Thats great to hear, mine has dried for about a week and has been in jars for 4-6 days or so and it still smells like hay BAD... (def not mold)
Thing is, I don't think I've ever experienced the "hay" smell. In my experience it's always smelled great even after harvest, it would just take a lot of it to produce a significant high. It would also produce kinda a 'hay-like' smell or taste quickly while vaporizing with uncured bud. I mean as I'm vaporizing, it would go from tasting decent, to tasting like hay really quickly. While with a longer cure, it retains that nice taste longer while vaporizing.
Your bud shouldn't need more than about 2 weeks from the date of harvest to be extraordinary. I get the feeling around here that people think curing is a fix to a product that isn't that great when in all reality, properly grown cannabis with solid genetics doesn't need any help to be stellar.
I agree. The cure evens out the moisture in the buds, resulting in a more pleasant and aromatic product.
Couldn't agree more with the moisture content.This is how I keep track of mine. Another 7% to go and its ready.
Not that I am saying I am right and you are wrong.... but from my experience, I have to vaporize about 3-4 times the amount of bud the younger the herb is to achieve the same high. By that I mean say after a week of drying, the herb is usable, but it takes quite a bit of herb to achieve a high. Then maybe 2-3 weeks later with curing, I can use a SUBSTANTIALLY smaller amount to achieve a similiar high.
Its because you're vaporizing moisture first before you can get to the thc. Cured vapor will also vaporize less bags than fresh vapor, but its basically the evil twin so it doesnt matter I think............ That's my experience anyhow, ymmv =)
It's the same deal when you're trying to smoke buds before they're fully dry. I have no doubt that there are some processes that take place within the resin glands or whatever, but I'm a firm believer this is a function of moisture, not time.
To be honest, I've never vaporized but I have smoked my own product before it was fully dry and I know where you're coming from. It lacked that 'kick in the face' potency and intensity. The only examples I can provide that illustrates what I'm talking about (time vs moisture) is drying your product in a food dehydrator or an extra long drying period due to humidity. 95* for 18-24 hours in a food dehydrator and there isn't a drop of moisture in that product at that point and we could be talking 18-24 hours after the plant has been chopped. I've found that particular drying method to yield a harsher smoking experience (due to the quick dry process) but it certainly didn't seem to lack any potency. Now I've had extra humid seasons where hanging product took 3 weeks of hang drying until I felt it was ok to be placed into jars and bags to sweat out the rest of the moisture. Even at 3 week, that product would be similar to the product you're writing about that lacked potency.
If cured weight is considered 100% "dry", then consider non cured, but a week after harvest weight, 75% dry. Ergo, the cured will result in a 33% larger hit, or the wet 25% less whichever way you like to skew your math.
Time to eat some foot.... Trichomes ain't the buzz... trichomes produce resin, which has a chemical compound in it called THC. While it is true no new trichomes are produced, chlorophyl is still being metabolized by the plant and THC levels do move up or down, depending on environment. This was proven long ago and I thought it to be common knowledge among all growers. In fact, as long as there is more than 55% water moisture content in a bud, it will continue some of it's cellular processes way past chop day.
I have 14 Exo Reptile hygrometers that I use for curing.
It is so important to know the RH in your curing bins/jars.