Canning my buds into mason jars? Help.

I want to best preserve my buds that I have just harvested.

I will be using Mason Jars, as I have heard that is a very good.

My question:
1)Do you just place the lid with the rubber seal on the top and tighten with the screw-on lid? Is this sufficient?
2)Or is it extremely necessary to invest in a canner and vacuum seal it?

Is #1 sufficient enough to contain the buds without losing potency?

Also, what do you guys do?

Thanks folks!
Grow Info

I do #1 for all of my harvest and the bud lasts me but if you plan on saving if for years, mailing it, or hiding it somewhere that the weather can get to it I would go for #2. good luck!

i use #1 ... lets you open and close it to let out moisture ... once its cured i usually warm the jars, ( just warm not hot ) put in my buds then tighten the lid .. once it cools it will be a nice vacuum seal .. love hearing the pop when you open it months later

happy growin

cacamal said:

I do #1 for all of my harvest and the bud lasts me but if you plan on saving if for years, mailing it, or hiding it somewhere that the weather can get to it I would go for #2. good luck!

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Thanks for the reply. +rep

tellno1 said:

i use #1 ... lets you open and close it to let out moisture ... once its cured i usually warm the jars, ( just warm not hot ) put in my buds then tighten the lid .. once it cools it will be a nice vacuum seal .. love hearing the pop when you open it months later

happy growin

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Thanks for the reply! How do you yourself heat it? I suppose warming it would melt the rubber seal enough to seal it airtight? Buds inside the jar while warming I'm guessing?

+rep

Don't fuckin heat the jars, Don't heat anything. Just put your smoke in the jar, For the first few days, moisture will still be wicking from the interior of the plant matter at a pretty good clip, so you will want to remove the lid to let that moisture escape every day, for an hour or so. After a week, "burp" your jars once a week till you have your bud dried out enough for long term storage. Plenty of info on this site, as well as the Googlenet.

Vacuum sealing the jars isnt a bad idea for long term storage, but keep in mind that it will still degrade over time. the best way to slow the process is to vacuum bag it and freeze it.

Use #1 and move those buds around a lot... it seems like the more air they get the funkier they get. I noticed how vital it is to pull the buds out and rearrange them on their way back in. That shit done maybe every other day will cut your curing time by a couple days...

I set the empty jars in a bowl of hot water .. making sure no water gets in the jar , let them warm up , take them out, add my bud and close the lid .. when it cools it will vacuum seal itself
just make sure your buds are dry to your liking .. there isnt any way to burp the jars ... also i dont recommend freezing it .. keep it cool and out of the light , I store mine in the basement coldroom with the preserves that my wife makes in the summer ..

happy growin

yeah freezing buds will freeze the trichs and when you take it out of the frezer and move the bag around trichs will fall off and your bud could lose potentcy
that what i just think i never freeze any of my buds
i wish someone in my house made preserves and i wish i had a basement and a cold room haha

The best way to store cannabis is vacuum sealed, packed in nitrogen, and refrigerated. This is the same method used for hops.

If you are reluctant to go spend hundreds of dollars on mylar vacuuming gear and nitrogen, you can vacuum seal and use oxygen absorbing packets to eat up the oxygen left in your jar or bag. Just because a person heats a jar with their buds and creates a bit of negative pressure does not mean they have evacuated the oxygen from their jar. Way tons of oxygen are left unless you use oxygen absorbing packets.

Store in cool dark place... Freezing makes your trichomes brittle and fall off..

tommy, How long are able to store without degredation using your method or with heating jars for vacuum & using oxy absorbers (same method but cheaper?) ?

Check out this thread sometime. It might be of help.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=156237

tommyo3000 said:

The best way to store cannabis is vacuum sealed, packed in nitrogen, and refrigerated. This is the same method used for hops.

If you are reluctant to go spend hundreds of dollars on mylar vacuuming gear and nitrogen, you can vacuum seal and use oxygen absorbing packets to eat up the oxygen left in your jar or bag. Just because a person heats a jar with their buds and creates a bit of negative pressure does not mean they have evacuated the oxygen from their jar. Way tons of oxygen are left unless you use oxygen absorbing packets.

Store in cool dark place... Freezing makes your trichomes brittle and fall off..

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now i DID NOT say heat the jar with buds in it ... and i have no idea about using packets ... i answered a question that was asked .. and told them how i do it ... the way i've done it for years ...

It's cool; I'm just letting you know that the slight vacuum from the warm jar does not make a real honest-to-goodness vacuum. I'm sure your buds stay nice in there.

To be clear - if you vacuum seal a jar, use the Foodsaver vacuum sealer with the wide mouth mason jar adaptor.. It sucks the air out to the best of it's ability.. The oxygen absorbing packets suck up any residual oxygen and leave the inside of the jar without air... At that point you are ready to put the jar in a cool dark place or a fridge..

Foodsaver
Foodsaver jar attachment
Oxygen packets

Wolfhound said:

tommy, How long are able to store without degredation using your method or with heating jars for vacuum & using oxy absorbers (same method but cheaper?) ?

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the longest i have had them in jars .. sealed the way i do it .. is about 14 months ..I find a little potency loss after the first 8 months .. a little not much but the taste and smell stays the same .. but you have to make sure they are dried .. ready to be cured.. and also it's best to keep them in the dark and cool ..

happy growin

There are five things that will cause stored bud to lose potency:
1 Loss of trichomes (as pointed out above).
2 Chemical degredation caused by ultra-violet light.
3 Moisture allowing micro-organisms to grow - particularly mould.
4 Oxygen which will over time alter the chemical makup of most organic molecules.
5 Damage/loss by rodents or other pests.

These issues are well-addressed on prepper sites. Briefly you have to protect your bud from all five of the vectors above. Dont allow your stored bud to fall below 0 C or 32F. Keep your stored stash around room temperature in a cupboard or drawer out of the light. I personally use mason jars because my bud does not last long enough for long-term storage If I wanted to do long-term storage I would use my Andrew James vacuum packer as I do for food.

This will exclude almost all the oxygen from the storage pack.

To make ultra-sure that the vacuum pack does not spoil, I would do what I do for dry food. I include in the packet a small cloth bag into which I put a mixture of fine salt, iron powder (filings might do but you can buy iron powder dirt cheap on ebay) and a touch of ground up vermiculite. Seal the cloth bag with a stapler.

The vermiculite absorbs water and will remove any residual trace of moisture from your bud. It willl share this moisture with the salt. The salt causes the iron powder to rust (on a microscopic scale) causing it to absorb the last traces of oxygen. The cloth bag only needs to be small (about one inch square with less than half a teaspoonful of mix in it for several litres of bud). Pop it in the sealer bag with your bud and then vacuum seal it. Put the sealed pack in a rodent proof container and you are good to go. Packed in this way it will remain in good shape beyond your lifetime.

I would suggest these. No need to worry about humidity.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=garden&field-keywords=Boveda Micro Humidipak

chickengutz said:

Don't fuckin heat the jars, Don't heat anything. Just put your smoke in the jar, For the first few days, moisture will still be wicking from the interior of the plant matter at a pretty good clip, so you will want to remove the lid to let that moisture escape every day, for an hour or so. After a week, "burp" your jars once a week till you have your bud dried out enough for long term storage. Plenty of info on this site, as well as the Googlenet.

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do what this guy says , burping to let the moisture out, the whole point to curing them is to preserve them for time and to rid all the moisture , so the don't go rotten, bacterie can only live in moisture,,and to keep the quility good,,,,

mainliner said:

do what this guy says , burping to let the moisture out, the whole point to curing them is to preserve them for time and to rid all the moisture , so the don't go rotten, bacterie can only live in moisture,,and to keep the quility good,,,,

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Alright!