I think you’d be better off buying a new one. The simple ones are less than $30 I think, and maybe less than 20. I got mine at Walmart for storing hops when I was into homebrewing beer. I bought a Seal A Meal model. Now I use it to store weed a little. I’m about to look for a newer one as one of my locking buttons broke.
They’re great for storing anything. If you store it in a cool and dark space, they should last a good long time. Problem is that you don’t want to go so far as to crush the bud, so you’ll have to leave a little O2 in there. That would cause some degradation from slight oxidation over time. So, I really don’t know the answer as to long term storage but I was about to start asking, too. I always have weed left from the grows before and would like to do a little better for storing it.
Amazon and Walmart will be about the same. If you have a WM close, you can have it the same day and look at the features. Like any appliance, you can pay what you want. They probably have a model that will fold your towels if you can afford it.
They work really good for food storage. So, it’ll get used a lot.
You need to make sure it has a manual seal button very important it does. A lot of the cheaper ones don’t and to get the perfect seal without bricking your buds it’s necessary.
I’ve found if you first put your buds into a zip lock remove almost all the air and zip shut . Proceed to now vacuum you’ll want to stop when you see the vacuum bag compress watching the buds in the ziplock they will start to compress till the air in the ziplock equalize hit the seal button.
Storage time frame no expiry date that I’ve found yet . I do store in a freezer also.
Questions and comments welcome. @MBVapester link is the machine I use
I’ve had 2 FoodSaver brands. They change features and design from time to time, but are usually the best on the market. However, they will not last forever, so keep that in mind as you spend your money.
I would suggest that you not buy a used one. There are issues that eventually cause them to fail, and those issues are sporadic until they’re permanent. You don’t want to end up with one that works fine when you get it, then fails 2 months later.
Just make sure that whatever brand you buy, the rolls (from which you make the bags) are not proprietary to that brand.
That’s not the issue. Those foam seals are replaceable. I bought my first FoodSaver about 18 years ago, so 2 in that length of time isn’t bad. But they aren’t cheap and there are less expensive alternatives - that’s all I was saying.
Edit: First failure was due to one of the heating elements no longer working. Second failure, which I’m currently dealing with, is in the locking mechanism for the lid that has to be engaged before the heating elements will do their job. It works sometimes, but mostly doesn’t work. Very frustrating!
Do you have a sense how much longer your buds lasting vs. without the vacuum?
I use brown mason jars with Boveda packs and can go around a 12-14 months at room temperature, but the buds start to noticeably decline after about 8-9 months.
Another thing to consider that’s rarely talked about is that, if you seal in the plastic, make sure to buy it from somewhere that doesn’t store the pallets of plastic next to laundry detergent or fabric softener or anything stinky. If you buy the plastic that’s stored next to stinky shit, anything you seal will end up with the same stank. This is a problem for those of us who are extra sensitive to synthetic smells and flavors.
Regardless of storage in jars or plastic, putting them in the freezer will prevent degradation forever, as long as your freezer doesn’t go through defrost cycles.
Good observation.
My jars are stored in a dark cold-room. The unvacced jars decline (terp wise) after 9 months but still are potent. The vacced jars haven’t had a noticeable decline yet so I’m thinking a year?
I’m planning on storing the vacced jars in the chest freezer for long term (careful on the handling when cold).
Walmart was alway my go to for them . Just trying to hunt a nice decent one down its been over 10 years since I’ve seen a model. They always came with adaptors but I never knew how to use the pump and syphon tube.
One that I did have for a while . I noticed the heat strip didn’t work part way through the line. So like in the middle it didn’t melt /Seal properly.
I love amazon.
So chances are I’ll just get one on there…
I want to be able to store some meats I get from Costco.
The Bags were the most expensive part…
The rolls are pretty cool to make your own bags…however I recall particularly liking the pre made ones .
