Is curing always better than just drying?

I’m a big believer in curing weed after drying (I know that many don’t cure) but I had an interesting experience that has prompted me to ask this question.

I had cut and dried a plant. When sufficiently dry, I put the buds into jars and proceeded cure in the standard manner.

Around 10 days after the chop, I smelt a pungent smell coming from my drying area, I had inadvertently left a stem in there.

I smoked some with a veteran smoker friend and his comment after a few draws was “This shit is dangerous”.

When I later went on to sample some of the cured product although a fine smoke, it didn’t have the raw bite of the uncured product.

I think in future I will be doing some experiments, curing a portion of a plant and just drying another portion of the same plant.

Anyone with similar/dissimilar experience/observations, feel free to share/ask.

This event has aroused my curiosity.

i just opened some jars of auto- silver haze. they both smelled amazing. it was my 1st time using auto's.(i got em for free) i was able to fit all the nugs in 3 quart sized ball jars. but one jar had some thing wrong with the rubber seal. so i used a piece of cardboard, and the one jar with the cardboard tasted the best! its been three weeks in the jars. and i had a thick top that i just air dried and smoked pieces of. it tasted good, but was no where near as deeply flavored as the jarred stuff.

You smoked the Stem?

i always let my bud have plenty of air, its personal i think how we all like to dry, i like an almost crisp but juicy bud, thats when i jar up, but even then i empty the jars every 3 days and mix it up, keep things balanced, yanno.

I just cut some chemwreck kush buds for testing @ 77 days 12/12 with some milky & clear trichs, no sign of amber yet.
I dried the sample buds for 2 days in open air then into plasitc bag for 6 hours, then back to open air dry for a day & half.
It got nicely dried & dense with a strong smell that penetrates a double ziplock bags.
and taste was even better rich 7Up & a little perfume, yum yum.
effect is very nice head high followed by body stone, potent buds.

I'll just dry for 3-4 days then smoke, not much yeild to be cured

Fenian Brotherhood said:

You smoked the Stem?

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hahaha, right! I was thinking the same.

The only stem I smoke is on my pipe

In colorado a 5-6 day dry can give you super dank nugs, but jar it and it does get better

zubey91 said:

In colorado a 5-6 day dry can give you super dank nugs, but jar it and it does get better

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I've never heard that before... Must only be in Colorado

iNFID3L said:

i always let my bud have plenty of air, its personal i think how we all like to dry, i like an almost crisp but juicy bud, thats when i jar up, but even then i empty the jars every 3 days and mix it up, keep things balanced, yanno.

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So you don't really cure?

cureing does make a big difference. I know personal smokers that, cure it for months, and have it sitting for years, and its the best smoke smooth as shit, yeah. cureing makes a difference ,

MarWan said:

I just cut some chemwreck kush buds for testing @ 77 days 12/12 with some milky & clear trichs, no sign of amber yet.
I dried the sample buds for 2 days in open air then into plasitc bag for 6 hours, then back to open air dry for a day & half.
It got nicely dried & dense with a strong smell that penetrates a double ziplock bags.
and taste was even better rich 7Up & a little perfume, yum yum.
effect is very nice head high followed by body stone, potent buds.

I'll just dry for 3-4 days then smoke, not much yeild to be cured

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[FONT=&amp]I'm not gonna give up on curing as I'm confident it can and often does enhance the product.

But clearly it is possible to produce kick as buds without curing.

I suspect the answer is with a slow dry.

Supplies are running low, so next plant I chop I'm gonna hang the whole plant for a slower dry and see how that goes.[/FONT]

kinddiesel said:

cureing does make a big difference. I know personal smokers that, cure it for months, and have it sitting for years, and its the best smoke smooth as shit, yeah. cureing makes a difference ,

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As a rule I would generally prefer to cure, but sometimes if it's not practical to wait for a month for a proper cure an alternative might be a slow dry.

I have always cured in the past, just smoked some of my 6 month cured OG Kush, it was exquisite.

But I'm going to experiment with a slow dry the next plant I chop.

I know there are people in this world that can taste a sip of wine and tell you everything about it. I couldn't tell you the difference between a $20 bottle and a $200 bottle, so buying the $200 wine is a waste. IMO ... I can tell the difference between smoking shake and smoking bud. I prefer miller lite. I must be crazy/stupid?

Herb Man said:

I’m a big believer in curing weed after drying (I know that many don’t cure) but I had an interesting experience that has prompted me to ask this question.

I had cut and dried a plant. When sufficiently dry, I put the buds into jars and proceeded cure in the standard manner.

Around 10 days after the chop, I smelt a pungent smell coming from my drying area, I had inadvertently left a stem in there.

I smoked some with a veteran smoker friend and his comment after a few draws was “This shit is dangerous”.

When I later went on to sample some of the cured product although a fine smoke, it didn’t have the raw bite of the uncured product.

I think in future I will be doing some experiments, curing a portion of a plant and just drying another portion of the same plant.

Anyone with similar/dissimilar experience/observations, feel free to share/ask.

This event has aroused my curiosity.

View attachment 2802245View attachment 2802241

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the raw bit you describe, i find this when the weed is dry and has a crispy texture , it is dry enough to crumble in a joint without using a grinder
when it is this dry it taste stronger to me, it has a fuller flavour
when the buds are cured and kept in jars i find they loose the crispy brittle texture and become spongy again to some extent
these spongy buds even though cured do not have as much flavour as the crispy dry buds

what i do is i get buds out of my jars and leave them out the day before i need to smoke them, this is enough time
for them to become crispy again and have that fuller flavor

also i have noticed more recently , that even when buds are fully dry, they will still absorb moisture from the outside air
if they are kept in a room that is humid, sometimes this is hard to avoid when the outside humidity is high, here in the uk
that can happen quite often,
a crispy bud left in a humid room for a while will become spongy again, spongy weed always taste lighter in flavour and expansion to me
it only takes a very small amount of moisture in the bud to change its flavour from light smooth, to full on lung expansion

peace

I think it would make more sense if you knew what a cure does... always cure

qwizoking said:

I think it would make more sense if you knew what a cure does... always cure

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why assume folk are not aware "what a cure does" it's not a secret
i think your comment was rather pretentious

"I think in future I will be doing some experiments, curing a portion of a plant and just drying another portion of the same plant."

"I'm not gonna give up on curing as I'm confident it can and often does enhance the product.

But clearly it is possible to produce kick as buds without curing."

Seemed like he didn't know what a cure does, as he's questioning doing it.........

Pretty simple.. In a nutshell.. Curing takes the chlorophyl out of the bud.. So no tasting ass no smelling ass... Doesn't give me a headache as much when I don't smoke/smell ass

Reduction in Chlorophyll content, doesn't taste like smoking veggies
Reduction in plant starch content, and sugars, creating a smooth smoke
Reduction in nitrate levels, less carcinogenic
and the polycyclic aromatization of terpenoids altering the flavor profile
Reduction of and consistent moisture content, even slow burn

It's simple, "the dryer the higher" . It's an old saying, that holds true. Even though a lot of people don't really catch on for some reason.