Difference Between Curing and Aging

[BobCajun]

Curing and aging are two different things. The mason jar thing is actually aging rather than curing. The curing process requires humidity of at least 70%, from most references I read. Does the photo on this page not look like what people are doing with the mason jars? https://www.chesapeakepipeandcigar.com/?page_id=3002

Is this quote from that page not exactly what people are doing with weed and calling it "curing"?

No matter whether you’re aging your pipe tobacco or simply storing it for future use, keeping the humidity level at about 62% produces the best smoke. If the tobacco you want to age is too wet, spread it out and let the humidity level drop a bit. If it’s too dry, spritz it with distilled water OR place it in a glass jar with a humidifying medium such as a Boveda pack or disk humidifier. If you don’t maintain the humidity, all the aging in the world won’t help.

The best vessel to use for aging pipe tobacco is the Mason Jar. Fill the jars about three quarters of the way, leaving the other quarter empty. This air space is crucial to the aging process.

And the following quote is from the Wikipedia page for "curing of tobacco".

It is necessary to cure tobacco after harvesting and before it can be consumed.[1] Tobacco curing is also known as color curing, because tobacco leaves are cured with the intention of changing their color and reducing their chlorophyll content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_of_tobacco

Is any weed you've ever seen "cured" with the mason jar method not green? Maybe a somewhat lighter green but still green. Colombian weed is cured, and it's brown not green. Now I suppose if people don't mind smoking chlorophyll then that's their personal choice. I can tell you from experience that the browned kind is much less harsh. It doesn't smell like terpenes though, but then smoking terpenes is not actually that enjoyable. Turpentine is a terpene (pinene), do you think smoking turpentine would be enjoyable? Terpenes sometimes smell nice though, and that impresses some people, but it's not actually good to smoke terpenes. They may have medical benefits when eaten, but show me one reference that says they're beneficial when smoked.

 

[LinguaPeel]

Nah. Semantics. Tobacco leaves have absolutely NOTHING in common with Cannabis bud resin. When you cure [organic] Cannabis buds, youre breaking down compounds in the resin into new compounds. When you cure tobacco leaves, you're breaking down ammonia in the plant matter. Show me tobacco hash... Not the same plant.

I agree though, terpenes are absolutely fucking gross until they are oxidized and polymerized. I'll add that if youre lighting raw hydroponic plants on fire instead of vaporizing or hashing, your opinion doesn't matter regarding flavor. You don't understand it. Organic buds barely have flavor when combusted, hydro tastes like burnt leaves and nutrients, yet people will talk all this harsh vs smooth nonsense. Tell me what it TASTES like not what it feels like. Harsh is not a flavor. Smooth is not a flavor. Smell is not a flavor. Citric acid has a taste and no smell. Sugar has a taste and no smell. If people can't grasp this concept, I can't and won't associate with them, they are devolved subhumans.

Most pot growers who started in the 21st century are apparently playing make believe and smoking/growing complete trash, honestly. I'll be growing my own until I'm dead apparently because none of the younger generations seem to have a damn clue what Cannabis is. And I'm not even picky, at all. It's just that people are growing weed with no concept of or resemblance to weed these days. The shit grown in America wouldn't fly in bum fuck Algeria for shits sake.. Let that sink in.. Arab booty scratchers living in mud huts curing their shit in a clay pot wouldn't touch the shit most Americans are coming up with as "top shelf medical grade extract".

 

[Gorillabilly]

Nah. Semantics. Tobacco leaves have absolutely NOTHING in common with Cannabis bud resin. When you cure [organic] Cannabis buds, youre breaking down compounds in the resin into new compounds. When you cure tobacco leaves, you're breaking down ammonia in the plant matter. Show me tobacco hash... Not the same plant.

I agree though, terpenes are absolutely fucking gross until they are oxidized and polymerized. I'll add that if youre lighting raw hydroponic plants on fire instead of vaporizing or hashing, your opinion doesn't matter regarding flavor. You don't understand it. Organic buds barely have flavor when combusted, hydro tastes like burnt leaves and nutrients, yet people will talk all this harsh vs smooth nonsense. Tell me what it TASTES like not what it feels like. Harsh is not a flavor. Smooth is not a flavor. Smell is not a flavor. Citric acid has a taste and no smell. Sugar has a taste and no smell. If people can't grasp this concept, I can't and won't associate with them, they are devolved subhumans.

Most pot growers who started in the 21st century are apparently playing make believe and smoking/growing complete trash, honestly. I'll be growing my own until I'm dead apparently because none of the younger generations seem to have a damn clue what Cannabis is. And I'm not even picky, at all. It's just that people are growing weed with no concept of or resemblance to weed these days. The shit grown in America wouldn't fly in bum fuck Algeria for shits sake.. Let that sink in.. Arab booty scratchers living in mud huts curing their shit in a clay pot wouldn't touch the shit most Americans are coming up with as "top shelf medical grade extract".

Preach brother.... smoke that shit in a back alley bar in Istanbul just one time and nothing else will do.

I still smoke some flower, but I used to smoke tobacco and its my thing. But as flavor goes, you are dead on

 

[Gemtree]

Nah. Semantics. Tobacco leaves have absolutely NOTHING in common with Cannabis bud resin. When you cure [organic] Cannabis buds, youre breaking down compounds in the resin into new compounds. When you cure tobacco leaves, you're breaking down ammonia in the plant matter. Show me tobacco hash... Not the same plant.

I agree though, terpenes are absolutely fucking gross until they are oxidized and polymerized. I'll add that if youre lighting raw hydroponic plants on fire instead of vaporizing or hashing, your opinion doesn't matter regarding flavor. You don't understand it. Organic buds barely have flavor when combusted, hydro tastes like burnt leaves and nutrients, yet people will talk all this harsh vs smooth nonsense. Tell me what it TASTES like not what it feels like. Harsh is not a flavor. Smooth is not a flavor. Smell is not a flavor. Citric acid has a taste and no smell. Sugar has a taste and no smell. If people can't grasp this concept, I can't and won't associate with them, they are devolved subhumans.

Most pot growers who started in the 21st century are apparently playing make believe and smoking/growing complete trash, honestly. I'll be growing my own until I'm dead apparently because none of the younger generations seem to have a damn clue what Cannabis is. And I'm not even picky, at all. It's just that people are growing weed with no concept of or resemblance to weed these days. The shit grown in America wouldn't fly in bum fuck Algeria for shits sake.. Let that sink in.. Arab booty scratchers living in mud huts curing their shit in a clay pot wouldn't touch the shit most Americans are coming up with as "top shelf medical grade extract".

If you can't taste weed I'm pretty sure that's a medical condition. Go grab some headbanger and grow it in some salty nute coco and tell me it doesn't coat your mouth and make it water from day one.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Nah. Semantics. Tobacco leaves have absolutely NOTHING in common with Cannabis bud resin. When you cure [organic] Cannabis buds, youre breaking down compounds in the resin into new compounds. When you cure tobacco leaves, you're breaking down ammonia in the plant matter. Show me tobacco hash... Not the same plant.

I agree though, terpenes are absolutely fucking gross until they are oxidized and polymerized. I'll add that if youre lighting raw hydroponic plants on fire instead of vaporizing or hashing, your opinion doesn't matter regarding flavor. You don't understand it. Organic buds barely have flavor when combusted, hydro tastes like burnt leaves and nutrients, yet people will talk all this harsh vs smooth nonsense. Tell me what it TASTES like not what it feels like. Harsh is not a flavor. Smooth is not a flavor. Smell is not a flavor. Citric acid has a taste and no smell. Sugar has a taste and no smell. If people can't grasp this concept, I can't and won't associate with them, they are devolved subhumans.

Most pot growers who started in the 21st century are apparently playing make believe and smoking/growing complete trash, honestly. I'll be growing my own until I'm dead apparently because none of the younger generations seem to have a damn clue what Cannabis is. And I'm not even picky, at all. It's just that people are growing weed with no concept of or resemblance to weed these days. The shit grown in America wouldn't fly in bum fuck Algeria for shits sake.. Let that sink in.. Arab booty scratchers living in mud huts curing their shit in a clay pot wouldn't touch the shit most Americans are coming up with as "top shelf medical grade extract".

Hell ya man, SUB-HUM-ANS rocks.

 

[BobCajun]

Nah. Semantics. Tobacco leaves have absolutely NOTHING in common with Cannabis bud resin. When you cure [organic] Cannabis buds, youre breaking down compounds in the resin into new compounds. When you cure tobacco leaves, you're breaking down ammonia in the plant matter. Show me tobacco hash... Not the same plant.

I agree though, terpenes are absolutely fucking gross until they are oxidized and polymerized. I'll add that if youre lighting raw hydroponic plants on fire instead of vaporizing or hashing, your opinion doesn't matter regarding flavor. You don't understand it. Organic buds barely have flavor when combusted, hydro tastes like burnt leaves and nutrients, yet people will talk all this harsh vs smooth nonsense. Tell me what it TASTES like not what it feels like. Harsh is not a flavor. Smooth is not a flavor. Smell is not a flavor. Citric acid has a taste and no smell. Sugar has a taste and no smell. If people can't grasp this concept, I can't and won't associate with them, they are devolved subhumans.

Most pot growers who started in the 21st century are apparently playing make believe and smoking/growing complete trash, honestly. I'll be growing my own until I'm dead apparently because none of the younger generations seem to have a damn clue what Cannabis is. And I'm not even picky, at all. It's just that people are growing weed with no concept of or resemblance to weed these days. The shit grown in America wouldn't fly in bum fuck Algeria for shits sake.. Let that sink in.. Arab booty scratchers living in mud huts curing their shit in a clay pot wouldn't touch the shit most Americans are coming up with as "top shelf medical grade extract".

Well I can tell you that cured weed makes better quality extract than uncured weed, meaning green weed like everybody in America and Europe smokes. It's less harsh and more potent. You can't really cure weed without heat though, takes too long and would probably mold from the high humidity required. I cured it by piling the buds on a heating mat with parchment over it, inside a closed container. I didn't dry it at all beforehand, because then it wouldn't cure as well. I did like they do in Colombia, minus the sun, they pile it and turn the pile at intervals.

I start at lowest temperature and after a couple days as it reduces in size due to water loss (I put a container of calcium chloride pellets in there to absorb the water and a small fan to circulate the air inside the container) I start increasing the temperature gradually until eventually it gets up close to 40 C. It browns up nicely as it dries more and more. Takes about 3-4 days total. No mold grows. You have to use a heating mat with a "stay on" button though, because the others turn off automatically after a certain time. The pile is initially probably about 6" deep.

People might say "you're smashing the trichs up by piling it and mixing it around". Yeah, so? The resin is still on there just some of the outer heads might get their resin spread around a little. Babying buds is a losing proposition. It's just weed, you're going to smoke it, not put it on display, unless I suppose if you run a weed store. Mine won't be displayed.

 

[Shape Shifter]

I'll add that if youre lighting raw hydroponic plants on fire instead of vaporizing or hashing, your opinion doesn't matter regarding flavor. You don't understand it. Organic buds barely have flavor when combusted, hydro tastes like burnt leaves and nutrients, yet people will talk all this harsh vs smooth nonsense.

That is some next level pretentious bullshit you got going on there. If you can't taste bong tokes, you have shitty weed or a shitty palate. Probably both. It doesn't matter if its organic or not. Good bud is going to be tasty in a bong toke.

 

[Dirk8==D~Diggler]

That is some next level pretentious bullshit you got going on there.

No kidding lol

 

[Tetrahedral]

Curing and aging are two different things. The mason jar thing is actually aging rather than curing. The curing process requires humidity of at least 70%, from most references I read. Does the photo on this page not look like what people are doing with the mason jars? https://www.chesapeakepipeandcigar.com/?page_id=3002

Is this quote from that page not exactly what people are doing with weed and calling it "curing"?


And the following quote is from the Wikipedia page for "curing of tobacco".


Is any weed you've ever seen "cured" with the mason jar method not green? Maybe a somewhat lighter green but still green. Colombian weed is cured, and it's brown not green. Now I suppose if people don't mind smoking chlorophyll then that's their personal choice. I can tell you from experience that the browned kind is much less harsh. It doesn't smell like terpenes though, but then smoking terpenes is not actually that enjoyable. Turpentine is a terpene (pinene), do you think smoking turpentine would be enjoyable? Terpenes sometimes smell nice though, and that impresses some people, but it's not actually good to smoke terpenes. They may have medical benefits when eaten, but show me one reference that says they're beneficial when smoked.

Bud turning brown except by extreme lengths of time is not a good thing. Tobacco has different chemistry which makes it brown when drying. For bud to turn brown bad bacterias and enzymes would have to be at play to degrade the green stuff into other byproducts off from its normal path of degrading.

 

[BobCajun]

Bud turning brown except by extreme lengths of time is not a good thing. Tobacco has different chemistry which makes it brown when drying. For bud to turn brown bad bacterias and enzymes would have to be at play to degrade the green stuff into other byproducts off from its normal path of degrading.

Nope, same processes, enzymatic. The heat simply speeds up the enzymes, beyond a certain temperature it kills them off. There are no "bad enzymes" in there, it's just the same natural enzymes that are always there. At room temperature it takes about two weeks to brown, compared to a few days with elevated temperature. It's not hot enough to degrade the THC, that takes about 60 C. The problem with room temperature curing is that the material has to stay at high humidity and could mold. The heat actually seems to prevent mold forming. But it can still mold if there's not enough air flow. I tried putting parchment over the top of the pile to see if it cured faster and there was some mold. The top of the pile has to be exposed to the air with a fan moving it around.

 

[Tetrahedral]

Nope, same processes, enzymatic. The heat simply speeds up the enzymes, beyond a certain temperature it kills them off. There are no "bad enzymes" in there, it's just the same natural enzymes that are always there. At room temperature it takes about two weeks to brown, compared to a few days with elevated temperature. It's not hot enough to degrade the THC, that takes about 60 C. The problem with room temperature curing is that the material has to stay at high humidity and could mold. The heat actually seems to prevent mold forming. But it can still mold if there's not enough air flow. I tried putting parchment over the top of the pile to see if it cured faster and there was some mold. The top of the pile has to be exposed to the air with a fan moving it around.

I'm referring to your first post as well -

To us curing and ageing are the same thing and interchangable, just how it happens to be due to it being the same process for this plant.

We don't smoke chlorophyll we smoke it's byproducts - enzymes again.

Any small change makes different enzyme pathways, your observing this first hand.

Tobacco is a different plant, are you just talking about one browning oxidation enzyme or the whole thing taking into account the amounts produced, inhibitors, all the other chemical interactions and environment as that's a lot of pathways and different enzymes as well as reactions, tobacco is a long way from us but yes you may try to enact the ones you want but it screws with other compounds and you never get what you want in total which would be why we aim not to let bud brown until the point at which dried material naturally does which involves a long time and you probably loose some of the desirable stuff as breakdown of that has had enough elapsed time as well.

It is what it is and the reason we aim for green bud not brown.

 

[BobCajun]

I'm referring to your first post as well -

To us curing and ageing are the same thing and interchangable, just how it happens to be due to it being the same process for this plant.

We don't smoke chlorophyll we smoke it's byproducts - enzymes again.

Any small change makes different enzyme pathways, your observing this first hand.

Tobacco is a different plant, are you just talking about one browning oxidation enzyme or the whole thing taking into account the amounts produced, inhibitors, all the other chemical interactions and environment as that's a lot of pathways and different enzymes as well as reactions, tobacco is a long way from us but yes you may try to enact the ones you want but it screws with other compounds and you never get what you want in total which would be why we aim not to let bud brown until the point at which dried material naturally does which involves a long time and you probably loose some of the desirable stuff as breakdown of that has had enough elapsed time as well.

It is what it is and the reason we aim for green bud not brown.

Okay, but the brown cured weed is actually a lot better than the kind where you just hang the plants up until they're dry. Maybe you could do it at room temperature without mold growing if you keep the air moving around enough, never tried it. Room temperature curing of tobacco has much lower sugar than the heat cured type, and obviously it would be better not to smoke sugar. Maybe just do the usual plant hanging but keep the RH at 70% or higher instead of the 50's or whatever that people use now. When you make extract from the cured weed it smells like hash. You can mix it with cured bud powder and it's just like imported hash. But when you do it with uncured weed it comes out harsh and doesn't have the real hash smell. People could at least cure stuff they're going to be extracting and make much better extract.

 

[Tetrahedral]

Okay, but the brown cured weed is actually a lot better than the kind where you just hang the plants up until they're dry. Maybe you could do it at room temperature without mold growing if you keep the air moving around enough, never tried it. Room temperature curing of tobacco has much lower sugar than the heat cured type, and obviously it would be better not to smoke sugar. Maybe just do the usual plant hanging but keep the RH at 70% or higher instead of the 50's or whatever that people use now. When you make extract from the cured weed it smells like hash. You can mix it with cured bud powder and it's just like imported hash. But when you do it with uncured weed it comes out harsh and doesn't have the real hash smell. People could at least cure stuff they're going to be extracting and make much better extract.

Brown weed contains the wrong end product, it's taste is lacking replaced by another. The oil is unaffected still makes good hash.

Green is the best overall. You can cure your extracts, no trick just let time slowly work it's chemistry in low moisture environment. Why cure and age are the same thing to us. Good hash is over a year old, it can spend that long sitting in the farmers store area then another length of time stored as blocks of hash.

Why hash is superior in a lot of ways if done well.

 

[BobCajun]

Brown weed contains the wrong end product, it's taste is lacking replaced by another. The oil is unaffected still makes good hash.

Green is the best overall. You can cure your extracts, no trick just let time slowly work it's chemistry in low moisture environment. Why cure and age are the same thing to us. Good hash is over a year old, it can spend that long sitting in the farmers store area then another length of time stored as blocks of hash.

Why hash is superior in a lot of ways if done well.

How can you cure extract when there's no enzymes in it? How could there be when it was extracted either with a solvent or by heat pressing? You are again confusing aging with curing. Green is definitely not better. The terpenes are actually a bad thing. You need to cure it to get rid of them. If terpenes are good then why don't you just buy a can of natural source turpentine and smoke it? Costs like $10 a pint/liter. Terpenes are far from a precious commodity, you can buy any of them by the gallon quite reasonably.

 

[ComfortCreator]

Brown bud is usually inferior these days. Sure Columbian Gold, Jamaican, and such were and are brown. Thats in large part genetics. But many, many buds are not grown, dried or cured properly resulting in brown bud.

The only brown bud I can think of that is worthy TODAY are some Afghani strains. Can't knock the afghani genetics imo, really ever.

Terpenes are bad?

I do get that hash and extracts can taste far better than flower. I believe that is precisely because the delicious terpenes in there are concentrated, thus the classic smell and flavor of good hash.

Drying curing and aging all happen simultaneously. After a while, drying stops, after a really long time, curing stops. By definition the term "aging" means, "the process of growing old." There's no magic here, its nature being harnessed.

 

[Tetrahedral]

How can you cure extract when there's no enzymes in it? How could there be when it was extracted either with a solvent or by heat pressing? You are again confusing aging with curing. Green is definitely not better. The terpenes are actually a bad thing. You need to cure it to get rid of them. If terpenes are good then why don't you just buy a can of natural source turpentine and smoke it? Costs like $10 a pint/liter. Terpenes are far from a precious commodity, you can buy any of them by the gallon quite reasonably.

Farmers notice a change so there is, oil has minor changes over time, check out the olive oil producers and realise it's not a lifetime product but a shorter life one.

Were you thinking mineral or refined petroleum? You don't make sense otherwise.

 

[PURPLEB3RRYKUSH]

How can you cure extract when there's no enzymes in it? How could there be when it was extracted either with a solvent or by heat pressing? You are again confusing aging with curing. Green is definitely not better. The terpenes are actually a bad thing. You need to cure it to get rid of them. If terpenes are good then why don't you just buy a can of natural source turpentine and smoke it? Costs like $10 a pint/liter. Terpenes are far from a precious commodity, you can buy any of them by the gallon quite reasonably.

Disagree. Terpenes are what makes cannabis so desirable, adds different flavours depending on the terpine profile. Terps give weed smell, some terps add relaxing body effects such as myrcene found in most strains aswell as terpinolene. Limonene, pinene, caryophyllene theres some terps found in weed and fruits. In short without terps weeds garbage.

 

[BobCajun]

Farmers notice a change so there is, oil has minor changes over time, check out the olive oil producers and realise it's not a lifetime product but a shorter life one.

Were you thinking mineral or refined petroleum? You don't make sense otherwise.

Natural source turpentine, distilled from pine trees, is almost pure pinene, a major terpene is many weed strains, but is it good to smoke? Probably not. Here's a quote from the MSDS for alpha-pinene.

Adverse Human Health
Effects and Symptoms:
Causes skin irritation.
Harmful if swallowed.
Material may be irritating to the mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract.

May be fatal if swallowed and enters airways. May be harmful by skin absorption. May cause an allergic skin reaction. May cause eye, skin, or respiratory system irritation. Very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. To the best of our knowledge, the toxicological properties have not been thoroughly investigated.

I guess there's a white box in that quote because I copied it from a PDF. Anyway, the "curing" of extracts probably results in the terpenes partially evaporating, so yeah I guess that would help. The weird thing is that some weed shops sell THCA crystals with pure terpenes slopped all over them. Should have left out the turpentine, or whatever terpenes thay slopped on there. If anybody wants some good terpene I'll sell you some pinene for $50 a gram, any takers? Just a minute, I need to go down to the hardware store, be right back with your terpene.

 

[ComfortCreator]

Terpenes are added back to some concentrates to give them their original or an enhanced flavor. Im not sure how the thinking got a bit off track that terpenes -- which flavor our foods too -- are bad?

Now, terpenes and trichromes are used by the plant to repel insects and other attackers. In full bloom if i rub my arms against the buds i will break out into an allergic rash. This is the plants natural defenses in action. In a concentrated form im sure it would have MSDS warnings.

The smell of really good MJ is the terpenes.

I can only analogize it maybe by saying we breathe CO2 all the time...but in a high enough concentration it would kill us. It doesnt make CO2 bad, to be avoided.

Terpenes are part of the high. I believe tested samples Ive seen have had say 6% terpenes on the higher side.

 

[Thundercat]

Terpenes are 100% a huge part of a quality smoke. They enhance the high and alter the effects. They provide the delicious flavors and smells that the cannabis flowers produce. The terpenes are one of the major differences between cannabis varietals(strains). The idea that terpenes are a bad thing is just silly.

No you don’t want to smoke pure terpenes, and I definitely don’t want to smoke non cannabis terpenes. However have you ever had distillate which is basically pure decarboxylated THC or diamonds which are pure THC crystals. Both of these extracts are stripped of the terpenes and it makes them boring to consume imho unless the terps are saved and added back. Don’t confuse adding back the natural terps with adding other terps though. I hate concentrates with non cannabis terps added because they always taste fake.