dark place is probably the best long term option.

 

[OrganicBuds]

great comment WelderDan, I have been thinking along the same lines.

Anybody else?

 

[Bud Green]

Vaccumn it!

Vaccumn it!

OrganicBuds,,
If you want your stash to stay very fresh until your next harvest rolls around, I recommend vacuum sealing it..
Don't seal it in the plastic bags tho, as that will compress and crush your buds.. The seal-a-meal unit I've had for years has an attachment which vacuum seals wide mouth canning jars.
You can buy the canning jars in pint and quart sizes..
I have opened vacuum sealed jars that were more than 2 years old, and the buds were EXACTLY like they were the day I sealed them up...
Hope this helps....B.G. Sr.

 

[Bud Green]

P.S.. please don't freeze it after you vac the jars.. just put the full jars back into the cardboard box they came in and store them in the back of your closet or in the cupboard.

 

[PaullyHighBred]

Stabilize at 50% RH sealed mason jars with a desiccant packet in each jar for insurance, Then into the wine(bud) cellar at 50 degrees F.

Oldest jars go bck 3yrs and still damn good smoke.

 

[OrganicBuds]

BudGreenSr. Thanks for the advice, but you don't refrigerate? My closets get very warm, and I feel that will degrade the product over time. I will look into getting more vacuum sealing canning jars, thanks for the heads up.

Paully - 50% huh? I have boveda packs that are 62%, and that is what I shoot for. Why 50% in your opinion? Thanks for the advice.

 

[PaullyHighBred]

Personal preference primarily, one yr I lost a lot of outdoor buds to mold b/c I jarred them too early and didnt check on them enough (poor planning and overwhelmed with fall harvest), so now I'm more cautious

But I've also found albeit subjectively drier buds deteriorate less over long periods of time in storage then those jarred with a higher RH, ymmv

 

[Bud Green]

BudGreenSr. Thanks for the advice, but you don't refrigerate?

OB,, i have NEVER refridgerated weed, and I took my first toke 44 years ago..( I do keep seeds in a tightly closed jar in the refridgerator tho)

I don't know how warm your closet gets, but mine are about 66 degrees in the winter and no warmer than 78 degrees in the summer, and I've never noticed a problem. My refridgerator is too full with food to keep my stash there.

If your closets are much warmer than that you could put the boxes with your vac jars in your cellar or even just under the crawlspace of your house where they would likely stay 50 to 70 degrees all year long. I would say that keeping your vaccumed jars away from bright light would be your greatest concern...

PS. I have thought about spray painting the outside of my canning jars black, but haven't tried it yet...

 

[Born Loser]

Qt jars suck if you have bulk. I found some 2.5 gal jars that use metal canning lids... Box em up and store in a closet or climate controlled storage unit.

 

[DHF]

I`ve never been 1 to post absolutes since there`s many ways to arrive at the same end result in most all situations.....but....

For long term nug storage with larger amounts , sealed , dark , and frozen has ALWAYS been the only way to preserve dope and keep it in suspended animation from the time you put it in till the time you pull it out , and .......

By no means does properly dried and cured nuggage sealed and stored @ 62 percent RH degrade or dry out , but rather stay just as fresh once thawed out immediately by coming into ambient room temps....

I can tell you first hand if you put shit in mason jars vac sealed or not and just leave em out for room temps to fluctuate constantly , that within 6 months chlorophyll will have degraded and the shit will turn brownish/goldish and guaranteed potency , taste , and smell has been affected ..IOW....

The shit`s lost a lot of it`s goody....Freezing in dark sealed containers with product @ 62% will be as good 5 yrs from now as it is today.......

Kept all my cured market overstock in 5 gal pickle buckets with rubber gaskets in the lids for guaranteed seal in bigass chest freezers for months at a time depending on rotations with never an ounce of difference in product from fresh or frozen .....

Pot`s 3 enemies are heat , light , and air.......Do away with all those factors by freezing in a dark "air sealed" container and it`s win win ...bet on it....indefinitely as well like I`ve witnessed many many yrs.....

Found a quart mason jar of headies under some ribs in my farm freezer a few yrs back and it was labeled 6 yrs earlier.....

Shit was just as good if not better than when it was frozen , and DAMN I missed it when the jar was gone......anyways.....

Smaller or larger amounts of stash deserve to be kept in suspended animation.......Guys.....Trust me....

Keep yer dope in the freezer , sealed and in the dark for optimum results...

Peace.....DHF.........

 

[Dynamite]

I heard of people getting mylar bags(i think) , look like potato chip bags , and getting a nitrogen machine , and sealing the buds up in nitrogen filled bags .. supposed to be the cats meow for long term storage of herb

 

[DHF]

Hey Dyna...There`s always different paths to the same end result , and sealed nitrogen bags as an inert gas is indeed what Medville deemed as the replacement of air with blacked out mylar type bags , but at what cost......

I stand by frozen from the get , but there`s many ways ta skin a mule , although freezers and buckets with gasket lids are cheap....and effective....

Peace.....DHF...........

 

[Finepointcanon]

My gf and I were abroad this last year but we still had around 8oz from the last grow (a year or so old when we left) so we just left it in the qt jars and stuck them in a dark cabinet. It'd probably be untrue to say that the taste and smell were unaffected, but the taste and smell were darn near unaffected. Like nearly indistinguishable from the time that we left. Idk, I've heard people say that over a year in storage will give you bud that tastes like nothing or like hay, but mine smelled exactly the same, it was probably a little subdued at most.

As for the high, after about 2 years in storage (with a good cure) all of our buds were still very strong. They did lose potency, but hardly at all. If anything it seems like the high on all of the strains evolved. All the strains but one were sativas or sativa doms, and those seemed to "mellow out" a little. They lost the mind-racing heart-pounding sativaness and turned into kind of a stony-sativa effect. Still very in the head but they put a relaxed smile on your face now whereas before they could be a touch unpleasant if you had too much on your mind. The indica seemed exactly the same.

 

[OrganicBuds]

Born Loser - I would love a link to the jars you speak of.

Thanks for all the advice people, keep it coming....

 

[Born Loser]

I heard of people getting mylar bags(i think) , look like potato chip bags , and getting a nitrogen machine , and sealing the buds up in nitrogen filled bags .. supposed to be the cats meow for long term storage of herb

Used to do that with herb and mushrooms. Used a GL-11 machine and nitrogen generator. It worked very well for sure!
And OB, I got the jars from overstock or uline. I will find them and get back with a link.

 

[OrganicBuds]

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garde...efccid=PAGTCPN4SD3KAJSPSL5UX7VKFY&searchidx=0
This? The lid on the link doesn't vac seal, but your saying you can switch out the lids and that jar will vac seal? If so, I have been looking for these jars for the last 10years and you are the F-ing man!

 

[Born Loser]

those look the same but mine didn't have the handle..
Not sure about vac sealing, what are you using to pull a vac?

 

[OrganicBuds]

I am using a vacuum attachment for large mouth canning jars. I bought two of the jars you were talking about, and some new tattler reusable lids. I will let you know how it works out.

 

[OrganicBuds]

Jars still haven't come yet, but now I am leaning to the freezer side of the discussion. Anybody else have any input on how they prefer their bud to be stored long term would be very helpful.