How to tell when bud is done curing?

I did a harvest two weeks ago. I let the bud hang until it was crispy 4 days or so then cut it into smaller chunks and put it into jars to begin the cure. In the jar it would clump together so when I opened the jars for airing I would have to shake it up a bit. Out of fear of over drying and ruining terpines I think I jumped the gun a bit when I put them into jars.

A few days ago I ground some buds and rolled a joint. It didn't burn well at all. I figured the bud was just too wet. Then I ground more bud and let it dry out a bit on a paper plate and rolled another.. This worked well.

I'm just wondering if there are any signs to look for to tell when bud is truly finished. When I squeeze my buds they compress into a tight nugget. They don't spring back. Maybe that's a sign.

I just keep sweating them by opening the jars for a while each day. I typically scale this back over time. Even my older buds I air out from time to time.

Any thoughts?

Yea sometimes they can be too wet after 12 hrs when you 1st put them in the jar. I just lay them out to dry for 12 hrs then that usually does the trick.

If your having trouble with too much mositure try putting them in a brown paper bag for 24hrs at room temp. A good friend of mine does this frequently and it works well for him.

Ive always followed the curing info on growweedeasy.com and customers are very happy with the smoke.

* how's the search for a personal strain going?

Imo, putting in a jar too early and leaving it there is one of the most common mistakes when drying weed.

Many members will tell you that drying for too long is the worst mistake you can make, but the consequences of doing that is minor, if any at all. The problem is drying too fast, not for too long.

If you put it in the jar and it becomes spongy, great. That means you have sweat the buds so the moisture is even throughout the bud. Now put it back out to dry again until it's crispy again. Then when you put it back in the jar, it will probably stay dry, and break up well. Perfect weed!!

You really can't go wrong just letting your bud dry out and then smoking it. There's very little to screw up. Brown paper bags and small boxes are great for drying.

sunny, a better name for your thread might have been, "How to tell when bud is done drying". lol
When bud is dry enough to go in the jars, to begin with, you don't really wanna keep opening the jars.
There's a process taking place in the jar, that stops every time you open it up.
Give your buds a nice slow dry, under good conditions, and shoot for just a little moisture left inside of the buds.
They will snap off the stem clean and the outer portion of the bud will be totally dry. After awhile you can basically go by feel and weight . Good luck, hope it helps.

churchhaze said:

Imo, putting in a jar too early and leaving it there is one of the most common mistakes when drying weed.

Many members will tell you that drying for too long is the worst mistake you can make, but the consequences of doing that is minor, if any at all. The problem is drying too fast, not for too long.

If you put it in the jar and it becomes spongy, great. That means you have sweat the buds so the moisture is even throughout the bud. Now put it back out to dry again until it's crispy again. Then when you put it back in the jar, it will probably stay dry, and break up well. Perfect weed!!

You really can't go wrong just letting your bud dry out and then smoking it. There's very little to screw up. Brown paper bags and small boxes are great for drying.

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great advice

The best way to know if your weed is cured perfectly is if you are out and that is the only thing in the house. Perfectly cured.

ficklejester said:

Ive always followed the curing info on growweedeasy.com and customers are very happy with the smoke.

* how's the search for a personal strain going?

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I'm digging the Blue Shark from Barneys Farm. It's so mellow. I also like the NL x Big Bud. It's a bit stronger, but totally manageable for me. I find myself wanting to smoke which hasn't happened since I was a kid. Works great for sleep.

I just popped 2 Super Skunk, 1 Blue Shark and 1 NL x BB. This should be a good grow. I'm dialing it all in. Having a good scope has helped a lot also.

Thx for the info.

Buds dry out pretty fast where I live. Pretty low humidity. I also don't grow mad volume which would also detract form the humidity in my drying space. I think that next harvest I'll take steps to raise the humidity a bit so they dry a little slower and more even. Then jar them up. I think this time the outsides dried really fast and the inside was still very wet.

This bud has turned out pretty decent though. Like my friend told me "It's better than Mexican Brick Weed, but not as good as most California weed" .. I'll take it

Thx for all the info

sunny747 said:

I'm digging the Blue Shark from Barneys Farm. It's so mellow. I also like the NL x Big Bud. It's a bit stronger, but totally manageable for me. I find myself wanting to smoke which hasn't happened since I was a kid. Works great for sleep.

I just popped 2 Super Skunk, 1 Blue Shark and 1 NL x BB. This should be a good grow. I'm dialing it all in. Having a good scope has helped a lot also.

Thx for the info.

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Thanks for sharing. I've yet to pop my critical cure, so I'll try a couple of those and maybe do a head to head.

It doesn't sound like it's drying too fast if you're putting it in the jar and it's still damp, but having sweat them in the jar definitely will help the dry.

sunny747 said:

Buds dry out pretty fast where I live. Pretty low humidity. I also don't grow mad volume which would also detract form the humidity in my drying space. I think that next harvest I'll take steps to raise the humidity a bit so they dry a little slower and more even. Then jar them up. I think this time the outsides dried really fast and the inside was still very wet.

This bud has turned out pretty decent though. Like my friend told me "It's better than Mexican Brick Weed, but not as good as most California weed" .. I'll take it

Thx for all the info

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Not sure if its true as I never use paper bags but I have heard the bag will impart some of its flavour to the weed.

waterdawg said:

Not sure if its true as I never use paper bags but I have heard the bag will impart some of its flavour to the weed.

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What?

Probably done curing when you've smoked it all

ficklejester said:

What?

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What? So I guess its not true lol.

Caliber IV meters aren't that expensive, and it takes some guess work out when you're in jars. I didn't see you mention a hygrometer, which is why I'm mentioning it.

WeekendSupervisor said:

Caliber IV meters aren't that expensive, and it takes some guess work out when you're in jars. I didn't see you mention a hygrometer, which is why I'm mentioning it.

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BINGO ^^^^^theres your answer

Boveda 62 packs make burping and guessing a thing of the past.

It's a two-part process - drying then curing. Drying is the removal of moisture while curing is making sure the product has the same moisture level throughout the product. If we didn't cure we would end up with crispy small nugs and soggy big ones. I achieve this by exposing product to the air then putting it in a sealed glass jar. I can tell when my product has the desired level of moisture by the sound it makes when I twirl the glass jar. Properly cured bud will make a sound much like fingernails on a wooden surface.

Good luck, BigSteve.

SnapsProvolone said:

Boveda 62 packs make burping and guessing a thing of the past.

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Snaps, you always know what you are talking about. It's funny because In my mind you are a weed growing father figure that looks like Sylvester Stalone

Do I just hang for a week or so then put them in the jar with the Boveda? Would the Boveda help weed that was overly dried?