Best curing method

Trying to decide what is the best method for curing bud. Searching the web shows about 200 citations that recommend glass jars for curing. Have tried this with burping and humidity packs and humidity sensors in the jars. I don’t like the smell that results. I know it can be better because after reading Ed Rosenthal says NEVER cure in glass jars. Now I just cure in the same controlled environment that’s used for drying only changing humidity and temperature. Smells better, but the incredible smell in the room are terpenes that are not in the bud. Am I losing too many terpenes by curing in a room?

Thanks in advance everyone for your inputs.

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I cure in glass jars and Ed loves my chronic :evergreen_tree:

@nick and I had an interesting conversation while burning a joint with Ed about freeze drying your fresh harvest. He swears by it. I think he was just high. Has anyone given this method a try?

I think there are a lot of ways to cure your finished product. I love jars but recently have switched to C-Vaults for curing/storage. I like the wide mouth and the ease of burping with these handy devices. As a bonus, they are super easy to clean compared to jars. Have you ever given these a try, @kirkcollier?

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No, I have not tried this. At first blush, freeze drying sounds like a great idea. Remove water without heating just seems like a good idea. However, won’t the terpenes also sublimate under vacuum?

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What temp and humidity level are you setting for your cure room & how long are you curing for? If you’re smelling the terps, it means evaporation is still occurring. Raising the RH in the room should stop that including stopping the smell.

(this is why people think Boveda removes terps. This isn’t what’s occurring. Instead, the humidity control is stopping the evaporation which is what causes the exuding scent)

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There is a lot of conversion that occurs during the dry and cure. Cannabinoid biosynthesis takes time which is why people are actively trying to slow down the dry phase. I think that freeze drying will destroy the precursors to our cannabinoids. Also, freeze drying would make the trichomes brittle and prone to breaking off.

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Drying is 68F and 50% rh
Curing 64F and 60% rh for three weeks

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I asked Ed what effect the freeze drying has on the terps and he contends the process absolutely preserves the terp profile. Made me want to invest in a freeze drier.

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This correlates with what we’re seeing in some of the larger Cali grows. They cure with 58’s and store with 62’s. This is an interesting thing you’re doing. I recently found a big bowl of GG4 that I forgot about in my drying closet. The RH would still be up there and that bowl of forgotten bud squished like crazy! Drippage! :slight_smile:

However, the air tightness of the container matters from what I understand. (Or does it?) Do you know why Jorge says no glass jars? Could it have been a humidity issue that was only a problem in humid geographical conditions? I may have to read up a bit on his theories with that.

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I recently read an article about freezing for storage but not dry-freezing.

Does he have tests to correlate? Extreme temps in both sides would destroy organic compounds I would think. I guess if a person were also hyper aware of the fragility of the trichs then they could handle with care. Interesting thoughts & ya, now to find a friend with a freeze drier.

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Dan, it was Ed Rosenthal on an internet site.

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