Water or Air Cure

I am going to harvest my first batch. It was made of bag seed so who knows the genetics. It turned out being a sativa and 4 indica (thats the small ones right). we had enough room for one nice big and one nice small. Its in a stealth box. Its a cfl grow. The question is... should we try to water cure then dry for a nice smoke or try the air dry then can or maybe free dry? Prices here are through the roof so it would be nice to smoke ASAP

TX

please don't water cure. it takes away taste and all the nuances of the nugs. When you hang dry your buds they should be dry in 3 days to a week and then you can smoke them. Cure for a couple weeks and you can really enjoy them!

Thanks. I need more chars so it lets me send.... but i think this is more then 10. Join Norml so we can change the stupid drug laws.

I am about to harvest my first ever grow and I will be using water cure. Research says G-baby is correct in that taste and bag appeal will suffer but not potency. Water cure makes sense only if you under time constraint and it actually is a plus if you are looking for stealth -- both features important for me currently.

it takes roughly the same amount of time to dry. You hang dry for a few days or so and then cure, for water curing soak for a week and dry for 5 or so days.
Don't water cure your entire harvest. I water cured a couple of ounces and they sucked! I ended up making cannabutter from it, it was so nasty I couldn't smoke them.

gangjababy said:

it takes roughly the same amount of time to dry. You hang dry for a few days or so and then cure, for water curing soak for a week and dry for 5 or so days.
Don't water cure your entire harvest. I water cured a couple of ounces and they sucked! I ended up making cannabutter from it, it was so nasty I couldn't smoke them.

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Everything I've seen recommends quick-dry methods for water cure (food dehydrator, radiator, blow dryer, etc.) I don't know how you define "nasty" but water curing is supposed to make the bud mostly inert -- no real flavor, no aroma, etc.
Of course, you have the benefit of experience that I lack. I will revisit this threat in a few weeks, and offer my firsthand impressions.

By nasty I meant the smoke was harsh and had no flavor profile.
Read all you want and just repeat what you hear, but water curing is a joke.

ya fuck water curing i did it and was not happy.

the only real use for it is if you had mold problems

Just to update:
I wound up going with the 4-day water cure. Qualitywise: smoke was effective and I can understand why some think it's more concentrated. It was mostly tasteless (not bad, just flat) with ash that burns snow white, and admittedly no great bag appeal. Quantitywise, yield was less than expected -- 22% of 8 ounces at harvest (about 1.75 ounces. Overall I was not disappointed and got exactly what I expected. I went with the water cure primarily because of time constraints; next harvest will allow me the luxury of slower curing methods.

im doing my first watercure now too, just out of curiosity
god damn the smell it makes is HORRIBLE

I use an ac to cure and it works really fast.

AC sure do drop the humidity fast, it would have to make a huge difference.

I water cured a bud that ended up being about 2 grams dry, and it didnt have any taste but it did get me pretty stoned i Wouldnt reccomend it if u like the taste of good bud, which I do.

Ghost420 said:

ya fuck water curing i did it and was not happy.

the only real use for it is if you had mold problems

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Does water cure help Mold?

I just water cured some schwag that I had lying around (and also threw in some 5 week into flowering bud yesterday). I tasted some at 2,3,and 4 days of water curing so far. The smoke is alot smoother and there's almost nothing left when you cash the bowl but a bit of white ash. In addition, there's alot less of the down effect from the schwag... point is it really did improve that garbage (lots cleaner, felt like I was smoking dirt before...probably was) and I was impressed by the lack of material left in the bowl (must be a little better for you) as well as the improved clarity of the high.

I'm going to water cure a big portion of my fist harvest for time constraints (I'm traveling 7 weeks out of the next 3 months). I know that a good traditional cure is the best for taste and pride, but I was impressed by the water cure on the already dried bud (I'll see how fresh turns out in a few days).

As for how long it takes to dry.... less than 24 hours if just left in an area with a draft. I dried some with the use of a dryer at first, ready in a couple hours!!

No reason not to try with a few buds... I'd put some in a dugout to hit with the one hitter, not much to ash-low smell-and gets you clear high!!!

ok this is only my opinion, based on my experience.

water cured what i would expect to be about 1/4 ounce. it ended up being about 1/8 ounce, so yeah it is half the size when done
it is also black as described, not green
it doesnt have any real smell, good for non regular smokers.
it will still burn your lungs if you pull too much cause its still hot air.
it seemed to produce more smoke than usual bud, and the smoke was much whiter.

now the big thing : i was well ripped off 1 cone, sure im a lightweight.
it was the most speedy pot high i have ever had. time just stood still as i thought a million things at once.
i was playing computer games, and the timer counting down for 30 seconds took hours to move at all.

it was a very positive experience for me, no nasty taste in my mouth, very high, burned fast and easy, and ready to go in 9 days.

Don't water cure if you don't have too. If it's schwag bug, then go ahead, but if you're experimenting, do half and half.... don't sacrifice yer whole crop

experamented on 1/4 ounce out of the 2 ounces i got off 1 plant.
for personal use i would do it again