I hate curing - Please help

[bob144]

Hello,

I harvested some cannabis, dried it, thought I've cured it, and packed it up. HOWEVER, now when I smoke it in a bowl only the outer part burns good and tastes nice, the inner part just turns black, doesn't want to burn with an amber and just releases this awful choking smoke.
They are absolutely dry so I'm sure it's not moisture that's preventing it from burning good, I think they just didn't cure well.
So here is exactly what I did, you tell me where I went wrong:
I harvested and manicured them, set them to hang and dry for about 1-2 weeks, then when they had just a little moisture in them I took them and gathered them in a pile in a cabinet where it's very cold and it's not 100% sealed but it's pretty tight, and I left them there for a week without opening it. After that I put them in jars.
So that's it.
Now I'm experimenting with a small jar with a little weed in it and I've added moisture via wet tissue and I'm going to try and cure it that way for a week. I'm not sure if curing could work like that on weed that has already been completely dried once. Has anybody ever tried it?
My other option is water curing but I'm keeping that as a last resort.
So any ideas on how to fix this catastrophe?

THANKS!!!

 

[Emilya Green]

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.

 

[Curly Beaver]

Emilya, that was an awesome explanation of curing and a timely one for me, I am 4-5 weeks away from my first harvest and just started to do some reading on the subject. You just put many thoughts into perspective for me. Thank you.

Bob, I'm sorry about how yours turned out, that's gotta be tough to hear!

 

[Rifleman]

She does have a way with words.

 

[Farang]

good advice here. but what caught my attention was your description of black ash.

I believe that's caused by insufficient flushing, if you were using chemical nutes.

 

[bob144]

I am an outdoor grower, I don't use any nutes, the soil is very rich, so I don't flush.

I dried them for 2 weeks because it was the rainy month and humidity was way up. When I put them in the cabinet they were great for curing with just a little moisture in them. Most of them are fine, just some burn bad.

Anyway, I read up on it and found out that:
1. Curing does occur even if weed is 100% dry, just slower.
and 2. Curing can be sped up by adding moisture in the jar. That's how they cure tobacco BTW.

 

[Farang]

sorry. everything I've read or experienced says that's 100% incorrect.

in order to get a good cure, you need to catch the product on the way down in humidity. what everybody's said above is correct. dry it on hangers until the buds are more or less dry to the touch, then jar it.

it's better to catch it at or above 70% - measured by a good hygrometer - before you cure it and then, by whatever means you prefer, allow it to reduce to between 62 and 68% in the jar and hold it there for as long as you can, allowing it to dry as slowly as you can.

many of us rely on Boveda Humidpacks to keep it in that range.

once it dries below 60%, you are finished. no amount of replenishing the moisture will re-energize the curing process. it's toast.

please read further into the available data.

black ash means an improper flush caused by chemical nutrients being improperly flushed out of the system. many of us avoid chemical nutes to entirely avoid that result. it's a totally nasty taste, though it doesn't really impact the buzz, but who wants to smoke nasty weed?