First Cure - How does smell and taste change?

ganjafarmer78

Active Member
i agree roxi.. i havnt cured for more than 2 weeks at a time but after 3 days of an air tight jar and a couple burps after grabing sum goodies the whole texture of the bud is unbelievablly better. Taste smoke and high!!! once i realized that i never stoped
 

notyourkind

Well-Known Member
Some pot wizard needs to fully explain this process and "sticky" it. I have read all the posts that say how to do this but have yet to see a fully detailed description of exact movements and exact amount of days for each process. Some say every three days burp jars, some say every month. Most say "as needed". I think the people explaining this process are comfortable and have been doing it for so long that they explain it like it's nothing.... Because it is nothing to them. But let me tell you, there is nothing worse than growing a bomb crop and not knowing what to do with it at the end. Right now I have a few buds from a friend that I have dried (5 days until stems snapped), which I monitored very closely. After this they have been in a jar for the last 4 days and the smell is decreasing in substantial increments with each day. I have named the current smell "Water Bud", a smell not unlike what most people call "The Meats" or "Commersh". The pot looks good but just doesnt have that kind-ish, $60 an eighth smell. I HATE that. I smells like a hurried attempt at banging out some commercial crap. It may have been too dry when starting curing but I remedied this by adding a couple small canna-leaves in the jar till they get some slight moisture back. Then I will just burp jars less and less.

Its a goddamn shame because the strain the seeds came from was incredible... Someone needs to make tutorial about this. Even DJ Shorts explanation was very vague for me. Or, maybe I am a retard with a big blind spot... either way, retard or not, I think someone should break it down nice
 

atombomb

Well-Known Member
It seems to me the reason why no one has broken it down to your level is because every situation varies. There are too many variables to tell someone to do it ONE way. Humidity levels, temperature, and darkness all play an important part in the process.
You shouldn't expect to be perfect on your first attempt. Some of my crops take 3-4 days before they go into the jar, some take 7-10. I don't do the paper bag step, some do. I smoke mine after 3 weeks, MAX. Some say no less than a MONTH of curing. It's a shitty thing and I know you don't wanna ruin your fresh sweet crop, but its kind of a do it and figure the best thing for you kind of process. Unless you have the exact same environment as someone else they really can't help you. That's why most of the tutorials just kind of set general guide lines rather than minute by minute details.

Use the guide lines and experiment, you will figure it out.
 

Bizzler

Well-Known Member
Mine have dried for 3 days. went to paper bag for 4 days. then to mason jars for a little over 2 weeks now.
They Smell great. Are finally Burning right. No harshness to them. Look stupid good! BUT NO TASTE!!!
Will Taste come with time? Burping them in mason jars until they taste good?
 

notyourkind

Well-Known Member
Thanks Atombomb. I guess I need to just really monitor them. I thought I was doing a decent job but only time will tell, eh? They gained back some slight moisture so I am hoping the Clorophyl breakdown is back in effect. I'll come back to this post in week and give details. Thanks again.

-NYK
 

weezymook

Member
WDreanged it seems as though you dried too fast, once the flower is dried past a certain point it is to my understanding there is no going back. The flower's metabolic processes have stopped because now it is dead. The metabolic process(photosynthesis) is what breaks the sugars and nitrates down to water and CO2 (the article posted above is excellent). This is what happens when you grow, screw something up learn from it and do better next time. Any grower on this site has ruined or screwed up a crop at some point.

Curing is an inexact science with many variables every grower has to start somewhere then adjust to there specific environment. The safest and easiest way is to hang dry, then put into paper bags with strips of paper bags separating layers of bud, then jars, the key to this is when the buds go into the bags they are not dry, the stem snapping is one of a few things to look at, the overall dry feel of the outside tips especially, and dont wait for the big stems to snap the little buds will get dried out. Get a cheap hyrgometer (online or cigar shop10$-20$try to find the smallest possible) or two and put it in the jars with your buds, try to put similar size buds in the same jar have one jar with big buds and one with small use these as control to estimate the humidity in the rest of your jars. It takes around 24 hrs for the buds to reach equilibrium, then check the meter 70% or higher is too much mold will come, put the buds back in the bags overnight or longer, i like to start my cure around 65% for mold prevention but i have been told 70% or lower is fine. Once your happy with your starting point the goal is to drop humidity 1-2% a day until 60-55 %, control the drop with burping, i believe below 55% humidity is when most plants start officially dying (metabolic processes stop). The key to this whole process is SLOW!!! 1% a day is better than 2%, always keep them in the dark, and no direct fan while drying.

Hang dry 3-4 days (dont let big stems snap, dont over dry)
paper bag 2-3 days (i usaully go 48hrs then check moisture with hygrometer)

Make it a scientific process take extensive notes, start with a plan and adjust plan according to outcome. i.e. start burping 2 times a day for 5 mins, do this for 3-4 days, takes notes every day of any changes, if the jars lose more than 4-6 % humidity slow down burping, if less burp more. Also consider the different size buds in different jars, small buds are likely to dry faster, take notes of the difference.
 

dannyboy602

Well-Known Member
My way. Dry in under 70F for as long as it takes depending on bud density. Ambient rh near 40. A few days on some nugs, a week on others and into the jars they go. I know they are wet. They had better be. Otherwise I missed the cure window. I watch three x a day and put the buds back onto the dry rack for a day if needed. When under 70rh inside the jar I leave them for a week. No burping. Then I look at each jar with it's own hygrometer. Cal 3's are the best. When rh in the jar is 60 I'll smoke the buds. When the rh is alittle lower they get sold.
 

trux

Member
I agree, rh meters are the way to go and can take a lot of the guess work out of the curing process.
 

scroglodyte

Well-Known Member
My way. Dry in under 70F for as long as it takes depending on bud density. Ambient rh near 40. A few days on some nugs, a week on others and into the jars they go. I know they are wet. They had better be. Otherwise I missed the cure window. I watch three x a day and put the buds back onto the dry rack for a day if needed. When under 70rh inside the jar I leave them for a week. No burping. Then I look at each jar with it's own hygrometer. Cal 3's are the best. When rh in the jar is 60 I'll smoke the buds. When the rh is alittle lower they get sold.
let's talk about that some time, Dan. that very last part. you're at the end of that train that runs past here, i believe. i paid 300/oz for "Orange Kush" and it was dry. good, but dry. it had been around. and it had some seeds.
 

MonkE

Member
I agree with most of the advise Roxi has given minus the point of being able to add moisture to restart the drying/curing process.
Once any of the plant material dries completely the cells die and there's no going back. That's why it's so important not to dry too fast.

Curing is the most important and sensitive part of the whole cultivation of cannabis and until new information comes forward I'll stand behind that claim 100%. The best of buds can be ruined in a single day if drying is done too fast. But proper curing takes practice because it's always changing based on the current harvest. It's because of the variable nature of curing that nobody will ever be able to put out a set guideline... That and everyone has their own little secrets that set them apart :)

I've put this one out there a few times lately but it's one of my most important "secrets/practices" so I'll say it again. Fast curing is bad! It's a practice that was put into place by guys overcome with a fear of mold and it's either out of that same fear, a lack of knowledge, or just laziness that their peers seem to cling to this method. You can control mold WITHOUT sacrificing quality. Look into what a high PPM of co2 will do to your plants and then look into what it will do to mold. If you can eliminate the fear of mold then you are able to cure longer and maintain higher amounts of moisture. Don't take my word for it though... Experiment for yourselves and see what you can discover.
 

Paulbostic8222

New Member
I've read the entire conversation. I'm in the exact same position, but I just put my sour diesel ⛽ in jars last night. I smoked some directly after drying and it doesn't taste good at all, but they look beautiful. My buds have a bit of moisture in them. I'm praying that curing will be My ticket to avoid heartbreak due to the 4-5 months of day to day, several times a day like a little baby . Please pray for me and my buds to cure well with good results. This is my 3rd grow , and I just can't get the smell/aroma to pungency.
 

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I jarred my “first” grow back in mid May. Was smoking on it the whole time and the smell and taste wasn’t there, didn’t burn well, but potency was there. I left that crop to be once I finished another crop that gave me way more than I expected.
Came back to that first crop after about a month since I had a little left, and it was like a different strain. Smell came back, potency was increased and the taste was great.

All that to say, after a couple weeks, it’ll smoke fine. After a couple of months, it’ll smoke great.
 

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
I jarred my “first” grow back in mid May. Was smoking on it the whole time and the smell and taste wasn’t there, didn’t burn well, but potency was there. I left that crop to be once I finished another crop that gave me way more than I expected.
Came back to that first crop after about a month since I had a little left, and it was like a different strain. Smell came back, potency was increased and the taste was great.
How does potency increase in dead plant material?
 

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
I jarred my “first” grow back in mid May. Was smoking on it the whole time and the smell and taste wasn’t there, didn’t burn well, but potency was there.
sounds like you skimped on the full drying of “ first “ grow and chlorophyll was still needing to broken down.
 
sounds like you skimped on the full drying of “ first “ grow and chlorophyll was still needing to broken down.
Highly likely. I only dried it for 6-7 days before jarring.

the science, bro line was tongue in cheek. What I meant in my original response was changes happened in the weeks in the jar that made the smoke more enjoyable, not more potent.
 
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