when you harvest your plants and go through the curing process, you can do something called a water cure instead of using the mason jar method. when you water cure your plants, you let them sit in water for 7 days, replacing the water each day, then you dry them with a fan so that you can smoke the bud.

So when you say you smoked the bud you used in your tea, this is the only thing that pops into my head. i don't know tons about water curing, but it is supposed to change the smell, which is what happened with your situation, and it is supposed to change the high a bit too. apparently it also increases the potency of your final product.

so maybe when you were trying to make tea you ended up doing a mini water cure? i don't know, sounds plausable though.

and just a side note... if you want to make tea, boil your weed in water and milk for a half hour or so instead of just pouring hot water on your teabag. that should work much better.