How long to cure for the best quality? 3 months?

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Good weed doesn't need to be cured to be good, it just needs to be grown to be fully ripe and dried properly. Terepenes and flavinoids effect the high and entourage effects so I have no desire for them to evaporate after sitting in jars for months. If your weed doesn't smoke smooth after it dries it was either bad genetics, bad growing, or bad drying.

My Northern Lights 6 Months + in jars...View attachment 5210170
Even though that bud is 6months old I can tell you that it was harvested to early. All the stigma are still white even after "curing". Next time let your plants reach a proper ripeness before harvest and then dry them slowly and you will have great smoke right from the start.
 

Brettman

Well-Known Member
Cure?? Leaving your weed in a jar for 3 mo’s is what the kids call curing I guess.
Curing involves moisture, heat and elimination of O2 to get the plant to use nitrogen in place of oxygen.
After being Jared for months the weed looses terpins, flavor and character. If you like it dulled down no biggie, but thats no cure.
Here’s what cured weed looks like.
View attachment 5210113
Umm I think that’s dog poo?
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I like fresh weed. Terpenes degrade over time. Once it's dry I start smoking it. Anything that sits around too long is either given away, used for hash, or lately I've started dumping old jars of weed into my cannabis JLF bucket.

I don't have the desire to do anything more than dry it, jar it, and smoke it. It tastes and smells great, gets me high, and that's all I care about. I prefer it fresh just like herbs for cooking. Dried herbs like oregano only lose flavor the longer they sit. Same thing happens with cannabis.

Fresh

 

Sauron

Member
Hi all, I'm new to curing and three grows in I am noticing huge differences in the effects and smell of my weed depending on the cure time.

In my opinion, all of my grows seem to be at their best after around 3-4 months of curing. The buds seem to tighten up and mellow out a bit after three months, I'm thinking curing is complete at this point? At 1-2 months in cure, the weed is smokeable and VERY fragrant, but still a little harsh to smoke and the effects aren't as potent.

Am I way off here?
Tobacco is air cured for 3-12 months...The most common types of air-cured tobacco are Burley and cigar leaf, though cigar leaf and dark Burley undergo an extra step called "bulking." After completing the air curing process the leaves are primed from the stalks and sorted based on their thickness and weight. Essentially, heavy bales of tobacco (also referred to as bulks) are piled together until enough pressure exists to begin a mild fermentation process. "Leaves that are particularly heavy and oily are the most desirable since they're able to withstand the higher temperatures they'll be subjected to during the fermentation process because thinner leaves will begin to degrade."

The tobacco's weight, along with the moisture within the leaf (as well as moisture that is added by workers before assembling the bulk), helps create heat, which causes it to "sweat," or ferment, changing the chemical structure of the tobacco. Sometimes additional heat will be introduced to give the tobacco a dark brown color and ultimately help provide a sweeter flavor profile as the added heat helps caramelize the natural sugars within the tobacco. If we can manipulate the sugars within one leaf I wouldn't see why "curing" another leaf is so far fetched.
 

singlecoiled

Well-Known Member
Good weed doesn't need to be cured to be good, it just needs to be grown to be fully ripe and dried properly. Terepenes and flavinoids effect the high and entourage effects so I have no desire for them to evaporate after sitting in jars for months. If your weed doesn't smoke smooth after it dries it was either bad genetics, bad growing, or bad drying.



Even though that bud is 6months old I can tell you that it was harvested to early. All the stigma are still white even after "curing". Next time let your plants reach a proper ripeness before harvest and then dry them slowly and you will have great smoke right from the start.
[/

Your way off here, these flowers went over 70 days after 12/12, (well beyond normal Northern Lights flowering times). Trics were cloudy and amber very few clear. It is very potent, come try some, I bet you'll change your mind. I would have kept her going a bit longer but she was done and hardly drinking any water. I'll post pics of the harvest, pistols brown and curling in. (minus a few new ones that always seem to pop up late flower)...

Not really into arguing with you though, so lets move on.
 

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
I like fresh weed. Terpenes degrade over time. Once it's dry I start smoking it. Anything that sits around too long is either given away, used for hash, or lately I've started dumping old jars of weed into my cannabis JLF bucket.

I don't have the desire to do anything more than dry it, jar it, and smoke it. It tastes and smells great, gets me high, and that's all I care about. I prefer it fresh just like herbs for cooking. Dried herbs like oregano only lose flavor the longer they sit. Same thing happens with cannabis.

Fresh

1665358536748.png
 

PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

Well-Known Member
Hi all, I'm new to curing and three grows in I am noticing huge differences in the effects and smell of my weed depending on the cure time.

In my opinion, all of my grows seem to be at their best after around 3-4 months of curing. The buds seem to tighten up and mellow out a bit after three months, I'm thinking curing is complete at this point? At 1-2 months in cure, the weed is smokeable and VERY fragrant, but still a little harsh to smoke and the effects aren't as potent.

Am I way off here?
Weed gets better as it's ages similar to wine
 

singlecoiled

Well-Known Member

I sampled some of my buds with a friend a few weeks after harvest and it was quite enjoyable. I have to admit that it's fun to sample weed at different times in the cure. 6 Months in has lost some flavor, but the smoke is very smooth now. It seems you can't really go to wrong as long as your buds don't get moldy or dry. I'm seeing anywhere from 56-60RH in my jars which I think is pretty safe for storage.

From what I'm seeing from all the responses, 1-2 months seems to be the magic number for most. I'm still learning and experimenting. Maybe I'll have to start cooking with the stuff that gets a little old.

Thanks all, great forum, I appreciate all the responses.
 

PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

Well-Known Member
IMO the product is best from the point of being fully dried, to 2-4 weeks in the jar. After that it degrades no matter what you do.
I wouldn't necessary call it degrading, you lose some terpines but as the THCA oxidizes it converts into more CBN, more sedative.
 
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singlecoiled

Well-Known Member
Weed gets better as it's ages similar to wine
Lots of mixed opinions on this one it seems. All the reading I've done seems to show the cure going at least a month and as far as 6 months depending on the strain, etc...

This hobby has a lot more twists and turns then I thought, it's really not straight forward at all. Personal preference seems to be a big factor.
 

PURPLEB3RRYKUSH

Well-Known Member
Lots of mixed opinions on this one it seems. All the reading I've done seems to show the cure going at least a month and as far as 6 months depending on the strain, etc...

This hobby has a lot more twists and turns then I thought, it's really not straight forward at all. Personal preference seems to be a big factor.
At 4 weeks cure I start smoking mine, can smoke right after dry but I find it's to gassy and it reeks I like it more mellow
 
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