I hate curing - please HELP

Emilya;2670057 said:

Hi Bob...

It is clear what you did wrong, and despite all your best efforts, you did not get a cure... not at all, and no wonder it was harsh and nasty.

You overdried your product, from the very start. At the hanging to dry stage, you should not have to dry for 2 weeks or even a week if the humidity is low... but you should only dry like this until your branches are dry enough to snap when you bend them, but not break. The buds should just be starting to get crispy on the outside at this point... still moist inside, but dry and crispy on the outside.

After this, I put my buds in a paper grocery sack for 1 day, with it folded down one turn. The paper will draw out a bit more of the moisture.

At this point I attempt to put my product into a big jar. I also put my humidity meter (a Caliber III, available cheap on Amazon) in the jar with the product. To cure correctly, you must also get one of these. If the humidity meter shows over 70%RH at this point, I put them back in the grocery sack for another day, because over 70% and you risk mold being able to form on your buds.

Once I get the buds below 70% and in the jar, I start burping that jar, by opening it up and letting it breathe for a while. In the summer and high humidity times, I do this in an air conditioned room. I want the relative humidity in that jar to slowly get down to a range between 60-65% RH, because that is where curing occurs... no where else but in that small range. I take time opening up that jar, at first for hours at a time, and watching that humidity meter show that I am getting down to the curing range. Once the meter shows I am there, I close it up again, and typically for several days, I watch as the humidity slowly creeps back up out of the curing range. I keep opening the jar for smaller and smaller amounts of time, until I can see that it quickly bounces back into range, and eventually stays there.

That is your goal... to get it into that range, slowly enough that it will stay there for a while. The longer you can hold your buds in that range, 60-65% Relative Humidity, the better your cure will be. Today there are special packs that you can buy, Bovada is one of them, and their 2 way packets will force the humidity in a jar or humidor to stay locked in at a certain number. I like the 63%RH packs myself, and now with this technology it is possible to jar up some properly slowly dried buds and keep them in the curing range, for years... and imagine the smooth smoke that would result from that.

That super dried stuff that you produced... sorry, but it is junk now. Half of its potential was lost when you overdried the product, because once too dry, you can never bring it back into the curing range, no matter what you add to the bottle to try to rehydrate it. Once your product goes below 60%RH, curing is done. Our pot gets almost half of its potency from the cure, and certainly most of its enjoyment in smooth and satisfying and tasty smoke. Curing is fully half of the process of growing quality pot, and it is an artform that must be mastered, just like watering must be mastered while growing the stuff.

Good luck with your next batch... I hope this helps to make it a much more pleasant experience.

Click to expand...