Embark on a journey to unlock the true potential of your cannabis harvest with our comprehensive guide on how to cure cannabis. No matter if you’re a seasoned cultivator or a green-thumb novice, proper curing is an essential skill to master, promising to elevate the potency, aroma, and overall quality of your crop. A well-cured bud is the hallmark of premium cannabis, transforming raw flowers into a smooth, flavorful experience.
Factors That Affect the Curing Process
Before diving into the details of curing your cannabis buds, it’s important to understand the various factors that impact the process. This will give you a clear understanding of the goals you should strive for and the pitfalls you should avoid.
Avoid Light Exposure
When it comes to curing, one of the most important steps is protecting your stash from light exposure. This is because exposure to light can lead to the degradation of valuable molecules such as THC and other terpenes that provide much of the flavor and aroma of cannabis.
To ensure your buds reach their fullest potential, you should keep them in a dark cupboard or box while they are curing. If you want an extra layer of protection, miron glass jars are also a great option.
These jars are made with a special type of glass that filters out all visible light apart from violet, making them perfect for preserving the potency and freshness of your cannabis buds.
Protect Your Stash From Heat
Cannabis strains produce cannabinoids that are extremely sensitive to heat and light. Heat is a major factor in reducing the potency of your stash from achieving strong effects, an issue that many cannabis connoisseurs want to avoid entirely. In order to effectively protect your stash from heat, it is important to think about where it is stored.
An ideal location would be a room with moderate temperature levels without any direct sunlight entering into it. Additionally, keeping jars or other containers of cannabis in a cool area away from any source of heat will help maintain the potency of your buds.
Curing cannabis can further extend the life and potency of your stash by allowing compounds found in the marijuana plant to mature and reach their full potential. Maintaining a consistent 21°C when curing will ensure optimal storage conditions for preserving the strength of cannabinoids and terpenes.
Find The Humidity Weet Spot
Curing cannabis buds is an essential step to guarantee the best quality. The humidity of the drying room must be carefully monitored – too much moisture can spell disaster for your stash, as it increases the chance of mold and anaerobic bacteria taking hold.
A telltale sign is when you open your jars and smell ammonia. Conversely, curing buds that are too dry will create a crumbly and harsh product that isn’t enjoyable to smoke.
The ideal sweet spot for curing cannabis flowers is one that maintains a relative humidity of between 45–55%. This will ensure your stash has sufficient moisture levels to ensure it isn’t clumpy or dry but also limits conditions where mold can form in higher humidities. Keep this in mind during the curing process, so you can be sure to have top-quality bud after it’s done!
The Best Way to Cure Your Cannabis Buds
When it comes to curing your cannabis, it’s important to keep the key factors we discussed in mind. The process itself is straightforward and involves opening and closing glass jars at the right times.
Using airtight glass mason jars to store your cannabis flowers creates a controlled environment that allows humidity to rehydrate the exterior of the buds without making them too wet. The objective is to have a stash that burns smoothly and has improved flavor.
Trimming Your Buds
Trimming your buds is an important step in the process if you want to get the most out of them. For starters, it helps promote airflow around the flowers, which can improve the quality of the final product.
Additionally, for medical and recreational consumption, having cleanly trimmed buds looks much better than having a cluster of flowers with sugar leaves still attached. So whether you’ve dried them individually or hung branches up to dry, it’s worth taking a few extra minutes to trim your buds before consuming them.
The process of trimming is fairly straightforward. To begin, separate each bud from all other flowers and see how accessible any remaining sugar leaves are. If necessary, use scissors or trimmers to gently remove any excess foliage from near the stem of each bud.
Be sure to not apply too much pressure as this may compromise their integrity as well as damage any trichomes located on the surface of the flower itself. Once satisfied that all sugar leaves have been removed, your flowers are ready for what comes next!
Stashing Your Flowers
When it comes to storing your flowers and buds, you need to make sure they are properly stored in airtight containers. Mason jars are the most popular choice due to their sturdiness and ability to monitor the buds easily.
To store correctly, simply place your buds loosely into the container and fill up to 75% capacity while leaving room for some air. This is also a good time to test out if your stash is dry enough for curing before you start the process.
A simple way of doing this is by giving the jars a gentle shake. This action will allow you to determine if your flowers have been adequately dried out and ready for jar curing.
Curing Your Weed With Optimal Humidity
When curing your weed, controlling the temperature and relative humidity within the jars is of the utmost importance. Applying the lids to your jars will provide some insulation but it is still recommended to place them in a cool and dark environment – this could be anything from a cupboard to another storage condition that can maintain a temperature of 21°C and a relative humidity of 60-65% humidity.
For this purpose, hygrometers (devices for measuring air moisture levels) can be added to each jar, ensuring that optimum humidity levels are kept throughout the curing process.
Correctly curing your weed not only affects its smell and taste but also the overall quality of its smoke. Curing correctly with optimal temperatures and humidity will improve not only the flavor profile of your weed but also make it burn slower, ultimately increasing its lifespan.
Therefore, taking into consideration all three steps – drying, drying-curing and finally curing with optimal humidity – is necessary in order to enjoy optimal smoking experiences with your produced cannabis!
Regulating Humidity Levels
Maintaining the correct level of humidity can have a tremendous effect on the quality and taste of your buds. While it may sound complicated, regulating the humidity level of your buds is quite straightforward. The key to successful storage is to keep an eye on the readings provided by a hygrometer. Generally, it’s best to aim for relative humidity between 60% and 65%.
When checking in on your buds, make sure to inspect them closely through the glass as well as take out any material that you notice has begun forming mold. Additionally, keep in mind that some fresh air exchange will help ensure properly humidified buds so don’t be afraid to open up the lids for a few minutes during each inspection.
If you find that things are getting too wet even after doing this, then knock off around 3 hours from lid time. This should regulate temperatures and draw out excess moisture from the air inside.
You’re Almost There
The final step of curing your buds is one of the most important. It is essential to maintain optimal humidity while opening the jars once per day over the next two weeks. This will ensure that your buds reach their peak potency and are ready for consumption.
After three weeks, your buds should be well-cured and ready to smoke up. Although you could technically start smoking them immediately, it is recommended that you hold off for a few more weeks to capture all the benefits of a good cure.
Patience is key in curing cannabis flowers, as further curing results in an exponentially better quality product. During this final stage, your flowers can steadily increase in quality for up to six months if properly cured.
To get the most out of this last step and all its deliciousness, try and resist using it immediately so that you can benefit from its improved flavor and strength long down the road!