Mini-Water Cure / Smoke Report

shamegame · #1 08-01-2007, 11:01 AM

Well I clipped a small bottom branch off of one of the plants.At first I was going to microwave it and sample it.However, I have been interested in the benefits of water curing lately and was thinking about water curing one of my plants in my upcomming harvest. So I got a little tupperware container and decided to do it. I placed the branch in the water and put a salt shaker full of water ontop to hold it down.

I changed the water once a day for 6 days, then yesterday I emptied the water and threw it onto a paper towel.I decided to go with the hair dryer method for drying.It gives a lot of control which I liked.But for drying a large cure I would use my dehydrater mode for my convection oven.It works just like a dehydrator.Now for my report.
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Now the strain I am using here is Master Kush FYI.

Weight loss: I will have to wait till I harvest and have the ability to directly compare air cured and water cured samples from the same batch of green to give a more involved answer- but I will say that for this little bit that I did , the amount of dried weight I got back was not dissapointing at all. I wound up getting 3 full bowls from this tiny branch with a tiny bud . Not too shabby.

Potency: I clipped this branch a little over a week ago.The plant it came off of has almost 2 more weeks of flower.That means this sample was close to 3 weeks premature. It turned out to be VERY good.It got me as high as the WW and Bullrider I am currently smoking, and seemed to last about as long.Of course the high was slightly more of an up high, but there was little lack of potency even on this premature sample. I am not sure if that's the curing or the strain to be honest.

Smell: The water curing certainly did wash out most of the skunky smell. After I dried it I had to stick my nose right up against the nug to smell anything, and the smell had changed a little.If you care a lot about how your buds smell, water curing may not be for you. I am trying to decide if the pros outweigh the cons right now.

Flavor: As was with the smell, the flavor was greatly affected by the water cure. It tasted pretty neutral, like you could tell you were smoking a plant, but there was no specific marijuana taste.It was fairly smooth I will admit.If you care greatly about the flavor of your green, Water curing many not be for you.

Burning Properties: I was hoping for that pure white ash I had seen pics of in videoman's post on this subject, but did not get such good results.There was a little grey and black ash left in my bowl.Not sure why this was the case.Overall it burned ok and fairly even.I suspect the hair dryer may have pruduced slightly less even burning..

Bag appeal: Overall, the sample looked good.The hairs were still semi fluffy and orange after drying, the bud was still covered in crystals.It did get very dark after drying though.I forgot to take a picture of the dried bud as I was pretty lit, but trust me it was DARK.Not insanely freakishly dark, but yes much darker than air drying would have produced.Many people prefer light green buds- if you are one of these people then water curing may not be for you. Overall bag appeal was very good however.If you ever have to harvest some green prematurely and want it to look like a million bucks water curing is the way to go there.

Final Analysis: If you didn't flush before harvest, or have had pest problems close to harvest, or have had to pull sosme plants before they were done then water curing is the way to go in my opinion.Also, if you have a good sized harvest and you want something to get you by during that month long wait for top quality air cured bud, then taking some and water curing is also a good idea.That is how I will be using water cure this harvest.

But the loss of smell+taste+weight will probably be too high a price to pay for most people in exchange for the 7 day ready time and increased THC to plant material ratio resulting in a greater potency.I still say it's perfect for a percentage of your harvest to smoke on while you wait out the longer curing process for the majority of your green.

I remain neutral on this subject.I am neither for it nor against it. I will definately water cure a larger batch out of my harvest for sure.

Good luck.

nowstopwhining · #2 08-01-2007, 11:31 AM

So you don't lose any potency with water curing?

shamegame · #3 08-01-2007, 11:36 AM

Nah man you technically increase it, because of 2 factors:

1.) water curing removes more of the crap from the plant material, shrinking the amount of total plant material.However, the THC is not diminshed. SO you now have the full THC packed into less plant material which results in more bang per bowl.

2.) you don't lose anywhere near the THC as you do in air drying/curiing because air drying/curing causes the stuff you want to keep to break down almost as fast as the bad stuff you want to get rid of.

HoLE · #4 08-01-2007, 12:42 PM

lemme just say,,,I got a lot to learn,,,,and where did ya get those psychedelic paper towels,,LOL

Keep on Growin

HoLE

Taipan · #5 08-01-2007, 01:26 PM

if i lick those shapes on your paper towel will i tripp out on acid

kieahtoka · #6 08-01-2007, 02:09 PM

Very nice thread shamegame. I was waiting for someone to do this +rep to you my friend...if I could. I'm getting tired of seeing "spread the rep around"

shamegame · #7 08-01-2007, 03:14 PM

Thanks, Ki- I hear ya- I'm still waiting till I can rep FDD for his seed production thread...I dunno how many ppl you have to rep before you can rep someone again...

shamegame · #8 08-01-2007, 04:48 PM

Here are 2 pics of the final product- taken with diff. light qualities.Hopefully this gives you an idea about how dark the bud gets via water curing. Not bad for a bottom branch crappy mini-bud that is 3 weeks premature

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kieahtoka · #9 08-01-2007, 04:52 PM

Well I'm trying this again with a mini bud off of my plant 4 weeks into flower. Want me to post a picture and smoke report shamegame?

shamegame · #10 08-01-2007, 04:56 PM

Ya man let's get some information consolidated on this topic. I also edited the final post up there to mention that this bud is 3 weeks premature .Anyway I am sure many others will be interested in further reports to help get a better understanding of it all.