what exactly happens in the curing process?

I understand things are being broken down etc, but what is curing....is it the slow drawing out of the moisture from the stem throughout or what? The evenly drying of remaining moisture throughout the bud, right?

i ask because....

i harvested my first real crop about 3weeks to a month ago, dried for 3 days in nets until outside was crispy and inside was slightly moist (72F 33% humidity)

i jarred it, opened dumped out for a few minutes rejarred, each time i would dump it out for about 10 minutes it'd be crispy by the time i put it back in the jar, and would re moisten after about 20 hours (did this daily)

it never really had a smell to it...was very bland, didnt smell like hay but it didnt smell like pot really...I cant explain what it smelled like

so i was curious, i went down to my table i trimmed everything on, i had 2-3 popcorn buds i left on the table to see the difference of cared for vs non

the little buds i left on the table smelled WAY better than the shit i've been curing for a while (almost make your eyes water)

same plant exact plant

any ideas? did i not dry the bud i've been "curing" enough?

well curing is removing the chlorophyll and other pigments slowly .. while evenly removing moisture from the bud .. if you put the buds in the jar at 33% humidity .. that was way way too dry .. you have to remember the cureing stops at 55%

I always put the buds in jars at around 65% rh and slowly get them down to 55% .. just my opinion but i would say you dried it way too fast ..

tellno1 said:

well curing is removing the chlorophyll and other pigments slowly .. while evenly removing moisture from the bud .. if you put the buds in the jar at 33% humidity .. that was way way too dry .. you have to remember the cureing stops at 55%

I always put the buds in jars at around 65% rh and slowly get them down to 55% .. just my opinion but i would say you dried it way too fast ..

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When you harvest the plant (cut & dry) does it need to be 100% dark in the room?

well dark is better .. light breaks down the thc in your plants .. i have the lights on a few times thru the day where i dry, you know checking things out , putterin .. but i wouldnt leave it on .. i cure and store mine in the dark too ..

Can you tell me how to measure and control the humidity in the drying room?

Dakota8 said:

Can you tell me how to measure and control the humidity in the drying room?

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buy a cheap hygrometer and put it in your drying room .. like you would a thermometer, that will tell you the RH of your room ( reletive humidity)

Thank you tellno1

Hey glann. If you can't yet smell the 'weedy' smell from the buds in the jars then the cure is probably still going on. While the bud is still moist it's mostly water that's evaporating from it, and so you will smell mainly the water-based chemicals in the buds such as chlorophyll (smells like fresh-mown grass). As the water content lowers you'll begin to smell the oily chemicals as they start to evaporate, and it's then that the 'weedy' smell of the terpenes in the plant will be much more noticable. The reason the few buds that you left out of the curing jars already smell nice and weedy is because the water content is all gone from them, so all you smell is the oily vapours. If the cure goes well the buds in the jars will become a nice golden brown (or similar) as all or most of the chlorophyll will have broken down, whereas the buds left out of the jars will be bright lime green colour and will be harsher to smoke as they were dried too quickly for the chlorophyll to break down properly.

Try taking one bud out of the jar and leave it to dry fully. My guess is it will smell pretty fantastic once fully dried.

To answer your first question curing is done to break down chemicals that you don't want (such as chlorophyll) to get a smoother tastier smoke. It may also make the buds a little stronger as new THC is formed inside the jar from precursor chemicals. It's done by keeping the buds evenly moist and in a dark airless place, but at the same time you don't want to leave it too moist for too long or eventually mould will set in and it will start to rot. This is why you open the jars daily, to let out a little more moisture every time. If the buds feel crispy to the touch after only 10 minutes outside the jars then they're nearly at the point when there'll be too dry for curing to continue. When you open the jars to a waft of weedy smells and the buds feel drying coming out of the jars then then you'll know curing has stopped or very nearly stopped, though you'd need a small hygrometer inside the jar if you wanted to keep the buds at the perfect point where it's moist enough for curing to continue but dry enough that it's unlikely to rot. If you want to store the buds for longer than three months or so you'll eventually have to let it dry out more fully. Curing will stop but it will be safe from mould.

I have found that going from a hang dry to paper bags prior to curing seems to help the entire process.

good info,

when I said 72f 33% RH I meant that was the environment of the drying area

good post bosco,
and sunbiz, what positive effect does the paper bag have? I've read about it but I thought it would really suck the moisture out of them if I stuck em in there.

Hey glann. Paper bags work in fairly dry climates to slow down air-drying. In desert areas in particular I believe that hang-drying can work so quickly that buds can become too dry after a couple of days of hanging for curing to continue once the buds are put into jars. Once buds dry out to the point that curing stops there's no way to restart it. Hanging for a couple of days, then putting buds into paper bags for slower drying, gives you a longer window in time (in a dry climate) to move the buds into jars at the right level of moisture - not too wet or too dry. Seeing as your buds are already dry to the point that they feel crispy after only 10 minutes out of the jar then they're probably past the point where paper bags would be useful - they'd dry out very quickly in paper bags at this stage. They might be useful for you when you harvest your next grow to let them dry just a little more after hanging but before you jar them.

In a humid climate paper bags are generally unnecessary, as it can take many days of hanging for the buds to dry enough to go into jars. As such there's little risk of the buds getting too dry too quickly, and if they go into paper bags too soon then it just stretches out the drying and increases the risk of mould. I've ruined some buds in my youth trying to dry them in paper bags before I realised that bags don't very work well in my (wet) climate. Where I am for most of the year there's very little risk of buds getting too dry from an extra night of hanging and so little risk that I'll miss the jarring window.

MrBosco said:

Hey glann. Paper bags work in fairly dry climates to slow down air-drying. In desert areas in particular I believe that hang-drying can work so quickly that buds can become too dry after a couple of days of hanging for curing to continue once the buds are put into jars. Once buds dry out to the point that curing stops there's no way to restart it. Hanging for a couple of days, then putting buds into paper bags for slower drying, gives you a longer window in time (in a dry climate) to move the buds into jars at the right level of moisture - not too wet or too dry. Seeing as your buds are already dry to the point that they feel crispy after only 10 minutes out of the jar then they're probably past the point where paper bags would be useful - they'd dry out very quickly in paper bags at this stage. They might be useful for you when you harvest your next grow to let them dry just a little more after hanging but before you jar them.

In a humid climate paper bags are generally unnecessary, as it can take many days of hanging for the buds to dry enough to go into jars. As such there's little risk of the buds getting too dry too quickly, and if they go into paper bags too soon then it just stretches out the drying and increases the risk of mould. I've ruined some buds in my youth trying to dry them in paper bags before I realised that bags don't very work well in my (wet) climate. Where I am for most of the year there's very little risk of buds getting too dry from an extra night of hanging and so little risk that I'll miss the jarring window.

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Exactly, I dry indoors and the heat running/dry Fall air reduces my indoor RH. I wait until the outer portion of the buds are crispy, then place in bags leaving the top open for a day or so. Then I usually close bags until dry enough for cure.