The Best Way to Cure

I don't know about the best way, that's debatable. I do it the old school way (30+ years) and works well every time.
Trim only the fan leaves off, hang and dry plants in a dark room with humidity between 30-50% until they're just about snapping, I tend to leave them a little more "wet" if anything, I don't wait until the branches are so dry they snap too easily. I then dry them to smoking quality with the burping process below.
  • Rough trim and put the buds into large coffee cans (1kg/2lb cans) with those plastic seal lids, in a dark/cool spot. They hold about 3oz lightly packed with some room for air in the top
  • Burp the cans, open, move the buds around, leave open for an hour or so per day for the first week
  • Burp them for about 20-30 minutes for another week
  • Burp them for 5-10 minutes for another week
By then they're usually ready and at the right RH/dryness to smoke nicely
I typically will burp them for 5-10 minutes for another week or so and by then, they're smelling sweet and good to go... it depends on how dry they were to begin with. I use 3 weeks minimum and add moisture (small slice of potato in the can for 8-12hours) if I dried them too much to begin with, 4 weeks if needed. When they're ready is when that "green" smell is gone and replaced by a nice sweet whiff when you open the can.

I've heard of some freezer drying them and may try a small batch this round to compare against my normal method above. It would be nice not to burp, but I question if the quality/smell/taste would match the old burping method above.
 
I don't know about the best way, that's debatable. I do it the old school way (30+ years) and works well every time.
Trim only the fan leaves off, hang and dry plants in a dark room with humidity between 30-50% until they're just about snapping, I tend to leave them a little more "wet" if anything, I don't wait until the branches are so dry they snap too easily. I then dry them to smoking quality with the burping process below.
  • Rough trim and put the buds into large coffee cans (1kg/2lb cans) with those plastic seal lids, in a dark/cool spot. They hold about 3oz lightly packed with some room for air in the top
  • Burp the cans, open, move the buds around, leave open for an hour or so per day for the first week
  • Burp them for about 20-30 minutes for another week
  • Burp them for 5-10 minutes for another week
By then they're usually ready and at the right RH/dryness to smoke nicely
I typically will burp them for 5-10 minutes for another week or so and by then, they're smelling sweet and good to go... it depends on how dry they were to begin with. I use 3 weeks minimum and add moisture (small slice of potato in the can for 8-12hours) if I dried them too much to begin with, 4 weeks if needed. When they're ready is when that "green" smell is gone and replaced by a nice sweet whiff when you open the can.

I've heard of some freezer drying them and may try a small batch this round to compare against my normal method above. It would be nice not to burp, but I question if the quality/smell/taste would match the old burping method above.

+1 ^^^^ all that til the freezer. I haven't tried that one.. And I trim my buds when I cut my fan leaves before hanging..
 
Actually, forgot that one, I'm going to try the Boveda packs in a small batch this round as well. Kind of a side-by-side with the old method, they sound like a nice option. In theory they should do the same thing as burping, which is a pain in the ass, but necessary using the old school method.
 
Thanks for the quick replies, I use a similar method..but burp the jars for 15-20 mins a day first week..do you find leaving the fan leaves on during dry makes your buds taste chlorophylly? Some say it protects the trichomes and sloiws down the drying process others say they vdont get enough air circulation and would easier..I just wanna tweak for best possible taste, aroma, potency and dense nugs!
 
Thanks for the quick replies, I use a similar method..but burp the jars for 15-20 mins a day first week..do you find leaving the fan leaves on during dry makes your buds taste chlorophylly? Some say it protects the trichomes and sloiws down the drying process others say they vdont get enough air circulation and would easier..I just wanna tweak for best possible taste, aroma, potency and dense nugs!
Not sure if leaving some leaves on makes any difference or not. There's a lot of different opinions on that. I'm not talking about fan leaves though. Just the smaller leaves surrounding the buds. Any true leaves come off before drying.

For me it's more of a convenience and imo makes the final trim somewhat easier. The small leaves around the buds typically hold some nice frost. When I let them dry on the plant, by the time they're ready to put into the cans for curing, I find it's easier to trim those. I put that close-to-the-bud trim into a separate pile with any popcorn to make oil/hash, lots of trichs and close to bud quality for oil/hash trim. When that trim is dry, I simply brush my fingers around the buds and it more or less falls off when dry. Some make oil/hash from all trim, I prefer more concentrated/potent stuff so only use popcorn and that close-to-the-bud trim.

I just got notification of delivery, have to pick up a couple of the boveda packs at the post office, good timing, my run is done, going to chop this weekend :)

As far as timing of the cure and methods, there are probably as many variations as there are growers. Key point is do not skip or rush the cure. I find here, locally, I cannot find properly cured bud, particularly with outdoor, seems most outdoor growers around here are in it for the money, they chop/dry and bag, most of anything I come across could have been so much better with some proper curing, it works, just tastes and smells like crap in comparison to properly dried/cured bud.
 
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