Lost potency of weed, because of excessive curing/drying?

Yesterday I was smoking some weed after a long time (like 2 weeks or so) and I noticed that I didn't get as stoned as I was the last time smoking it. It was extreme, I smoked 2 joints of grass and I didn't even feel the weed until my 3rd session, which was with a small pipe instead of a joint. Now this was very embarrassing for me because the evening before a friend of mine offered me some weed and I said that I would bring him some better stuff the other day, but it turned out that this was even worse. He said that it was good, but I think he only said that because he wanted to be polite.
To give you an overview of my situation, I harvested my marijuana (lemon skunk) on the 21st February (I think) and after the drying period, which was about two weeks long, I opened the jar every day for 20 minutes to let the excessive moisture escape. The reason why I did that for so long was because my weed wouldn't light as good in a joint, so I thought it must have been still wet even if the stem snapped. On the other hand the shit smells pretty intense and when I inhale the odor from the mason jar I'm about to vomit because it's in fact so intense. It's not as intense as it was in the beginning though...
Guys do you think that my weed lost its potency, I mean is it even possible after only a month of curing? Is there a way to make the best out of it ?
Thanks in advance for your responses!

While cannabis does lose potency over time, the process takes years under perfect conditions. If, however, the conditions are less than perfect (as is usually the case) the degradation of THC speeds up. Your cannabis buds should be stored in a glass jar with a rubber seal, in a cool, dark, dry environment. The humidity of the buds should be approximately 60 percent for a perfect cure.

It´s odd that your weed lost its potency so quickly...how was it stored?

In mason jars, the thing is I opened them every day for 20 minutes, that's why I think the weed lost its potency. Could only be my perception though or I was not in the mental state to get high (if that is even possible)...

Proper drying and curing always make my nuggs more potent...no input on why yours has gone the other direction....

Well, you're probably right, I will try it again the coming weekend and if I don't get as high as I expect it to happen, I will make butter, oil or green dragon out of it.

Did you put it in your grow room under a 1K HPS while it was drying? Many things degrade THC the 2 main ones are Light and Heat.

Purplehazin's correct. You built up a tolerance. If you dont smoke NOTHIN for a few days it'll knock you rite on your ass!

I'm guessing that you just didn't notice you were high / you built up a little tolerance. Some days I won't feel super baked until my 2nd or 3rd session, just how you're feeling that day i guess? I messed up my first cure and stuff was still alright

What did the trichomes look like when you harvested? I'm guessing you waited till they were mostly amber?

Yes exactly, the trichromes were mostly some kind of yellowish/amber. As far as drying goes, I dried it in a relatively dark room (a bathroom with only one windows about 30"x30") so there was falling a little bit light in it, but not so much because it is from the dark side of the building where the sun doesn't shine in directly. Unfortunately circumstances don't allow me to smoke during the week, so I'm really looking forward for the weekend. I guess that's another positive aspect of eating or better drinking marijuana, nobody would really notice. But I'm really afraid of messing up my weed, so I think I'd be better off smoking it.

The problem with waiting for most of your weed to turn amber before harvesting it is that when you dry and cure it the trichomes are gonna degrade even more (the amber color comes from the THC degrading). What happened was you waited until the trichomes were amber to harvest, and after you dried for a two weeks and cured for another two weeks, the THC had changed to the chemical CBN, which does not get you high and alone, is associated with headaches, a forgetful stupid high, short stones, and munchies.

Basically you harvested your weed too late, and dried and cured it to the point of uselessness. Sorry friend.

longbeachOG said:

i dont think the weed loses its potency over time

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Sure it does.... several things contribute to the degradation of THC, light, time, temperature, just to name a few...

merq said:

In mason jars, the thing is I opened them every day for 20 minutes, that's why I think the weed lost its potency. Could only be my perception though or I was not in the mental state to get high (if that is even possible)...

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Your problem started before you even made it to the mason jars. Two weeks drying is very excessive, unless you live in a rain forest. You allowed all of the moisture and oils to evaporate. Next time, try this....

Originally Posted by Serapis
While there are variables that make it difficult to control the drying time, we can easily control the cure time. I never dry for more than three days. Doing so is counter-productive to a good cure. After 3 days, I jar them, each half gallon jar contains buds still on the stems, and a hygrometer. I don't leave much airspace at the top, and that is for a reason. The buds are in varying shapes and sizes and in order to get a controlled cure, we have to sweat the buds once to get everything even. We do that by jarring up the goods after 3 days dry time, whether all the buds feel dry or not. I leave the jars closed up tight for about 3-4 hours, and then I place them in my collapsible net dryer for just 10-12 hours. In this short time, the outsides will crisp up again, quickly. Don't waste too much time getting them back into the jars. At this point, the hygrometers should be reading just under 70% humidity.. and holding steady. If one goes over 70%, empty that jar onto some newspaper and let it sit out for 6 hours and then jar it back up for 6 hours. Eventually, it should drop below 70% and stay there.

Now is the time to sweat it out, slowly. Once we get the weed down below 70%, we have greatly reduced the chance of mold or mildew and can begin the slow, drawn out cure to improve flavor, THC levels and allow the terpenoid oils to develop that wonderful aroma that drives us all wild with passion. I allow my jars to breathe for about 15 minutes a day, twice a day, as long as the RH is below 70% but above 65%. My goal now is to take about 3-4 days to get my weed to 65% relative humidity when jarred. At 65%, the chance for mold is almost non-existent, and we can start to skip a day between burping the jars. At 65 - 60%, I burp for about 2-3 minutes, once every other day.

When you get to 60% RH in the jars, you are nearing long term storage ability. The goal now is to take your time getting the RH to 55%. At 55%, we want to stop burping the jars and consider a longer term storage that is cool and dark. At the 60% - 55% range, i burp once a week, for maybe 5 minutes. Now I never neglect to check the jars several times a day for mold at first, even when I am not burping. I also cut the buds from the stem after the RH is steady and just below 70% and re-jar, leaving about 20% air space at the top. I also gently shake the jars to move the bud around, and use a chop stick if I have to to break up clingers.

This is how I do it. I learned this method, right here on RIU. It is a simple to follow recipe that takes all the BS out of drying and curing. It doesn't matter if you have a high humidity or a low one, everyone can do this. Regardless of how the bud feels at 3 days of hanging, pull it and jar it. As long as you have hygrometers, you won't fail.... the ones pictured below were only $4 on eBay. Some may wish to spend more for a more reliable one, but these can be adjusted from the back to match your trusted analog or digital meter as well. Every new grower should use these until they have mastered curing. even some masters, including those working in tobacco, still use them.

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you dried it for a month? Or you cured it for a month?

merq said:

In mason jars, the thing is I opened them every day for 20 minutes, that's why I think the weed lost its potency. Could only be my perception though or I was not in the mental state to get high (if that is even possible)...

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IMO, it sounds like you either dried or cured them incorrectly.

if you want a 'fail safe' way of curing your buds... hit me up with a message.

peace.

Your problem started before you even made it to the mason jars. Two weeks drying is very excessive, unless you live in a rain forest. You allowed all of the moisture and oils to evaporate. Next time, try this....

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Indeed the humidity was very high during my drying time, I checked the stems on a regular basis and even if they snapped in the bottom (where no bud is) they were still soft in the middle. But I may try the other method as soon as my next plants finish. Ty for the tip.

Basically you harvested your weed too late, and dried and cured it to the point of uselessness. Sorry friend.

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Fuck Greenhouse man! They suggest 8-9 weeks, preferably 9 for an "even better flavor". Well I let my plant flower for 9 weeks and 3 days actually, didn't know it was that fatal though. Thank God (MJ) my next plants are ready soon, so I'll try to chop them in right time. What amber percentage do you suggest? Like should the plant be covered 80% with amber trichromes or more like 40-50% max., I'm asking because I don't have a magnifier and where I live there is no shop that sells this stuff so I'm really forced to judge by the rough looks of the plant.

I'm really pissed that there's a possibility that all my nice lemon skunk is fucked, so I put all my hope into Royal haze (which will be the next harvest very soon). Do you guys have any experience with Royal Haze and if so, do you think it is better/more intense than the Lemon Skunk? Please make my day ...
But I still haven't smoked yet guys, so it's possible that everything is OK and that this thread is completely pointless - this would be too good to be true. Can't wait for Friday, it's like being on death row (hope I'll never experience that though).
Thx once again for the inputs.

What do you mean you this whole thread may have been pointless? Your first post said that you harvested the 21st of feb.
Anyways,
There's a lot of debate whether to wait for any amber trichomes at all, but most people agree that
Clear trichomes = heady, energetic, social, creative type high.
Milky white trichomes = good mix of energetic heady high and stoney couch lock
Amber trichomes = gives a couch lock, munchies, stoney, chinky eyed kind of high

I don't know when other people harvest, but because I cure for 2-4 weeks I chop mine at about at about 80% cloudy 20% clear.

Beansly said:

The problem with waiting for most of your weed to turn amber before harvesting it is that when you cure it the trichomes are gonna degrade even more (the amber color comes from the THC degrading). What happened was you waited until the trichomes were amber to harvest, and after you dried for a two weeks and cured for another two weeks, the THC had changed to the chemical CBN, which does not get you high and alone, is associated with headaches, a forgetful stupid high, short stones, and munchies.

Basically you harvested your weed too late, and dried and cured it to the point of uselessness. Sorry friend.

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And this is why I harvest at only 5% amber with 90% milky at least. That and I like the sativa head hight that starts, but as it cures it mellows into a much more intense body stone. For my personal taste thats what it is. Ismoke all mine so I want it to last in those jars as long as possible.

I was a Amber man.... until I saw the March? edition of High Times.... The master grower convinced me that clear was good, amber was bad. That is the same thing BT was saying all along..... His posts usually have some wisdom hidden in them, if you know where to look

Beansly said:

What do you mean you this whole thread may have been pointless? Your first post said that you harvested the 21st of feb.
Anyways,
There's a lot of debate whether to wait for any amber trichomes at all, but most people agree that
Clear trichomes = heady, energetic, social, creative type high.
Milky white trichomes = good mix of energetic heady high and stoney couch lock
Amber trichomes = gives a couch lock, munchies, stoney, chinky eyed kind of high

I don't know when other people harvest, but because I cure for 2-4 weeks I chop mine at about at about 80% cloudy 20% clear.

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I have found that when you harvest early the high comes on as a SOARING but very short high, the high can last only 10 minutes at this point. Letting them get 80% milky will extend that high 40minutes to an 1.25 hours and lowers the insanity of that soaring high, but makes it much more smooth and enjoyable. After you get to 30% amber you wind up with a 3 hour high which has very little euphoria to it but lots of body relaxation. that has been my limited experience.

tardis said:

And this is why I harvest at only 5% amber with 90% milky at least. That and I like the sativa head hight that starts, but as it cures it mellows into a much more intense body stone. For my personal taste thats what it is. Ismoke all mine so I want it to last in those jars as long as possible.

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By the time I'm done curing it's around 80-90% cloudy, 10-20% amber. That's how I like it.