Curing, superfine or superjive?

Question a a recent PM and my response. Statement - "some say it is chlorophyll or N that makes a smoke harsh. What are the processes that occur doing a "cure"." My reponse follows:

You left out what I consider the most important, the cannabanoid profile, terpenes, phenolics, aldehydes, amount of tars, etc. Whose to say the smoke profile isn't driven by those substances? Folks will express what they feel, not what is factual. I think curing is based more on hype and romance than anything else. Humor me, take a ripe bud and dry it in the sun, for as long as it takes to make it smokable. Roll one up and tell me what you think. Of course if you've overdone salts, you'll probably find it not smooth.

The Mexicans don't "cure" their weed, they just place it upright against a shack wall in the hot sun to dry, pack it into kilos and ship. Some of the smoothest weed I've smoked is Mexican. The Mexicans don't over fertilize either.....now enter the flushing drill, an attempt by Dutch growers (and now a paradigm that will not die) to atone for their cultural sins.

Uncle Ben said:

Question a a recent PM and my response. Statement - "some say it is chlorophyll or N that makes a smoke harsh. What are the processes that occur doing a "cure"." My reponse follows:

You left out what I consider the most important, the cannabanoid profile, terpenes, phenolics, aldehydes, amount of tars, etc. Whose to say the smoke profile isn't driven by those substances? Folks will express what they feel, not what is factual. I think curing is based more on hype and romance than anything else. Humor me, take a ripe bud and dry it in the sun, for as long as it takes to make it smokable. Roll one up and tell me what you think. Of course if you've overdone salts, you'll probably find it not smooth.

The Mexicans don't "cure" their weed, they just place it upright against a shack wall in the hot sun to dry, pack it into kilos and ship. Some of the smoothest weed I've smoked is Mexican. The Mexicans don't over fertilize either.....now enter the flushing drill, an attempt by Dutch growers (and now a paradigm that will not die) to atone for their cultural sins.

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Marijuana growing has a lot of myth and ritual. My guess is that it will not change anytime soon. A lot of this knowledge is passed down from grower to grower and the nature of it doesn't really allow good scientific studies which may dispel a lot of these myths. I was putting my weed in glass jars long before people were talking about "curing" weed. It just makes good sense since it keeps the smell down and the weed fresh.

^^ keeps weed fresh! Thats all I worry about. Ive put mine in jars forever, just because I remember Grandmas pickles stayin fresh for years. Maybe not years, but u know what im sayin..

Besides the fact that if I need some smoke? Thats exactally whats goin down.

FuZZyBUDz said:

well actually years if u vacuum seal it with a bag and a house vacuum or sumthing like that. u guy on here wen i first joined put sum of his harvest in a gerber jar, vacuumed sealed it with a trash bag and a kirby and preserved it fer like 2-3 years. UB love the post, good info man.

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FuZZy,

I know this is off topic and I tried to send you a PM about it but for some reason I don't think my PM's are going out. My PM sent box keeps registering 0 sent items.

I've been trying to read more of your posts lately but that light green (and yellow) print you use is extremely hard for me to see (the red is no problem).

Is there any chance I can talk you into using standard black print (or even a darker green to give it a better contrast against the white back ground)?

Thanks.

Jack

Unka Ben you just answered another nagging question I had. You just saved me a month of time and a lot of PITA!

I was in Jamaica in Jan. and I'm sure the weed wasn't cured, most likely sundried also and quite fresh but it was so tasty and potent makes me wonder just how important curing is also. I think curing helps to dry it evenly and it burns better, that was the one issue I had in Jamaica though I just let it sit out for a day and it dried up nicely. Regardless I picked a crop before I left, hung upside down while I was away and its been curing ever since. At minimum its a good way to store it.

I just found this out recently: for any of you fortunate ones that ever had the pleasure of smoking any real Acapulco gold, the reason it was light gold in color was because they laid it in the sun to dry / cure. Wow, how did we get so MUCH so backasswards?

Uncle Ben - In the Mel Frank book, he mentions some curing methods. He also states:

Curing is not an essential procedure, and many growers prefer the "natural" flavour of uncured grass. Sweet sinsemilla buds usually are not cured. Curing is most successful on plants which have "ripened" and are beginning to lose chlorophyll. It is less successful on growing tips and other vigorous parts which are immature. These parts may only lose some chlorophyll. Curing proceeds while the leaf is still alive, for until it dries, many of the leaf's life processes continue. Since the leaf's ability to produce sugars is thwarted, it breaks down stored starch to simple sugars, which are used for food. This gives the grass a sweet or earthy aroma and taste. At the same time, many of the complex proteins and pigments, such as chlorophyll, are broken down in enzymatic processes. This changes the colour of the leaf from green to various shades of yellow, brown, tan, or red, depending primarily on the variety, but also on growing environment and cure technique. The destruction of chlorophyll eliminates the minty taste that is commonly associated with green homegrown. There are several methods of curing, most of which were originally designed to cure large quantities of tobacco. Some of them can be modified by the home grower to use for small marijuana harvests as well as large harvests. The methods used to cure marijuana are the air, flue, sweat, sun, and water cures.

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Do you disagree, or are you simply saying it is your personal preference to smoke fresh(er) cannabis?

He goes on to list some interesting methods. None of which (outside Water cure) have I seen practiced much. In fact, I don't think many people understand the difference between a cure, or a slow dry. Mel Frank explains that in a slow dry, only a slight cure takes place.

In fact, Sun Curing (you mentioned Mexican) is a form of curing. From Mel:

Sun Curing

A quick way to cure small quantities of marijuana os to loosely fill a plastic bag or glass jar, or place a layer between glass or plastic sheets, and expose the material to the sun. Within a few hours the sun begins to bleach it. Turn the marijuana every few hours, so that all parts are exposed to the sun. An even cure is achieved in one to two days {(see Plate 16)}. Some degradation of THC may occur using this method.

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Fermentation is another practice I would like to play around with. Do you have any first hand experience?

and in case you don't want to dig the book back out, I found the excerpt right here on RIU
https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/146512-harvesting-curing-drying-take-back.html#post1850427

I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this. Thank you.

*damn... just realized this is a year old... stoner moment. Been reading a bunch of older threads lately. Sorry to drag an old one back up...

I had forgotten about this thread! I value Mel Franks writings over most of the guru authors. I can't get worked up over drying pot. I just do it quickly enough so it doesn't rot.

Have fun,
UB

Yeah! This is the thread I've been looking for. Last time I heard anyone mention "curing" weed irl, it involved something like burying it mason jars in the backyard for a month, soaking in Jack Daniels, or crushing aspirins in it or some such similar silly BS.

To me, all the anal retentive crap about jars and time-scheduled burping etc is all mumbo-f'n-jumbo. I seriously can't see wasting all that time & effort.

For me, "curing" is just another term for slow drying. The jars are not needed. Much like the spastic trimming. Waste of time. The leaves come right off after they're dried with no ill effects whatsoever, only time & tedium will be saved.

Just dry them s l o w and you'll be fine, so will the stuff. No need to stress over all the internet cannabis growers' forums obsessive compulsive "conventional wisdom"

Ed Rosenthal claims 'freeze drying' it is the best way. A freeze dryer big enough to dry a pound of weed would be 15,000$ used. Uncle Ben would kick Ed's ass in a 'grow off' ! LOL, a grow off, now that would be some good T.V. Beat the hell out of Master Chef. Uncle Ben is the best.

Impman said:

Ed Rosenthal claims 'freeze drying' it is the best way. A freeze dryer big enough to dry a pound of weed would be 15,000$ used. Uncle Ben would kick Ed's ass in a 'grow off' ! LOL, a grow off, now that would be some good T.V. Beat the hell out of Master Chef. Uncle Ben is the best.

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sir! this is a public place! now would you kindly remove your hand from uncle ben's genitals

oh my god I cant believe im on the same page as uncle ben! this is like being at the grammys. or at least the cmt awards

bigotry ok . .or not ok


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