Can you "yellow" buds like tobacco?

I was reading some articles about how tobacco is cured, to get some ideas on how to cure bud, and I found it interesting that in "flue curing" the tobacco turns completely yellow in 2 days during the early part of the process. After that part they turn the heat up and it dries in a few more days. The intitial yellowing phase is done at high humidity, about 90%, and slightly raised temperature, high 80s to low 90s F.

So I was thinking maybe you could yellow buds in the same way but then rather than increasing the heat and drying it you would just continue with regular bud curing methodology, burping etc. Yellow buds would be more visually appealing, I would think. Apparently tobacco also yellows with regular air curing but it takes over a week to happen. Why not speed it up and save yourself a week? Why the tobacco doesn't mold in the high humidity I don't know, maybe due to the high temperature. A citric acid solution wash of the buds might prevent mold. One of the best natural fungicides around.

Here's a good pdf I found on flue curing. Apparently the idea is to keep the plant material alive during the yellowing but for it to gradually wilt. Then they raise the temperature to dry it fairly quickly so the process won't go too far. Raising the temperature kills the plant material. That's why you don't go over 95 F during the yellowing. It won't yellow completely because it dies too fast. In the pdf it says 100 F but I read that it should be under 95 in another pdf. Maybe 100 would work though, trial and error I guess.

I found a perfect thing for heating a yellowing chamber, a heating pad. You need one that has an auto-off shutoff button, otherwise it will shut off in 2 hours. This Sunbeam one has that but most others don't.

To maintain RH in a high zone I'll put a container of saturated potassium chloride solution in there. It will keep it from going lower than about 83%, which from my research should work well. It's sold as salt replacement in grocery stores. Two days at about 100 F should do it. Then I'll gradually turn the heat up until it dries to 60%.

Good luck! im interested to see what happens. Id be worried about mold. Hats of to you for trying something new.

Budddha said:

Good luck! im interested to see what happens. Id be worried about mold. Hats of to you for trying something new.

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Thanks. Mold can grow at temps up to about 140 F apparently, but they prefer normal room temp or a little lower. I will have to monitor it closely though.

That heating pad is a nice plush material 1'x2' so I may be able to simply lay branches out right on the pad, with a layer of parchment over it, then maybe another layer of parchment and finally a layer of cloth, like some of that black fabric used to prevent weeds. Probably need 2 or 3 layers of that, being very thin. I may not even need an actual chamber or the salt solution to control humidity. The exact humidity is not that important, as long as it's not so low that it starts drying out before the 2 days are up or gets too close to 100% and water starts condensing on the material.

Yea that's how brick weed turn brown ..
Lol

But this is a horrible idea fin

Seriously you've been here since 09 and still talk crazy..
Learn how curing cannabis works. Understand that they are very different plants. Do you know the bp of nicotine ?
The bp of many flavorful compounds that we want to retain?

Good luck turning bud to shwag

Maybe have a look at Malawi style cob cureing. Theres a long thread on icmag regarding it

Tobacco is leaves though eh, you arent drying cannabis "leaves" you are drying flowers....just my 2 cents

But they also cure the tobacco stems at the same time as the leaves, and the stems would be about the same density as buds. Should work the same.

After the curing and drying you need to ferment it for about a month to get highest quality. If you read about DIY fermenting boxes (kilns), they would also be good for the yellowing and drying part. It's just at a lower temperature and higher RH than the fermenting, which is done at 110-130 F and 70% RH. I think the heating pad would work better than the lamp though. I'll probably have to hang the branches in the chamber to ensure air circulation to avoid mold.

Here are some DIY fermenting kilns to get some ideas from. Apparently electric crock pots are popular as a heat and humidity source. They rig them up to thermostats. One guy uses mason jars like with bud.Would 110 heat hurt bud? I don't know. Might decarb it some.

I'll stick to the cob cureing, thanks though. Good luck with it

Here's a good one. It's the trash can one shown on the page I linked earlier. If you go to the post titled Part III (post #3), it describes how he used a seedling heating pad for yellowing in the can. A crock pot is too hot for yellowing apparently. It has to be no higher than 104 F. Then after the yellowing he turned on the crock pot to get higher temperature.

Trolling or serious?

BobCajun said:

Here's a good one. It's the trash can one shown on the page I linked earlier. If you go to the post titled Part III (post #3), it describes how he used a seedling heating pad for yellowing in the can. A crock pot is too hot for yellowing apparently. It has to be no higher than 104 F. Then after the yellowing he turned on the crock pot to get higher temperature.

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don't re-invent the wheel though man, if you want golden herb?
leave it in the sun to dry.
Done deal.
That's why oaxacan gold was golden, cuz they dried it in the sun.
destroying much of the THC no less.
A good thing to remember when comparing tobacco to cannabis is this, tobacco isn't covered with delicate trichomes that are full of different chemically active psychoactive elements, our job is to protect those trichs as much as possible while trying to preserve and cure the remaining terpines left.
It's a totally different concept than tobacco.
the only similarities is that they are both smoked

Vnsmkr said:

I'll stick to the cob cureing, thanks though. Good luck with it

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i just checked out that thread on ic mag about cobbing, do you have any pix of your cob'ed bud vnskr?

You are cooking off terpenes with any heat....

greasemonkeymann said:

good thing to remember when comparing tobacco to cannabis is this, tobacco isn't covered with delicate trichomes that are full of different chemically active psychoactive elements, our job is to protect those trichs as much as possible while trying to preserve and cure the remaining terpines left.
It's a totally different concept than tobacco.

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Spot on, my thoughts to a T

racerboy71 said:

i just checked out that thread on ic mag about cobbing, do you have any pix of your cob'ed bud vnskr?

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I don't have any pics, but I bet @RM3 does.

Want yellow bud..cure it as you normally would.. Not like tobacco so it's not shit weed then...
Just spray paint it with some food grade gold paint like rob did

dude, to get the gold, just put a nail through the stem or tie a wire around the base and tighten every day until the plant is dead and dried. this is to be done BEFORE harvest, not after.

and it's old hippiness. yes, it makes them die and yellow completely, but ruins the smell, flavor, taste, and potency of the product.

but hey, it's YUKON GOLD BRAH!!!

it's cool though, if it's yellow let it mellow. but then it turns brown and goes for 20-30 dollars an ounce (for a reason). so, if it's brown, flush it down (the toilet), because it's not even good enough for wiping...