Does curing affect potency?

Advanced Techniques GrowFAQ
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Contributed by: PREMIER Thanks to: fergetit Amended: Oct 22, 2003

Curing can seemingly affect potency because often the first time the buds feel “dry”, they really aren’t. Once they start to cure and sweat, you will see how much moisture is left.

Curing is mostly for aroma and taste, but the first week after “drying” will still have some effect on the potency as the bud fully dries.

If the above is not reason enough, here is a more scientific explanation:

Drying bud converts crude acidic THC from its nonactive form into a neutral pH psychoactive substance. Each THC molecule has to lose it’s moisture content in order to become fully psychoactive.

[Editor’s note: Starkes suggests up to 95% of the cannabinoids will remain carboxylized in dried and cured plant matter]

When the water exits the bud, the THC becomes slightly different in molecular structure. As Fatima mentioned, heating can make THC readily active by immedietly vaporizing the bud’s moisture content away. However, as Fatima also mentioned, aging is important too.

First the bud is “dried”, but can still contain some moisture within. By using the “cure”, the THC slowly becomes psychoactive. Curing builds a more uniformily dried bud with a better burn and taste. Almost all the THC converts to the usable psychoactive cannabinoid over the alotted time, without the degradation from drying the bud rapidly with heat.

(from fergetit)
It’s true we all know bud can appear dry, but still have moisture locked in the stems, it doesn’t really affect carboxylization.

According to Starkes and Clarke, cured buds undergo a:

  • Reduction in Chlorophyll content,
  • Reduction in plant starch content,
  • Reduction in nitrate levels,
  • Loss of moisture,
  • Loss of volitile terpenoids,
  • and the polycyclic aromatization of other terpenoids.

    All of these phenomena reperesent a loss in weight, and gain in net potency (except for the polycyclic aromatization of terpenoids which affects flavor). Note: over time THC will start converting to useless cannabinol (CBN), which it can do in its carboxylized form no problem.
    (/snip)

    The bud that has an homogeneous moisture content throughout will give the bud a nice firey glow when burned. Cured buds pack in bowls easier and break down into blunts and joints without difficulty.

    Hash that has been cured forms a beautiful rhine around the outside with a rich creamy inside. Cured bud and hash is great and worth the trouble. The taste is awesome as all the excess chlorophyll has been broken down. A smoother smoke is created. In my mind, curing bud is like tenderizing meats… it makes it more palatable and more enjoyable to use.

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What about THCA and CBDA? Are the concentrations effected by drying? I understand the acid must be decarbed to remove the A leaving THC. Same with CBDA . Thus making the molecule available psycoactivly.

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from what i understand not much is decarbed during the cure. i’ll try to find the info. right now my notes are all over the place. gotta get organized

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I would say the decarb happens when smoking.

IMHO curing makes weed stronger, but it does not make individual trichomes stronger in any way. What it does is outgas chemicals from the plant matter, and convert starches to sugars and other things which reduces the amount of plant matter. These processes require H2o to function, which is why you cannot cure very dry weed much.

Once dry, I have seen buds reduce weight by up to 40% when curing, still keeping all their trichomes. This alone would make your weed 150% as strong weight for weight, although each bud will be just as strong as it ever was (just smaller)

To answer this I would say, their concentrations in the individual trichome will not be affected. The amount of trichomes on each bud will not be affected, but the amount of trichomes in a gram will be higher. So… yes and no?

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