Curing and drying

The Importance of Drying and Curing

A smoother smoke, a more even burn and an increase in potency: sounds too good to be true, right? But, a little bit of hard work after you harvest carries big rewards. Soft Secrets takes a quick look at curing....

By Little Lebowski

Hanging It Out To Dry

So, you have spent the last three months tending to your girls, lavishing them with tender loving care and the big day has finally arrived... its harvest time and your smoke will be ready within the next week. But hang on there, remember the whole reason that you grew your own in the first place was to have a stash of the finest weed possible? At harvest time your work is only 75% done. To get the ultimate from your weed, put in that little bit of extra effort and dry and cure it properly.

Commercially grown crops are usually harvested early, cut, trimmed and dried for about a week, often in a warm environment, before being sold. The idea of a commercial grow is to get your cash turned around in the quickest amount of time - fair enough. However, quick dried bud can taste harsh and have low potency. We’ve all been there, you buy a bag of weed that smells good and feels dry on the outside, but when you break the bud open it is still moist on the inside and the smoke is harsh and can taste a little like cut grass; this taste is the chlorophyll still present in the cells of the plant. So why cure? The process of curing promotes the slow decarboxilation of oxygen molecules from the THC present in the bud, this will increase the psychoactive properties, making the weed more potent. The curing process also means that moisture levels will be even across the entire bud, giving you a much smoother smoke and a more even burn. When you grow your own, you want to get the maximum from your crop. You owe it to yourself to cure those buds!

To prove the point, I tried a little experiment with some recently harvested White Widow (from Pyramid Seeds) and a good friend of mine – Original G – here is the smoke report in his own words...

“So after harvesting we were desperate for a try of the lovely green that had been produced and we dipped in way before it had time to dry...this was a big mistake!! It still smelt way too fresh, almost like cut grass, the weed aroma was hardly there at all and, although it looked great, it was slimy and wet inside. It had to be trimmed with scissors to get it small enough to roll and the smoke was pretty terrible, sour and not very strong it was really a waste of skunk!! Be aware that force drying or what we now unaffectionatley call ‘radiator weed’ is no better, in fact it was a lot worse!!

After 7 days of hanging and drying the transformation is incredible, it's dry but sticky inside, the crystals are glistening and it smells delicious. The smoke is really good; easier to crumble than before, although does stick in the grinder a little. It tastes much stronger and the lovely sweet taste of widow is in full force. Plus it delivered a really nice high, not to heavy and a little bit lively which is good if you still want to function after a chong!! After the dry, it had a couple of weeks curing in jars and it’s transformed again. It's really pungent now and totally dry, the crystals are glistening away and it crumbles between the fingers perfectly. In fact I'm sure if all weed was left this long you'd have twice as much to smoke, although it's gone down in weight the dryness means you use less than before while building. It tastes as good as it smells and is stronger than before, it still gives a lovely high, a really good smoke...if only all weed was left this long!!”

Proof, if proof was needed!

The first step to the smoothest smoke is to get the drying process right so you should choose your drying area carefully. Ideally you want somewhere that is dark, cool – around 18°c – and has around 50% humidity. If your drying area is too cold, then drying will take forever. If it is too hot then you run the risk of drying your harvest too quickly, which will make it taste harsh – exactly what you don’t want! The grow room is a great option for drying as it will be dark and well sealed, it will also have the benefit of having a carbon filter attached to stop any unwanted smells escaping. The drying and hanging process

will take around two to three weeks, so if you can do without the grow room for that long, then do it. When you have harvested your plants, first remove any fan leaves that have no visible trichomes on them, then take the plants by the stem and hang them upside down using string or fishing line attached to clothes pegs, screws or nails. Make sure they don’t touch each other as this can cause mould. You can now manicure your buds by roughly cutting off the small to medium sized leaves; these should be saved Commercially grown for bubble hash. crops are usually Leave to hang harvested early, cut, for two to three weeks. You are trimmed and dried for now ready to about a week, often in cure... a warm environment, One tried and before being sold. tested way to start the curing process is the paper bag method. While your harvest is hanging to dry, get yourself down to the shops and pick up some brown paper bags – like the ones you get fruit and veg in from the greengrocer – the larger ones if possible, around the same size as an A4 piece of paper. A cash and carry is a good place to try, as you can normally pick them up in reams of 100 for very little money. Put a handful of bud into each bag and fold down the top, the idea is that the buds will ‘sweat’ out the moisture contained in the centre of them and this will be absorbed by the paper bag. Open the bags twice a day and shake the buds around to let any moisture out of the bag. Once the buds have been in the paper bags for three or four days, you can check