Update - Cob making
Greetings 420 enthusiasts! This post is about 'cobs'. From my recent harvest of Mulanje Sherbert I have made some cobs which I'll soon tuck away and forget about while I let them 'cure'. Cobs are said to be good after a 3 month cure, but 1 year or more is even better.
But in the meantime, I will do this post to show that making cobs is pretty straight forward, but of course excelling in them comes from experience, as there are an infinite number of variations that can be created by differences in the moistness of buds used, to the time and duration of the 'sweat' and 'ferment' stages, and not to mention the strain used.
This is only my second time making cobs so I make no claim of expertise but instead I just want to show the process I took for any who may be interested. I would have preferred to have used 100% sativa but I didn't have that as an option so I used the Mulanje Sherbert which is 70% sativa, which I have found from vaping to be very powerful.
Cobbing
Tangwena's thread is a rich resource;
Tangwena's Malawi-Style Cob Cure: Fermented Cannabis
Here is repuk's excellent cob making overview flowchart copied from the thread;
Cobbing: The Essentials
where more detail and further flowcharts can be found.
Overview
Making the cobs
Starting off with some buds and a sushi roller to help shape and compress them
Buds ready for compressing
Buds rolled compressed to cob shape
Cob wrapped and tied ready for vac sealing
Vac sealed
The 'Sweat' stage - 24 hours @ 40C
After sweating, I removed their wrapping and twine, and re vac-sealed them. I did this so I could check their progress during the ferment stage through the clear vac-seal plastic without having to cut them open, but as it turned out I never ended up utilising that, altho I did re vac-seal them twice in the ferment stage. I now have a lot of confidence in the benefit of vac-sealing which takes out virtually all of the air which tremendously reduces the risk of any mold forming.
The 'Ferment' stage - 6 weeks
I ended up keeping mine in the ferment stage for 6 weeks. Initially it was my intention to leave my cobs wrapped in a towel on top of the stereo amplifier, but I didn't really feel confident that the surface heat of roughly 28C would translate into a suffused even heating of the cobs.
So, I decided to wrap my vac-sealed cobs tightly in 2 plastic bags, and then encase them in a wire cage to protect against any rodents, and then bury them in the compost pile for a nice warm cosy even heat.
The bottom of the garden is overgrown and easy to get lost, but eventually we found the compost pile.
Haha about the bottom of my garden, but I wish it was like that, I could then enjoy a toke or have a bit of mushroom and enjoy a lovely wander through the undergrowth! Thanks to
@Cold Jack for the pic!
Cobs ready for their 'ferment' stage in the compost heap
After 6 weeks of being nice and toasty, I have already shaken off a bunch of worms. I could smell the funky terpiness even at this point fresh out of the compost, I am guessing the worms could too.
Some visual comparisons over time
After a 24 hour 'sweat' stage
After 3 weeks in the 'ferment' stage
After 6 weeks in the 'ferment' stage
Closeups
A little bit of testing
Without waiting for the 'cure' stage to begin, I cut off a small piece about the size of one end of a cotton bud. After 30-40 minutes I could feel a familiar tingle through to the finger tips and a body awareness of it's effect starting. For a bit hit I think combustion gives the best that I have had, but these days with not wanting to stress the lungs too much I opt for vaping which also can also produce a very good 'hit'.
But in my experience in consuming edibles, which is usually either decarbed bud or cob, the effect is different. Of course, if you take too much edible you can blast off even more than combusting or vaping! But I noticed after 3.5 hours of taking the cob piece that I was quite high. I like the blast off I get with vaping (especially this strain) but I also like the long gentle enhancement to my day that having an edible like a cob brings.
I think as I get older that my future in bud is going to be far less of vaping and more utilising cobs, decarbed buds and perhaps some sort of extracts.
But anyway, for now I will let these fermented cobs dry, then I will re vac-seal them to be put away for a nice long cure stage.
Thanks for swinging by, I hope you and your gardens are going great!
a fighter. CL