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The final taste of your cannabis harvest is significantly impacted by the drying and curing process, which is why it’s key to learn how to do it properly! Whether you’re new or experienced in growing cannabis, there’s always something more to learn. In this article, we’ll go over how important Drying and Curing are for enhancing your taste experience.
Why Growers Cure And Dry Weed Buds
Drying your cannabis is crucial, as flowers picked directly from the plant have too much water content to be smoked properly. Moreover, if you store your cannabis wet after harvesting it, mold will almost certainly grow on it. Consequently, drying your buds is the initial step in guaranteeing that your cannabis tastes great when smoked. When wet, cannabis usually has a grassy/hay-like taste which causes a harsh smoke; additionally,, excess water levels can cause coughing fits.
Curing buds enhances them – by lowering the humidity of your buds to about 60% over at least 2 weeks, you can improve both the taste and smell of your buds.
Strains With Highest THC Levels
Cannabis Curing Increases Potency
By lowering the water content in your buds, you can minimize their cannabis/terpene degradation over time, giving you greater long-term potency. There are two major factors at play:
Internal Humidity
After a week or so of drying, buds may feel dry to the touch. Despite the fact that their internal moisture content is still excessive, they can be smoked (albeit with a little tickle in your throat).
- Have a grassy/hay-like smell.
- Not grind as well as you would like.
- Lack a strong cannabis odor.
- Not have a well-defined terpene profile.
Follow our guidelines below to ensure that the correct relative humidity is maintained every time
Cannabinoid Interconversion
Though THC and CBD are the most popular cannabinoids, an average cannabis plant has a diverse set of compounds that create its full cannabinoid profile. Even though many of these become inactive when harvested, they can be turned into their active forms through enzymes present in the plant after it’s cut. If given enough time and with a high enough concentration to start with, curing can lead to more potent results.
How Curing Affects The Flavor And Quality Of Smoke
This is something that becomes more obvious with time, if you’ve ever had properly dried cannabis. Curing your buds breaks down the chlorophyll in them, giving them a fresher/grassy aroma and improving the quality of their smoke over a period of 2-3 weeks.
How Well Do You Know Strains?
Our Way To Dry And Cure Cannabis
After you harvest your cannabis, evenly distribute them by hanging on twine or using a rack. This will allow for slow and even drying while maximizing air flow. You will need the following to get started:
- Trimmers
- Clothing pegs
- Mesh drying rack
- Twine
- Cardboard box
- Fan/AC (optional)
- Plastic tray (optional)
- Patience!
Drying Cannabis
Once you’ve harvested your plants, the next step to getting perfect cannabis buds is drying them. The amount of time you have to wait before moving onto the next step depends on whether you wet-trimmed or dry-trimmed your plants. Both methods have pros and cons–you can read more about them in our article on wet vs dry trimming! If you choose to go with a dry trim, just know that it’ll take a few extra days until you’re ready for the curing process.
Initial Drying
Days 1-3: Target reducing bud moisture to 30-40%. To capable of such dehydrating speed, make sure your drying space has proper ventilation using a circulating fan or AC. Note: You can dry weed without a fan – some people actually prefer it this way – but the process will take much longer, so plan ahead when preparing your plants for drying.
In the first three days, use the following circumstances to dry your buds:
Temperature: 20˚C (68˚F)
Relative Humidity: 55%
Days 4-14+: If you want your buds to have a smooth taste and flavor, follow these steps: first, lower the temperature in your grow space by a few degrees. Second, use the following drying conditions until your buds are completely dry.
And finally, cure them in jars:
Temperature: 18˚C (64.4˚F)
Relative Humidity: 45-50%
2-6 Weeks: Final Cure!
After your buds are crisp to the touch, the small branches break cleanly off and the larger branches bend with a little snap, your cannabis flowers are ready for the final cure! This is best performed in wide-mouth mason jars or any airtight glass container that’s simple to empty and fill. Fill jars to 70 percent capacity with cuttings, leaving enough air for effective curing. Now that you’re at this point, all you have to do now is wait; it’s just a matter of time before you can enjoy potent, fragrant, freshly-cured cannabis buds.
After your buds have cured for 24 hours, take them out of the glass jar and put them in a plastic tray or paper bag. If you want to completely remove any moisture that’s been drawn out, allow the jar to dry fully. If there is condensation on the interior of your glass jar, wipe it clean with a cloth before adding more buds. You should only have to do this once, but it will stop mold or mildew from growing on your buds during curing.
Your Drying And Curing Questions Answered
Odds are, you have a few concerns regarding cannabis drying and curing. If these don’t address your questions, please let us know in the comments!
How long does it take to dry weed?
Cannabis takes anywhere from 6 to 14 days to dry, depending on the technique employed. It’s possible to speed up the process, but the finest cannabis is one that’s dried slowly and steadily for a long period of time! The time it takes to dry weed depends on such factors as the size of your buds, whether you’ve wet or dry trimmed them, and how you’re drying them.
Fast Flowering Cannabis Seeds
How to dry weed fast?
Drying cannabis should be a lengthy and gradual process, but it may sometimes be necessary to dry it quickly! There are several techniques for drying marijuana fast whether your stash is running low or you just can’t wait to try out your most recent grow:
Oven Method
While oven-drying your weed is the quickest method, it’s not necessarily the best way to dry cannabis. By using the lowest temperature setting on your oven, and spreading out freshly cut flowers onto parchment paper, you can dry them within 10-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on them though! It’s very easy to let them get past the point of no return resulting in chargrilled buds. While this method is quick, other methods exist that preserve more cannabinoid and terpene content from your buds.
Microwave Oven Method
Place a handful of buds in a ceramic bowl/ container and fire your buds with 5 to 10-second bursts at low-medium power. After a few rounds, your buds should be drier and more brittle. While this approach does preserve potency, the high temperatures generated within your microwave oven destroy the delicate, volatile compounds in your plant’s terpene profile.
PC Tower Method
Drying your cannabis buds using low-energy heat sources, like the cooling fans from your PC tower above your central heating radiators, is a great way to dry them quickly without sacrificing quality. By doing this in small batches, you can have dried buds within 24 hours!
How do I store buds after they’re dried and cured?
Your buds will be most potent if they’re kept in an airtight jar and stored in a cool, dark place after being dried and cured. It’s critical to maintain a vigilant eye on storage temperature, which must not exceed 27°C (80.6°F) to avoid harming your cannabinoid and terpene compositions over time. You shouldn’t need to check on your buds too often unless they’re improperly cured; but every couple weeks isn’t going to hurt! Boveda humidity packs are an excellent way to keep your buds crisps for months at a time thanks to two-way humidity control solutions like them
We’re hoping you learned at least one new thing from this article about drying and curing cannabis. Growing cannabis is a process that comes with many rewards, and properly taking care of your plants by curing them is the best way to enjoy what you’ve worked so hard for. Let us know how you prefer to dry and cure cannabis in the comments section down below!
