i currently hang dry in a closet w 1 circ fan, it takes 3-7 days depending on strain/amount of plants in there. (temp ranges 74-85)
I have tried the following methods,.. and yes im a very impatient person who only wanted to take something right off a plant and put it in a bowl.... but dont we all?...
Microwave paper towel method barely worked and tasted funny, also makes it kinda smell like whatever you microwaved last ... eww easy mac + cannibis =bad
Oven method, Worked alright, hard to monitor crispiness, best to check every few minutes. at 170 degrees, best to vape or roll.
Volcano method (best method I have found (pending a thread)) I just set my Volcano digit to 170 F and carefully break it into pebble sized nuglets in an insanely phat bowl (which shrinks to about a third of the size by the time i am done) i empty it into my hand a few times over the course of 5-10 minutes of the volcano being on, and i put it back in in a diffirent position.... the lower the temp (yet longer) the better smelling and tasting the result.
anything over 180 leaves a weird spincachy smell, its always better just to turn the volcano up to 355 and vape it after drying it because it tastes much better than smoking it, but smoking it yeilds pleasant results but not nearly as nice as a full 3-5 day dry in a closet.
.... i do understand that this method does require you actually own a volcano digit, (i think setting 2.5 on the analog one would be relative to what you want) which probably makes it the worlds most expensive bud dryer but this is assuming you have already made such a plunge
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tower fan method, hang a few branches from the top of a tower fan, usually takes a couple days depending on humidity and temp obviously. better smell than microwave, oven, volcano etc, but needs to be checked every few hours unles you dont mind finding it extra crispy one day
i have to say that what al b fuct is talking about shouldnt be considered quick drying as i know just by reading a description of it that it is not anything like other quick drying methods uses air at 85 Degrees which is not unusual for a hot day in a closet and does not damage thc! this is more of a "relatively fast" dryer
I have to say im not a big curing guy, i do agree the the smell becomes more saturated after it sits in a jar for a longer period of time, but thc is thc, it doesnt magically harden and multiply, the effect is the same, the medicinal quality is not diffirent, its like an aged chese, yeah you can just barely tell the diffirence, but was it really worth waiting the X years to get that small small change in smell taste? I usually cure for a few days and then cure over the course of the time it is being consumed. but i would never back someone saying a multiple week cure is necessary or worth it.
I think its also a good portion about for how LONG you allow them to dry, in ANY situation, As al b fuct said earlier in this thread, if fdd's freind was quick"er" drying and it came out crumbly than obviously he wasnt keeping good enough tabs on how dry his crop was!
I have harvested buds that i have been lucky enough to check on just at that point mentioned earlier in the thread, Not crumbly, not stretchy wet, but it tears in a nice squishy way and still has alot of smell left in it, after only 1 day the whole jar stank as if it had been cured for a much longer period of time.
It would be nice if nature just did the job for us and cannibis had a light pattern that made it just kill itself, drink all the water out of its system, let all the branches sag (so the leaves cover some nugs from light) and the buds just started falling off like apples when they were done....mmmm.... apples...