I said the "awful taste" you described may be due to mold
I'll rely on a study for information long before your anecdotal gibberish about being able to discern flushed from unflushed weed or synthetic vs. organic.
You claim to you can, science says otherwise.
How can your "perfectly dried and cured" bud crumble to dust and taste foul, by your own admission?
Seems like you got really things figured out
Awful taste doesn't come just from mold but ok, and the taste was a secondary problem for him as i understood, the primary problem is the black ash, and mold/mildew doesn't cause black ash, at least not chunky charcoal-like black ash like he described.
You rely on ''science'' but thousands of experienced smokers said otherwise for many years, not just for cannabis but also food.
And when you experience it yourself that's when i'll take your argument into account, throwing few random articles mean nothing.
I'm lazy to go back and read but if i remember correctly the ''crumbling bud'' was the one he left in the tent for a long time, but even if all of his buds are dry and crumbling, that excludes the water content and not being dried properly. Overly dried bud doesn't create a chunky charcoal black ash either.
With all things considered and judging by his story, the hydro and nutrients made his buds bad.
But i guess it's easier to sell when you tell people it's fine, and i see some people never tried anything else besides hydro overpacked with nutes, i guess many here started smoking when it became legal some years ago.
I can't wait until the OP grows in soil as he said, i want to hear about the difference as well. If he flushes in soil and still gets black ash, i will admit i'm wrong, i promise!