I got the fresh vs. cure part from this comment:
"weed is best burning. weed is best fresh green. why make it burn slower and smoke more on the tailend of a pack? have it burn right and pack some fresh."
I don't know what else to draw from it, since it doesn't really make much sense. My bowls don't burn black, they start out pale green, glow bright orange for a few seconds and leave a bed of grey-white ash.
What's with the reluctance to use a grinder, when it would be an advantage? It takes approx. 5 seconds and will change the "fifty blackened hits" into 2 or 3 nice ones and it would open the doors to some new strains. There's killer weed of all types of bud structure.