How to use moisture packs to cure and store weed

Humidity plays a big part in the quality of cannabis after harvest, as well as its lifespan in the jar. Properly cured and stored bud can remain a sensory smoke show of taste, smell, and effect long after sale. However, if moisture levels are too low during the curing process or during jar storage, even the highest quality buds can fall victim to mold upon harvest if too wet, and rough and decomposed trichomes if too dry.

Like all good things in life, awesome weed is fleeting. But there are things we can do to slow its inevitable roll into the great afterlife. Whether you’re a home grower with a pile of harvests or a client looking to get the most out of your dispensary run, how humidity affects your cannabis during and after the curing process is important information.

Keep scrolling to learn more about the complexities of maintaining humidity levels, or jump to the best humidity packs for weed.

Storing weed starts with getting something out of it. Find flowers in the Weedmaps app.

Cannabis and humidity: relative vs. ambient

There are two types of moisture to consider when curing and preserving buds. Relative humidity refers to controlling the moisture content of the flower in an airtight container. Ambient humidity refers to the humidity of the space outside the glass.

The curing process takes place after the drying process. Freshly dried buds are stored in airtight containers for 2-8 weeks, with the ideal relative humidity inside the jar being between 55% and 65%, according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). To learn how to cure cannabis, check out our step-by-step guide.

The purpose of curing is to stop moisture loss and allow the buds to develop to their greatest potential. According to Ed Rosenthal, a cannabis legend, “curing is an art and should be tried with small batches first. The taste becomes much more complex and refined, gaining both depth and variation in the bouquet. Like very well aged wine, there is something unique about a well aged harvest that every aspiring connoisseur should experience at least once.”

Because cannabinoid synthesis continues after harvest, the drying and curing procedures can be just as important as the growing process when it comes to the final product. Proper healing not only produces buds with a higher THC percentage, but also stops the breakdown of volatile compounds—like terpenes—that shape your experience with the plant, resulting in better-tasting and smelling buds with a stronger high.

The best humidity for curing cannabis

To cure weed, growers loosely pack the buds in Mason jars, seal and store in a dark, cool place. The relative humidity should be around 60%, which can be monitored with a hygrometer. For the next few weeks to months, growers “burp” the jars several times a day to release oxygen. Moisture levels are controlled using any number of tactics, from intuitively recognizing how the flower should feel to using products like weed moisture packs.

Growing weed is an art form that is subjective to the person growing it. It’s a matter of patience, care, and personal preference. “It’s 100 percent intuitive on our end,” said Joey Gothelf of WildLand Cannabis, an award-winning regenerative farm in Mendocino, California. “I usually just monitor humidity by feel.”

He added: “The buds shouldn’t crumble easily with two fingers. This is how I test the dryness. If I roll it between two fingers and it crumbles into dust easily, that’s too dry. But when it has a little bit of chew, a little bit mushy, but not too much, that feels right.”

Walt Wood, a master grower and co-founder of Sol Spirit Farm, relies on experience and says, “To me, curing really just means balancing out the humidity so the flower can go through a microbial transformation, kind of like yogurt or something,” he said . As for how the healing is going, “I’ll just reach into a trash can and do a gentle ‘touch touch,’ and I’ll know.”

The best moisture packs for weed

While master growers largely rely on their intuition to achieve the perfect cure, humidity packs like Boveda and Boost are tools designed to regulate humidity during cure and preserve bud after shaking.

The way these packs are constructed allows purified water to be released into the jar when needed, reportedly eliminating the need to puncture the jars during curing and offering the grower peace of mind after sending their flower into the world has.

The most popular moisturizing packs on the market are Boveda and Boost, and they both work similarly.

Boveda

Boveda packets control humidity using a salt-water solution that creates a “single-layer shield of purified water over the trichomes,” according to the Boveda website. They have a large presence in the sun-grown farming community, a group that takes their terps. They are widely regarded as leaders in moisture-packing.

Boveda packs come in different sizes to suit any amount of cannabis. For example, “Size 1” would be appropriate for a single pre-rolled can, while “Size 320” would be appropriate to control moisture on a black and yellow container during shipment for a distribution company. The brand also offers “Home Grow” and other kits, which include a range of packs as well as metal C-Vault storage containers.

thrust

Boost bills its packs as “salt-free, two-way moisture control.” They use a blend of water and vegetable glycerin to do essentially the same thing as Boveda packs. It’s another big name in the industry and is considered to be similarly effective.

Boost packs are available at 55% or 62% RH in a range of sizes that clearly dictate how much cannabis they contain, such as 8 gram, 4 gram and 67 gram packs.

Pro grower tricks

Despite the popularity of weed wet packs, most farmers I spoke to were divided on their effectiveness, preferring to opt for simple, old-school tricks when it comes to curing.

“The moisture packs could be junk, but I don’t know for sure,” Wood said. “When I want to hydrate my flower because it’s gotten a little dry, I just put a few drops of water in it. You know, a bit of moisture. But you have to be careful because it’s very easy to give too much, then swing the other way.”

“When it’s dry, nothing beats the tortilla,” adds Jen Proccaci, co-founder of WildLand Cannabis. “It’s an old-school trick. You put a piece of corn tortilla in the bag. It wets the grass and the tortilla becomes hard as rock.”

How to prevent cannabis flowers from degrading

Exactly what not to do.

While healing is an art form in itself, keeping weed fresh is all about protecting the flower from conditions that break down trichomes. The biggest culprits? heat, light and humidity.

In the current market chain, growers deal with the problem that their flowers will decompose during transport or in the pharmacy before the customer even has a chance to buy them. For this particular problem, moisture packs come in handy.

“Most of these moisture-packaging products are good for shipping, and you want to make sure they don’t dry out when they go down to LA or something,” Wood said. “Once they get to the pharmacy, you know it’s going to be on a store shelf somewhere in the sun,” he said.

Keep in mind that the flower you are buying may have been through a lot when it gets to you. Proper storage and care after returning home is all the more important.

To make your flower last as long as possible, simply keep it in a cool, dark, moderately humid environment. Think of a wine cellar, but think of a weed cellar. Extracts and edibles should be stored in the refrigerator. Cannabis flowers should be stored at around 60% relative humidity and protected from light.

Editor’s Note: Weedmaps does not receive affiliate revenue from the brands featured in this article. All products are selected independently by the author. The only influence Weedmaps News is subject to is Weed.