Comparing - Air and Water - Cure (w/pics)

This is a quick thread to show anyone out there what the difference between Air curing and Water curing looks like in the final product.

Here's my quick new guide: https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/102641-greenx-how-tos-how-water.html#post1224061

The bud in the following pictures are all from the same plant, all harvested and trimmed at the same time, the only difference is one was hung on wires to air dry (Air cure) straight after harvest and one was Water cured, after the water cure, the water cured bud was hung on the same wires as the air cured bud to dry.
Here's the difference in how they look...

Picture 1: The bud on the left is Air cured, the bud on the right is Water cured.
Picture 2: Air cured bud.
Picture 3: Water cured bud.
Picture 4: Close up of Water cured bud.

Remember, all that bud looked the same when it was harvested, the difference in appearance is due to the different methods of curing.






Here's my quick new guide: https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/102641-greenx-how-tos-how-water.html#post1224061

Cheers!

Awesome examples!!! rep+! Any feedback on the taste? high? burning properties?

yeh whats it smoke like? is it worth doing?

Smoke wise ... I'll do a list coz I'm really trashed right now and it's easier haha.

- It doesn't smell much. It doesn't seem to really stain your clothes with the smell either.
- It doesn't taste much either haha.
- It's pretty smooth.
- It burns, really, really well. Burn quite quickly, but eveny. And is like smoking tobacco when smoked through a pipe.
- You definitely don't need a large amount to get high, I mean it's a good strain anyway, but there's visibly less plant mass left behind after water curing, but you can see just as many trichs packed in their.

Considering it took less time to water cure and dry then it did to air dry/cure, I'd say it's worth doing for a private stash... and since it doesn't smell much or leave you reeking of pot, it's a great down low smoke.
It definitely weighs less after a water cure, so I wouldn't water cure your bud if you plan on selling it by weight.
But for private stash purposes, I'd recommend water curing 1/4 or 1/3 of your harvest to have as smoke you can mix with tobacco and smoke at the pub without getting noticed, or for those people who don't like the taste/smell of the pot they have.

looks and sounds very nice this water cure..

q: do u dry the buds before u water cure..? or do you harvest, water cure right away and then dry?

and what about mould...?

You cut em and water cure right away, 7 days submerged in water, changing the water every 24 hours. (I'll make a thread on it tonight and link it). Then after those 7 days, you hang the buds up like normal to dry, and they dry in 24-48 hours, completely (I had fans around them). They don't get mold in the water because mold can't grow under water, trichs aren't water soluble so you don't lose them (apart from a few that may fall off, but the happens with any cure), no need to worry bout rH because there's no air to alter rH, under water the rH is non-existent. Temps, I didn't check, but a cool, dark place is always the way to go.
And as for mold when drying, well as long as you got a fan, they dry way too fast to grow mold because there's not a lot of plant mass to dry and all the shit (like chlorophyll - as you can see by the brown colour of the bud), has already come out the leaves.

cool!

how did u prevent the buds from floating on the surface..?

Your results are pretty much exactly like mine. The only downside is if your selling it people won't like it because it doesn't smell and it turns brown. But the looks and smell is deceiving. It smokes good.
I just use an old plastic cooler fill with water and through the buds in with a piece of mesh screen to weight them down with a plate on top. I used a food dehydrator to dry them.

hell ya man great post rep+4u
i cant wait to try this i could do it now but im to lazy lol
good luck 2 all

Awesome post man i put your tutorial in my favs! +rep 4 u homie. What strain was that harvest??

Home made strain, I call it Siamese Skunk. It's quite a nice smoke, but does leave you feeling pretty tired on the down. Not the best strain I have, but it packs on the crystals.

Right on, now i know you described the smoke of the water cured bud, doesn't water curing the nugz get rid of some of the THC with the water? And how important is it to have PH balanced water if you do cure it in water? How does this compare to air dried cured bud? Better or worse? Thanks man!

doesn't water curing the nugz get rid of some of the THC with the water?

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No it doesn't, THC is not water soluble. A few trichs may fall off, but this happens with general handling anyway and isn't noticeable when you smoke it.

how important is it to have PH balanced water

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I'm not entirely sure, like I said, my water is pH 7.0 straight out the tap.
I don't see any reason it would matter what the pH is, I think anywhere from 5.0-9.0 would be fine, but maybe someone can correct me on this.

How does this compare to air dried cured bud? Better or worse?

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Better or worse... Hmm. It's differnt! Haha. It really depends how you like your bud. It's generally a smoother smoke with a less pungent taste and smell... If you're going to the pub with it in a spliff (tobacco and weed mixed in a joint) it's better than regular just because you can't really smell it over the tobacco so know one gets to suspicious of you.
Personally, I don't like an overpowering taste with my weed, and with the strain I water cured, I prefer the water cure to normal smoke, because that taste is reduced.

like your post brv rep to you were did you get that trick form ace!

good post on showing the 2 methods of curing. i water cured half of my last harvest and it looked exactly like yours so i guess i did it right.

i'll agree with you that it doesn't smell, or taste like weed after the water cure, it's much darker and i think my pot was more potent after the water cure. just a few rips and i was baked.

It seems more potent simply because there's less plant mass but just as many trichs.
For example; if you've got 100 grams of wet bud, and you air dry/cure, you're left with about 25 grams of dry bud, so there's 'X amount' of trichs in the 25 grams, but if you water cure that 100 grams of wet bud, you end up with about 15 grams of dry bud, and in that 15 grams there's still that same 'X amount' of trichs as the 25 grams, but 10 grams less plant mass.
That's why it certainly seems more potent, and I guess you could argue it technically is more potent, but when selling, it still weighs less and not many people will by half a gram for the same price as one gram just because you say it's more potent.

+rep, thanks for the info, been wondering about this

Now to project the whole weight thing, the weight of the water cured bud in the following pic is 6.4 grams, that's it, only 6.4 grams (with 90% of stalk removed). Fine for personal stash, not so great for commercial purposes.


But hey, 2/3 of that makes a nice sized joint right there

Wow, awesome write-up. I'm going to try that on my lethal purple grow. Thanks!

GreenphoeniX said:

I'm not entirely sure, like I said, my water is pH 7.0 straight out the tap.
I don't see any reason it would matter what the pH is, I think anywhere from 5.0-9.0 would be fine, but maybe someone can correct me on this.

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I don't know whether acid or basic would be better or worse but I have to think one of those would be bad, if not both. Sticking to 7.0 is smart until someone with some more biochem background knows better.