The Importance Of Optimal Drying & Curing For Vaporization

[Meremoth]

I just wanted to briefly mention the importance of drying & curing, specifically to people new to vaporizing that might not have a reliable supply of cannabis from places such as a professionally ran and operated dispensary (where you don't have to be as concerned with the issue of optimal drying/curing as you would if you get it from an anonymous home-grower and/or a disreputable dispensary).

When I first started vaporizing I started out with the SGG (whip) SSV, but only had a connection to a supplier who, at the time, was supplying cannabis that wasn't dried and cured properly. The problems associated with smoking semi-dried/cured cannabis are almost non-issues compared to the trouble you'll experience vaping, which can trick people that are new to vaporizing into believing their technique is incorrect or there is a problem with their unit without realizing the problem is actually with their herb.

When you try and vape improperly dried and cured cannabis with the S(silver)SV (whip), it seems like you either don't get even close to what you should out of it, or you get it so hot it just combusts with very little variance in between green and on fire.

This might sound like to a lot of you that I'm preachin' to the choir here, but this is a severe enough problem that I know of people that it has completely turned against vaping without realizing their problems can be solved simply by purchasing cannabis that is optimally dried and cured.

Perhaps someone will read this that had similar problems and they'll decide to give vaping another chance.

Edit: The success part of the story is that I have successfully converted people from smoking to vaping, who tried vaping and initially hated it, and now prefer vaping so much that they no longer smoke at all.

Edit #2: As far as success stories with vaporizing improperly dried/cured cannabis, I use to own a VX Cloud which did seem to more successfully vape that kind of cannabis than the Silver Surfer did, but I still prefer the SSV to the Cloud for the ease/quickness of use with optimally dried/cured cannabis and the quality of the components and reliability in comparison to my VX Cloud which spontaneous died only months into owning it.

 

[CarolKing]

I've bought cannabis even at dispensaries that should have been cured a little longer or too dry. This doesn't happen often. I put it in my Cvault with the Broveda packets and after 2 weeks or so it's perfect. That would be cannabis that just needed a little extra time or if a little on the dry side. I've never tried it with super damp bud. I've never gotten any lately, I did during the black market days.

Often dispensaries don't want you to touch their product, you can smell it.

 

[mark1henry21]

I was really not aware about that.. Most of the vapers dont pay attention to drying..

 

[Krazy]

I water cure.

 

[h3rbalist]

I water cure.

I've always wanted to try that.

What are your results like? Any pics?

What is better about water curing over the standard dry and store technique?

 

[CarolKing]

When you water cure doesn't it take a lot of the taste and smell away?

 

[Krazy]

It makes sense for me for a variety of reasons I will address in the next post.

I get the dislike of water curing.

• Loss of weight.
• Loss of baggy appeal or appearance.
• Loss of scent.
• Lost of Flavor.

Some of the above can actually be plusses. At the vey least if you are mainly using for cooking they don't matter. The biggest plus is the speed and ease of a water cure. One week under water then a few days drying in the high desert of NM. Then into jars or a vault.

Basic water cure 101 according to the interwbs ?

• 1 week under water.
• Temp of 65-75.
• Flush fully 1-2 times/day.
• Keep dark.
• Keep uncovered.
• minimum water/plant of 4/1.
• flowers underwater not floating.

Edit:

If/when I purchase some dispensary bud I will post a side by side pic. My current (water cured) stuff does in fact look like old time schwag, lol.

 

[Krazy]

A (very) brief run down on some quirks of the medical system in New Mexico:

We were once the ugly step child of medical states with crappy, just barely allowing it laws. While we have not gotten much better other states that have legalized it since are much worse. Plus NM is one of the few that allows bad PTSD as a medical condition so credit on that.

When we first made medical legal they severally limited the number of contracted growers. So much so that the dispensaries we out more often than not. As a work around they included a single little clause allowing licensed medical users to legally obtain their meds from where ever. While they have since fixed the supply issue, it is still legal to procure "where ever". It is not allowed for a licensed private grower to trade, sell, or gift their crop. But it is entirely legal on the recipients end of things.

Water cure makes sense in my situation:

I help a number of older, non savvy, medical users. Most of them use edibles. Some of them may not be licensed to grow and do so stealthfully. Laws regarding the possessions of concentrates in NM are based on an assumed equivalency of 1g flower @ 20% THC.

So when all is said and done the way to have the maximum legal supply on hand is to have it as flowers @ >20% THC. All of my people either do Kush variants (over 20%) or specific auto flower strains with good THC/CBD levels (close to 20%).

In my experience you loose around 30% flower weight by water curing Vs. air curing. This effectively lets my people boost their on hand legal supply by 30%. It also means no smell during curing and instantly converts a possibly off the books grow into entirely legal to posses meds.




7.34.3.9 QUANTITY OF USABLE CANNABIS THAT MAY BE POSSESSED BY A QUALIFIED PATIENT OR PRIMARY CAREGIVER:
A. Maximum quantity: A qualified patient and a qualified patient’s primary caregiver may collectively possess within any three-month period a quantity of usable cannabis no greater than 230 total units. For purposes of department rules, this quantity is deemed an adequate supply. (For ease of reference: 230 units is equivalent to 230 grams, or approximately eight ounces, of dried usable cannabis plant material.) A qualified patient and primary caregiver may also possess cannabis seeds.

B. Calculation of units: For purposes of department rules, one unit of usable cannabis shall consist of one gram of the dried leaves and flowers of the female cannabis plant, or 0.2 grams (200 milligrams) of THC for cannabis-derived products.

 

[Krazy]

So I effectively have an unlimited supply of VERY inexpensive water cured meds of the varieties that I need. Which means that my dispensary purchases are a boutique buy. Or picking up a six pack of craft bear occasionally.


Prices are quite friendly here with >25% strains running $11/gram. Buy at the end of a bin for $7/gram and Kieffy goodness. Plus I get a 10% veterans discount. So I pay less than $45 for a quarter ounce os speciality strains and ultra kind bud.

For example: http://www.highdesertrelief.org/store.html

As of date of posting:

AK-47 • Sativa Dom • $8/g
THC 14.0% • CBD 9.3%

Blue Dream • Sativa Dom • $11/g
THC 23.5% • CBD 0.31%

Chaos Kush • Indica Dom • $11/g
THC 23.0% • CBD 0.21%

FLO• Hybrid • $9/g
THC 18.3% • CBD 0.23%

LA Confidential • Indica Dom • $11/g
THC 24.0% • CBD 0.31%

Micky Kush • Sativa Dom • $9/g
THC 19.5% • CBD 0.21%

Platinum Delights • Hybrid • $11/g
THC 26.1% • CBD 0.31%

SinMint Cookies • Hybrid • $11/g
THC 25.5% • CBD 0.21%

Skywalker Kush • Indica Dom • $11/g
THC 24.9% • CBD 0.34%

Sour Chem• Hybrid/High CBD • $8/g
THC 6.8% • CBD 12.2%

Tangie Power • Hybrid • $9/g
THC 18.8% • CBD 0.23%

 

[KimDracula]

A good cure is so important. I have a pretty good variety of dispensaries to choose from despite being in a county and city that tend to be part of the Conservative part of CA that you don't hear about so often but finally settled on only one due primarily to the care taken in growing to full potential and curing properly.

I found a couple problems to be pretty common including buds that seem to be harvested a little early (mostly clear trichomes that aren't as developed with a slightly rushed cure). This is probably the most obvious corner to cut if you're turning inventory over quickly, I suppose. This stuff was always good and definitely usable but flavor would be somewhat compromised (would often taste like grass or carrots to me), grinding difficult, and just disappointing overall for vaping although I think most smokers wouldn't mind at all since they're often not grinding and are, of course, burning it. In fact, I think some like the appeal of what I would consider too-moist sticky buds. I know I did when I started smoking.

So now I stick with one delivery service for flowers and oil and there's one neighborhood brick and mortar that has a good variety of oil as well. I do miss a few varieties I used to get, though. There was a wonderful Raspberry Kush I used to get. Compared to many of my cannabis brethren around the world and the country, though, I am quite spoiled, so I have no real complaints.

 

[Baron23]

I live in a state where Med MJ program law passed a couple of years ago but our a-hole politicians and bureaucrats still won't have it up and running for another six months.

So, herb that I get is black market and who knows how its been cured. I do have a pocket microscope and have looked at some recent flower I purchased and of the top of my head it looks like it could have stayed on the vine a bit longer as trichomes are not totally milky (opaque if you will).

But there is nothing I can do about how it was grown or initially cured. I do, however, keep my herb in very well sealed, Italian canning jars (with the overcam latch mechanism) and make sure to air them out at least once ever couple of weeks. I have not seen any of my bud sweat though so perhaps cured??

As for drying, I do keep my main stash sealed in the jar with Boveda but I'm a huge believe in taking out a couple of week supply, grinding it, and laying it out in a pollen box for a week or so to dry out sufficient to vape. Then can it in a Space Case or whatever sealed container I have handy.

I'm not interested in seperated pollen from bud particularly, but some pollen will drop down onto the glass plate in the pollen box and I scrape it up and save it to be added into loads. I think this pollen was going to come off anyway so better on the glass than stuck to the side of a vial or other type container.

I have often seen new to vaping people complain that they aren't getting good results and fine grind and drying out usually seems to solve their problem if they have a decent unit at all.

Great topic. Wish I knew more about growing and curing but I'm in a townhouse in a state where even when the med program is up and running will not allow individuals to grow.

Cheers

 

[insideoutman]

i am getting better at spotting properly cured, which is IMO the best. What are the tell-tale sign of water cure? does it always look a certain way? although I am sometimes unsure if the bud is fully cured..

 

[Vapoleon]

Anyone tried honey jars?

I use them always because while curing the buds in a jar that contained honey before, the buds got this honey smell-taste too. I mean the top part/ seal/ the part wich closes the jar. (dont konw the word now sorry) so the top part keeps the smell of the honey that was in the jar before even after washing it out.

Actually now I put a bit of honey on the top part without the honey touching the buds, and its amazing how the cured weed gets this sweet taste.

i can recomend this method to every vapor enthusiasts. It has very very pleasant results. Definitely worths a try, if you dont want to risk the whole amount, then try it with 1g. two weeks honey curing and you will be amazed, you can try it with bad buds to make them better tasting but for the best results of cours i recommend top notch buds! They won"t loose their original properties just will be kindly sweet, natural, perfect! U can try different types of honey of cours but works well with every type of honey!

Worth a try!

 

[Vapoleon]

Anyone tried honey jars?

I use them always because while curing the buds in a jar that contained honey before, the buds got this honey smell-taste too. I mean the top part/ seal/ the part wich closes the jar. (dont konw the word now sorry) so the top part keeps the smell of the honey that was in the jar before even after washing it out.

Actually now I put a bit of honey on the top part without the honey touching the buds, and its amazing how the cured weed gets this sweet taste.

i can recomend this method to every vapor enthusiasts. It has very very pleasant results. Definitely worths a try, if you dont want to risk the whole amount, then try it with 1g. two weeks honey curing and you will be amazed, you can try it with bad buds to make them better tasting but for the best results of cours i recommend top notch buds! They won"t loose their original properties just will be kindly sweet, natural, perfect! U can try different types of honey of cours but works well with every type of honey!

Worth a try!

Also, I recommend this honey cured method to your ABV material. it gives them much better taste/smell and maybe a bit of moisturising also.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Great thread! Lil' Lady is at 8 1/2 weeks and looking good. Plan experiment with curing technique. Done standard hang and jar plus Boveda as well as water cure (not for home-grown). Last time, freeze-dried fresh with fabulous results. Planning to split harvest three ways - standard, freeze-dry and combo, hang for a few days and then freeze-dry instead of jars.

Freezed-dried made delicious e-juice with tropical fruit flavors, like a fine IPA. Flowers also tasted decent in the Herbalizer, maybe a little vegetal. Tried re-hydrating with Boveda as well. Nobody noticed anything unusual. Freeze-dried is bone dry (<50% humidity).

Just thinking about the idea that slow-curing allows bud to use up any remaining sugars, but harvest late going for amber trichomes. Maybe slow cure isn't needed?

Can't resist some bud-porn! Looks mature for 8 1/2 weeks, but this is a new strain for me - Afghan Kush Ryder.