How long to cure for the best quality? 3 months?

Hi all, I'm new to curing and three grows in I am noticing huge differences in the effects and smell of my weed depending on the cure time.

In my opinion, all of my grows seem to be at their best after around 3-4 months of curing. The buds seem to tighten up and mellow out a bit after three months, I'm thinking curing is complete at this point? At 1-2 months in cure, the weed is smokeable and VERY fragrant, but still a little harsh to smoke and the effects aren't as potent.

Am I way off here?

Could it be each grow you do is getting better? my weed is stanky, potent, smooth and smokable once it’s dried

I don't like my weed that old personally.

bk78 said:

Could it be each grow you do is getting better? my weed is stanky, potent, smooth and smokable once it’s dried

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Yes! Lol, you nailed it. I'm a new grower and each of my grows is getting better and better as I learn. BUT, I'm finding that there is quite a bit of difference depending on the cure time. Yes, I get high off my earlier cured buds, but it seems to get better and better the longer I let it cure. I know at some point the potency starts to drop, but so far this doesnt seem to be happening. I have Northern Lights curing well beyond 6 months and it just get better and better.

Side note: 1-2 Months of Cure is the most fragrant my grows get. Opening a jar at this point stinks up my house, even with low odor strains like Durban Poison and Northern lights. After a few more months curing, the odor starts to mellow out and the smoke is much smoother without Pepe Le Pew knocking on my door.

PJ Diaz said:

I don't like my weed that old personally.

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I'm thinking a lot of stoners simply can't make it to a longer cure because they smoke it before it makes it that far... (Not saying that's you, but there are a lot of people that can't wait) In my case, I can't keep up with all the weed I'm growing. I don't smoke a lot and I don't smoke often. (once at night usually)

I'm just wondering what most people would consider to be the perfect cure time. I'm thinking the magic happens right around the 3 month mark? If you were to splurge and buy connoisseur quality buds (400 a zip or more) how long would this stuff normally cure?

Cure?? Leaving your weed in a jar for 3 mo’s is what the kids call curing I guess.
Curing involves moisture, heat and elimination of O2 to get the plant to use nitrogen in place of oxygen.
After being Jared for months the weed looses terpins, flavor and character. If you like it dulled down no biggie, but thats no cure.
Here’s what cured weed looks like.

singlecoiled said:

I'm thinking a lot of stoners simply can't make it to a longer cure because they smoke it before it makes it that far... (Not saying that's you, but there are a lot of people that can't wait) In my case, I can't keep up with all the weed I'm growing. I don't smoke a lot and I don't smoke often. (once at night usually)

I'm just wondering what most people would consider to be the perfect cure time. I'm thinking the magic happens right around the 3 month mark? If you were to splurge and buy connoisseur quality buds (400 a zip or more) how long would this stuff normally cure?

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I guess i cure since i do jar my stash around 60%. It is less harsh smoke after a month or so.
I do find the flavor/smell is strongest right away though

IMO the product is best from the point of being fully dried, to 2-4 weeks in the jar. After that it degrades no matter what you do.

how do you guys cure since we in the topic i see some people need to burb their stuff twice a day and they have to check moisture content is that all true?

Gusinator said:

how do you guys cure since we in the topic i see some people need to burb their stuff twice a day and they have to check moisture content is that all true?

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Seriously?

Gusinator said:

how do you guys cure since we in the topic i see some people need to burb their stuff twice a day and they have to check moisture content is that all true?

Click to expand...

singlecoiled said:

I'm thinking a lot of stoners simply can't make it to a longer cure because they smoke it before it makes it that far... (Not saying that's you, but there are a lot of people that can't wait) In my case, I can't keep up with all the weed I'm growing. I don't smoke a lot and I don't smoke often. (once at night usually)

I'm just wondering what most people would consider to be the perfect cure time. I'm thinking the magic happens right around the 3 month mark? If you were to splurge and buy connoisseur quality buds (400 a zip or more) how long would this stuff normally cure?

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I find that required curing time is somewhat strain dependent, however generally speaking I don't find any improvement past a one month cure, and frankly I think it begins to degrade to some extent after two months. I did have one strain however that I really wasn't happy with after the dry, and generally thought it was garbage, so I just put it aside in a paper bag for a few months and kind of forgot about it. Then I found the bag one day, and decided to smoke it for funzies, and it was much better than it was 3-months prior. I think that's an outlier though. I prefer the fresher tastes myself. In fact I've frozen ounces in the past, just to retain that freshness for later.

never thought about freezing it i was looking into freeze drying but it takes a whole 24hrs of loud sounds to get the moisture out but it will be ready in 24 to smoke, i live in apartments where you can hear the neighbors screwing so i abandoned that idea lol
And what strain was that, Was it the newer ones? And thanks for replying guys and not being an asshole like wanabe MS hope to be able to trade with yall when im up and running!

fskitch said:

Cure?? Leaving your weed in a jar for 3 mo’s is what the kids call curing I guess.
Curing involves moisture, heat and elimination of O2 to get the plant to use nitrogen in place of oxygen.
After being Jared for months the weed looses terpins, flavor and character. If you like it dulled down no biggie, but thats no cure.
Here’s what cured weed looks like.

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It's not really a matter of like, I just can't seem to smoke my weed as fast as I grow it, so it piles up and I get to experiment and learn.

I had some weed stored with Boveda packs for 3 years and it still got me blasted, I will admit it wasn't top shelf at that point.

So, maybe it's just me, but 3 months loses a bit of the "punch you in the face" smell but the potency seems to be good and the smoothness is a nice trade-off for the loss of some terpenes. Maybe it's just a preference thing?

I'm wondering how long people cure their buds before entering any Cannabis Cup type competitions....

singlecoiled said:

Hi all, I'm new to curing and three grows in I am noticing huge differences in the effects and smell of my weed depending on the cure time.

In my opinion, all of my grows seem to be at their best after around 3-4 months of curing. The buds seem to tighten up and mellow out a bit after three months, I'm thinking curing is complete at this point? At 1-2 months in cure, the weed is smokeable and VERY fragrant, but still a little harsh to smoke and the effects aren't as potent.

Am I way off here?

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It depends on how you grow. If you grow organic no salts living soil you weed will cure much slower. Salts and flushing will cure much faster all I'm saying is it really depends on how you grow and how nutrients dense you weed is.

Pmidg said:

It depends on how you grow. If you grow organic no salts living soil you weed will cure much slower. Salts and flushing will cure much faster

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Wait wut?

I bought a LB of weed the day it was legalized here (we have no limits) because I knew it would be a few months before I could grow anything for myself.

When I got it, it was pretty clear the grower had cut it and dried it and didn't cure it at all, and wanted to cash in on legalization day 1, he had about 10lbs "ready" day 1. I had to cure that for several months to get it smokable.

I wonder if flushing or lack of flushing has something to do with how long one may or may not need to cure weed... or maybe some of these guys who don't cure simply like that harsh taste...

Gusinator said:

never thought about freezing it

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Before they legalized weed here (Thailand) I was buying 1kg (2.2lbs) bricks of weed from Laos. Now, these guys in Laos grow literal TONS of weed, but what they know about drying, curing, and packaging wouldn't fill a post-it note. You would buy a 1kg brick, open it, and if you left it, it would start to get mold on the outside of the brick.

So what do you do with a 1kg brick of weed when you're not selling it? You freeze it.

I have frozen 1kg blocks of weed and then sliced off 50g at a time and kept a brick for up to 8 months. Truth is that it will last forever frozen.

Does it lose any potency? Not that I ever noticed, but Thai weed is not 28% THC.

A friend of mine who was SHOCKED and DISMAYED at the idea said that he googled it and talked to "a friend" who runs some giant grow op in Canada... he did say that once it's frozen the curing process stops. I said I don't care because brick weed is brick weed. The way they compress it, I don't think it does a great deal of curing.

who needs pictures, we'll just stick to text

two strains i grew gave me a headachy burnout and dry mouth, but after a few months everything was fine