Professor,
My buds are really hard to smoke, they are really harsh on the lungs. I flushed the excess nutrients out of the soil for two weeks before I harvested, and I made sure that at least fifty percent of the bud hairs had turned red. I trimmed, hung and dried the buds for three days. I’ve been super excited about smoking my own ever since I decided to try growing but now I’m wondering what I’ve done wrong.
Help Me Professor,
Cough Cough, Maine.
Dear Cough Cough,
Your buds might be duds if you haven’t taken the time to properly cure them. Hanging and drying the buds removes the majority of water and reduces the chance of mold or fungi from eating your harvest before you have time to enjoy it. After this initial drying stage, the next step is to “cure” the buds. Curing is a gradual process that slowly removes the remaining excess water from the buds and mellows the flavor, kind of like aging a fine wine.
I like to use airtight plastic food storage containers as you simply need to place a layer of loose buds in the container and store it away. Open the container and let it air out several times a day for the first few days and turn the buds to ensure an even cure. You may notice the buds seem moist when you first open the container and you will need to keep an eye on this to be sure that you watch out for fungi or mold. Over the course of the next few days you can reduce the number of times you have to air out the containers. Once the buds have that perfect pliability of premium nugs and burn nicely in a bowl or joint you will want to seal them in an airtight container, like a pickling jar, for long term storage – only open the container to remove what you need.
During a fanatical phase I hot glued some Styrofoam to the inside lid of a large glass jar and stuck the stems of my long fat colas into it like some kind of stoner floral arrangement. This way my buds were suspended upside down in the jar without touching the sides. I would carefully unscrew the lid and clip a bud or two into my hookah bowl as required.
The point of this exercise was that these buds and colas went from plant to bowl having never been touched by human hands. That’s one of the many benefits of growing your own… you can get as crazy as you want.
You’re close. Don’t give up.
Professor Lee
