Cannabis Smell Dry And Cure Top Tips

This one goes out to all our Paradise Seeds outdoor growers in the northern hemisphere this season! This is the month when many of our most popular varieties get harvested so this article takes a look at two big cannabis dry and cure questions: How to keep the cannabis smell? and how long can buds be stored for?

There is a lot of information out there, and we have our own drying and curing marijuana guide on this too.

However, for this article we wanted to dig deeper into the detail and address some two very specific cannabis dry and cure questions frequently asked by our customers.

For this purpose we have enlisted the help of experts! Aside from our own specialist grow team, we work with an international network of Paradise Seeds Ambassagrowers  who bring their own cannabis cultivation knowledge and experience to the table (we use their Instagram names in this article so go and check them out!).

What makes these growers so successful is their attention to small details which make all the difference when it comes to optimizing results. So let’s see what they are saying about how to store weed and keep the best cannabis smell!

Tips to retain cannabis smell

This is a good question and one that every grower will relate to. You know how it is... sometimes you can jar up the freshest smelling weed and return to that jar a few days later to find it either smells like old washing, has limited smell or no smell at all.

The quality of smell in stored buds is all down to moisture content. The first stage to get right in this process is drying and a grow room, or small cupboard space makes a good environment for this.

 Tip 1

Our first top cannabis dry and cure tip comes from uk masterkush who uses a small 10cm fan for the job and warns that “fans should never blow directly towards the drying plants, as this can alter the final taste and dry the flower too quick!”

 Tip 2

Once dried it’s no secret that buds are best cured by storing in airtight jars and ’burped’ daily for (usually for 1 – 2 weeks) in order to complete the drying process and maximize cannabis smell. However, do you ever stop to consider the burping environment?

@ShaggyGrower v.2 stresses the importance of this. Warmer air holds more moisture and opening a cold jar in a warm room may actually add more moisture to your buds.

He says, “I find burping at night (especially a dry night) easiest as the temps at night are similar to the temps the curing jars are stored at (less than 15°C).”

If this sounds a bit hit or miss, a Paradise grow team tip is to use a humidity control product such as Boveda which gets rid of the need to burp the jars, aids cannabis flower curing and helps to bring out the best of the cannabis smell.

Tip 3

It is generally agreed that a favorable drying temperature is 15 - 20°C, with a humidity of 30 – 50%. Good air circulation is essential for this process and most growers will use a fan to help achieve this.

How long can you store buds for?

The prevailing view amongst many cannabis consumers is that cured, but fresh, weed is superior.

However, we wonder if that has more to do with the fact that supplies get used before any long tern cure and store theory can be put to the test!

Certainly loose buds will go stale and lose their freshness but if you have correctly cured your cannabis and it is stored in an airtight container in a cool dark place then those buds can last a year or more.

Buds still fresh after a year?!

On this point one of our Ambassagrowers, boomdrawfyah , reveals that he has kept buds for as long as three years! He says that the smell and color are not the same, but performance wise, “you can use like the first day.” Many long time curers prefer the taste (more depth) and more rounded experience of consuming matured buds.  

Anecdotal evidence suggests that strains rich in earthy Myrcene tend to age better than those with a distinctive Limonene terpene profile, although @ShaggyGrower v.2 says that Paradise’s Delahaze is an exception – retaining significant citrusy flavours when properly cured.

Totogrowuk believes that 3 - 4 weeks is the correct amount of cure time for most strains and that, well stored, buds will remain good for a year or so.

However, he adds that “this only happens when I misplace a jar and then find it...”, confirming our theory that the lack of substantial data on this question is the result of those cured buds tasting so good that they don’t hang around so long!

Remember the grow space variables!

To these essential bits of advice we would add that, just as in the growing process, it is important to take in the individual variables – specifically grow space and environment (including climate) - which define every grow.

Practice makes perfect in the grow space

Every grower has their own opinion on the best solution, but this is based on their own unique set of growing circumstances. Growing anything – whether it be weed, tulips or carrots – is affected by these variables and it is only through trial and error that you will discover what the perfect formula is for you.

Conclusion

Nevertheless, it's always good to get a little help from (well informed) friends! So we hope that these insights provide some useful tips for your dry and cure experience and how to keep that cannabis smell fresh this season.  And if you have any great tips for curing, we’d love to hear from you!