Hey TanMan,
I would say atleast a 1 1/2 to 2 weeks and I have grown a crap load of white widow, it's my personal favorite.
Also, def get the 30X - 60X Radio Shack microscope; it's only like $10 and strong enough to see the trichs. Start checking them daily and harvest when they are at the level of 'high' that you want per
Orecal's wisdom below.
Trim them as best you can before hanging to dry, then allow to dry for 5 - 7 days. Make sure that the stems snap when you bend them. After that, snip off the buds and place them in mason jars filled
loosely.
Open the jar/jars several times a day for the first week, lightly shaking each time or just roll the buds around a bit so that new air is moving all around them. Each time you close the jar, a bit of moisture from inside the buds builds up and needs to be aired out. By the time you finish the curing process, the buds will be completely dried out. The second week, just open 2 or 3 times a day. The third week you only need to open once a day. The fourth week no opening at all and by the end of that week they are thoroughly cured and ready for smoking or storage.
Let us know how your smoke turns out...
WWW
PS: I personally use Orecal's completion scale below and create two types of highs with each harvest. My early harvest when the trichs are still cloudy is the larger part of the crop and marked WWup. Then I do the 2nd part of my harvest once the rest of the trichs turn amber (normally only a few days later) and mark it WWdn - this creates the stoney-est of highs, great if you deal with pain at night and need help sleeping.
it depends on what type of high you want
couchlock type high : wait until most trichs are amber
middle of road high : about 50/50 amber to cloudy trichs
soaring head high : mostly all cloudy trichs.
thats what your looking for my man, I just not very good at telling what the color is, bad eyes i guess.