Tangwena's Malawi-Style Cob Cure: Fermented Cannabis

I'll try. I broke my good camera last year. Maybe it's time to get a new one??

Ya I remember the firs few cobs I made and thought I could not wait the year or more to let them age. But I make a couple every summer and they keep really well if they are all the way dry. Lost a couple to mold, but I learned quick! I still go back and chew them. Still as strong as ever! I made about 15 of them that first year and I still have a few of those.

Thanks for the wonderful technique. It is truly special.

I hope you are well! I'll have to backtrack thru the thread..... It's only 200 or so pages since I left.

Is there anything new? Someone taking cobs to the next level?

Cheers Friends,

Lazyfish,
 
I am unable to easily carry out a 24 hour heating at 40C due to stealth reasons of family members. I could probably discretely have them sitting between my stereo separates where it is about 27C. Does anyone think that would be doable? I could just leave it in that temperature for longer, perhaps a whole month with checking and drying in between. How does that sound if 27C (about 80F), would or could that be workable? Many thanks for any thoughts!
 
Stunger said:
I am unable to easily carry out a 24 hour heating at 40C due to stealth reasons of family members. I could probably discretely have them sitting between my stereo separates where it is about 27C. Does anyone think that would be doable? I could just leave it in that temperature for longer, perhaps a whole month with checking and drying in between. How does that sound if 27C (about 80F), would or could that be workable? Many thanks for any thoughts!
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You would be amazed at what can be done without any heating.
Please check out my thread on IC mag the last few pages a member who goes by the name of FunkyHorse has been posting outstanding results using only Banana tree BARK and scotch tape.
Well worth checking out its under the harvesting and curing section.
 
tangwena said:
You would be amazed at what can be done without any heating.
Please check out my thread on IC mag the last few pages a member who goes by the name of FunkyHorse has been posting outstanding results using only Banana tree BARK and scotch tape.
Well worth checking out its under the harvesting and curing section.
Click to expand...
Thanks I will try to read that. I had read of how some of the African folk bury them, and the thought did cross my mind of perhaps sealing it well and burying it in the compost heap as long as it isn't too hot of course.
 
I just read thru the last 10 pages, that's really interesting. The warm place I am thinking of in the house where I could hope to do so stealthily is a constant 28C, I would intend to put the cob/s in a plastic click lock box that would hopefully keep the smell from being mega detectable.

I don't currently have a vacuum sealer, but neither did the traditional African folk, so I am thinking I should be able to get and save some corn husks in preparation, unless I can find banana bark like funkyhorse used, or failing either of those, just use oven paper and wrap and bind it as tightly as possible, then probably wrap and bind again in a plastic oven bag.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to sum the gist of cobbing, it seems important to
  • pick the correct semi dry moment of the buds to begin cobbing them, too wet and they may mold or compost.
  • make a decent size to help generate some fermentation.
  • then wrap and squeeze all the air out that you can.
  • check once a week for wetness, if wet then pat dry and/or leave to dry in the open air for a few hours until surface dry then re-wrap and bind/seal for another week.
  • repeat until the weekly inspection reveals the outside of the unwrapped cob to be dry, then it can safely be left for a 2,3,4,6,12 month cure.
1 question here; Once the cob is inspected and found to be surface dry and re-wrapped/bound, would it be best to continue with the allotted cure time at 28C (which is the warmest constant temperature I have available to me in the house), or by that stage is it enough that the cure just continue at standard room temp which would be probably, lets say, 18C?

And to re-state, the temp available to me is either 28C or whatever daytime room temps are, lets say maybe that is 15C - 20C. So I would not be doing any initial 40C 24 hour ferment, it would just start off at 28C and wait a week before the first check.

It's got me really interested, and too, with perhaps some Ace strains that would be really good. Cheers for sparking my interest! :ganjamon:
 
I wouldn't recommend any other way than the vacuum bag cure myself.
Mainly because mold is a problem without it.
Funky Horse is a very gifted and also very well traveled worldly person who has a lot of experience with different cures from all over the world.
Without a lot of experience in different curing methods its too much much of a gamble first time, better safe than sorry.
But dont let me put you off trying, your proposed method has every chance of success just keep your eyes open for mold. As long as its wrapped tight to keep the air out you have a good chance.
 
First, let me thank SweetSue for this thread, tangwena for generously sharing your knowledge and Weaselcracker for informing me about this thread. :Namaste:

I first heard about cobbing when I bought some Malawi Gold seeds and started researching the variety back around 2017 or slightly before. The Malawi Gold seeds were supposed to be 100% sativa but turned out to be hybrid. Fortunately, one female plant was sativa dominant so I was able to back breed her and add a few hundred seeds to my seed bank. Nov. 2020 I sowed some of those seeds and last week I harvested one of the females. The buds were very thin and wispy but everywhere. I decided to make cobs and so I now have 3 cobs that have just finished sweating and are fermenting at around 26C. I'm looking forward to see what happens and will return to share the results.

I'd like to get opinions from anybody who is familiar with Malawi Gold about these pictures of my plants. Do these look like 100% sativa Malawi Gold? They have a strong sweet, fruity with a touch of spice smell. I know I'll never eliminate the indica through breeding but I am just wondering if they look like authentic Malawi Gold. The stems are covered with trichomes while the leaves have much less. From ground to tip she is 67".
IMG_1367.JPG

IMG_1369.JPG
IMG_1368.JPG

This bud is for smoking not for cobs. The bud I used for cobs had a lot less stalk/stem.
IMG_1388.JPG

Here's 2 of the 3 cobs I made.
IMG_1384.JPG


These two plants are still growing and weeks away from harvest. The one on the right is the tallest of all the plants I grew and the closest to what I think a Malawi Gold should look like. On the far left is part of a plant with more indica type buds.
IMG_1391.JPG


I appreciate any and all input. Cheers.
 
They look really interesting! I hope they give you a special high.:Rasta:
 
HopHead said:
First, let me thank SweetSue for this thread, tangwena for generously sharing your knowledge and Weaselcracker for informing me about this thread. :Namaste:

I first heard about cobbing when I bought some Malawi Gold seeds and started researching the variety back around 2017 or slightly before. The Malawi Gold seeds were supposed to be 100% sativa but turned out to be hybrid. Fortunately, one female plant was sativa dominant so I was able to back breed her and add a few hundred seeds to my seed bank. Nov. 2020 I sowed some of those seeds and last week I harvested one of the females. The buds were very thin and wispy but everywhere. I decided to make cobs and so I now have 3 cobs that have just finished sweating and are fermenting at around 26C. I'm looking forward to see what happens and will return to share the results.

I'd like to get opinions from anybody who is familiar with Malawi Gold about these pictures of my plants. Do these look like 100% sativa Malawi Gold? They have a strong sweet, fruity with a touch of spice smell. I know I'll never eliminate the indica through breeding but I am just wondering if they look like authentic Malawi Gold. The stems are covered with trichomes while the leaves have much less. From ground to tip she is 67".
IMG_1367.JPG

IMG_1369.JPG
IMG_1368.JPG

This bud is for smoking not for cobs. The bud I used for cobs had a lot less stalk/stem.
IMG_1388.JPG

Here's 2 of the 3 cobs I made.
IMG_1384.JPG


These two plants are still growing and weeks away from harvest. The one on the right is the tallest of all the plants I grew and the closest to what I think a Malawi Gold should look like. On the far left is part of a plant with more indica type buds.
IMG_1391.JPG


I appreciate any and all input. Cheers.
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Hi there HH :passitleft:

Barney's Farm also has %100 sativa strain looking like yours. Called Dr. Grinspoon named after Dr. Lester. I had the chance to smoke it at Barney's Uptown in Amsterdam and man that was the best strain I've tried on that trip. And I've tried like 30 different nugs from 22 different coffee shops. I'm sure these small nugs will kick ass.
 
TriangleCheese said:
Hi there HH :passitleft:

Barney's Farm also has %100 sativa strain looking like yours. Called Dr. Grinspoon named after Dr. Lester. I had the chance to smoke it at Barney's Uptown in Amsterdam and man that was the best strain I've tried on that trip. And I've tried like 30 different nugs from 22 different coffee shops. I'm sure these small nugs will kick ass.
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Thanks for this TriangleCheese. That's reassuring. I haven't tasted this last generation but did smoke her mother and she was as potent as I can handle. In fact a small toke was adequate and sometimes when there was more trichome dust I would need a bit of a sit out. This time around I used much better lighting and the trichome production is off the charts so I expect your right about kicking ass. I'll try and find Dr. Grinspoon on line to compare. Thanks again.
 
HopHead said:
The Malawi Gold seeds were supposed to be 100% sativa but turned out to be hybrid. Fortunately, one female plant was sativa dominant so I was able to back breed her and add a few hundred seeds to my seed bank. Nov. 2020 I sowed some of those seeds and last week I harvested one of the females. The buds were very thin and wispy but everywhere.
Click to expand...
Actually that plant is so wispy that it would probably fit in great outdoors because it gives it a hard to recognise stealth appearance. And it's effect sounds something to be envious of! Who was the original breeder that you got the seeds from before you back selected out the sativa phenotype? :thumb:
 
HopHead said:
Thanks for this TriangleCheese. That's reassuring. I haven't tasted this last generation but did smoke her mother and she was as potent as I can handle. In fact a small toke was adequate and sometimes when there was more trichome dust I would need a bit of a sit out. This time around I used much better lighting and the trichome production is off the charts so I expect your right about kicking ass. I'll try and find Dr. Grinspoon on line to compare. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I feel what you mean mate. Grinspoon will definitely compare to this. Both are fire. I've never smoked anything like Dr. Grinspoon and thought it was one of a kind. So glad to come across your plant here. I'll definitely grow something like that in the future. Would be an exclusive stash. I can't think how high that can go after fermentation.

I've recently smoked my last COB. Started fermenting at +%85 moist on the bud. Fermented over two months without corn husk or anything. Just vac. bag and press. Broke the vac. and dried the COB's for 12h in %60 RH. I was afraid that I might have over fermented those but maaaaan. That stash is definitely a nighttime stash. Hits ridiculously hard. Taste and smell is from out of this world. If you close my eyes and open the vac. inside the room, I would say that I smell very little nail polish with a lot of baked waffles and wine. The nail polish part is the balsamic vinegary smell. Anyways, my friends were at my place last week and they took just one puff from the COB joint. They didn't smoke anything for the rest of the night. They are not heavy smokers but you get the idea :laughtwo:

Can't imagine a life without COB's now :nervous-guy:

3BKushCOBCuring2.JPG

3BKushCOBCuring2.JPG

 
Stunger said:
Actually that plant is so wispy that it would probably fit in great outdoors because it gives it a hard to recognise stealth appearance. And it's effect sounds something to be envious of! Who was the original breeder that you got the seeds from before you back selected out the sativa phenotype? :thumb:
Click to expand...
I don't know where I got the seeds from. At the time, I purchased a few varieties from different suppliers and then put the seeds in the freezer for a couple of years before sowing them. I looked back in my emails to try and find the purchase record but couldn't locate it so I really don't know for sure. Northern Lights Seeds and King Crop Seeds were two of the places where I made purchases but I can't be sure where I got the seeds from. It seems to me that there weren't many places selling regular Malawi Gold seeds at the time. They may have been Ace seeds but I really don't know. They definitely weren't Out Of Africa Seeds because they were out of stock at the time and I haven't gone out of Canada to purchase seeds. I usually keep good records but somehow didn't in this case. After a couple of years in the freezer I took them out and discovered that there were 16 seeds instead of 10. That seemed odd to me and I wonder if the extra seeds were an attempt to make up for selling a hybrid in the guise of a pure sativa. I'll never know. Recently, I purchased more Malawi Gold seeds from MJSeeds. They were described as Malawi Gold sativa having a woody, earthy aroma. The ones I grew have the sweet, fruity and spice aroma. From researching Malawi Gold there are two distinct phenotypes distinguished by there smell as I just described. The latest purchase are in the freezer and I'll sow them sometime in the future. From what I've heard pure African sativa seeds don't exist anymore. They have been hybridized by breeders form Europe and America. I can't vouch for that but that's what I've heard. I think it would be a great outdoor plant as long as the climate would allow a four month flowering period.
 
TriangleCheese said:
Fermented over two months without corn husk or anything. Just vac. bag and press. Broke the vac. and dried the COB's for 12h in %60 RH
Click to expand...
That was a great result you got. Can you clarify what you did for the above mention of press? I understand that once the buds are in the bag that you vac'd it only. Do you mean you then kept it under pressure, or do you mean that you pressed it tight before vacuuming it? Cheers.
 
Stunger said:
That was a great result you got. Can you clarify what you did for the above mention of press? I understand that once the buds are in the bag that you vac'd it only. Do you mean you then kept it under pressure, or do you mean that you pressed it tight before vacuuming it? Cheers.
Click to expand...

I just squeezed the bag tightly before vac. I didn't want to use corn husk this time because some stuff stays on it. I've read here that it is OK not to use corn husk. It just does the squeezing part and provides more surface area. Instead, I squeezed the bag tightly and used a vac. bag with a ragged side to get more surface area. I left almost nothing behind because it is easier to collect the residue off the vac. bag compared to the corn husk. Anyways COBbing is addictive as hell. I want to break the vac. and smell it everyday but I don't want them to dry too much :)
 
TriangleCheese said:
I just squeezed the bag tightly before vac. I didn't want to use corn husk this time because some stuff stays on it. I've read here that it is OK not to use corn husk. It just does the squeezing part and provides more surface area. Instead, I squeezed the bag tightly and used a vac. bag with a ragged side to get more surface area. I left almost nothing behind because it is easier to collect the residue off the vac. bag compared to the corn husk. Anyways COBbing is addictive as hell. I want to break the vac. and smell it everyday but I don't want them to dry too much :)
Click to expand...
I am intending to try this myself in a week or two when my plants are harvested. I am very taken with Tangwena's experiences with sativas. Currently I have 1 sativa 80% dominant plant, a Strawberry Cough, which hopefully will give a similar cobbed sativa result. But I have 2 hybrids as well that I will most likely try as well, to learn from the experience.

Have you cobbed indica dominant buds and if so, how did you find them?
 
Hi Stunger,

Interesting question indeed about the effect of cobbed indicas.

From what I've read, cobbing indocas is potentiating the sativa side of the hybrids ... however, I am actually also interested to know about the indica side : when cobbed, is it gone ? reduced ? or the effect is just like the indica, but with an unepxected more pronounced sative side ?

Only people with experience should know ....
 
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