Smell changes during the curing process

Indoor The Harvest
#1

Hi. New to the forum and did not exactly find the answers I am seeking searching previous topics.

I have harvested my first ever crop (Gelato Auto, grow tent, hydroponic, well controlled environment). I had a second tent set up for drying (hung plant upside down) with controlled temp and Rh. After 7 days, stem testing indicated it was ready for curing.

Dry trimmed and put in mason jars with 62% Boveda packs. I have been burping and fluffing jars 3 times per day. I am on day 5 curing now.

At first there was a strong lemon/pine smell from the burps and it has become gradually more faint each day. Today there is very little smell at all.

Is this typical? And what, if any other changes in smell could I expect as curing continues?

Thanks for any feedback. Have a great day!

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3 Likes
#2

Welcome to the forum. Your new buds look great!

I find that as the buds dry, they become less aromatic. I assume because the water is evaporating into the air, carrying the little aroma packets to your nose. As there is less water, the smell weakens. That’s my theory anyway.

Are you in Hawaii?

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#3

@Bushdoc thanks for the reply! I am not in Hawaii. Little further East. Southeastern US.

My daughters are Marshallese and I try to get as many Asiatic species as I can. They love flowers in general so I have tons of wildflowers on the property. The Lilies are by far my favorite.

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#4

The clue is what happens if you snip a chunk off a bud with scissors. If you get a burst of aroma, that means your buds are dry enough they’ve kind of skinned over with driest material closest to the surface. Both at the bud and trichomes level, they skin over. Don’t worry, the good stuff is still there, and may become more fragrant again later in the cure, as outside and inside moisture content equalizes.

2 Likes
#5

@Northcountryguy thanks for the reply. I appreciate any tips you have. I will definitely try that scissor trick. I really enjoy the process of learning about new plants.

#6

As long as they don’t smell like hay

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#7

@Duggie Thankfully it is a pleasant citrus/pine scent. :grin:

#8

As long as it doesn’t change to hay . I shake my jars once a day to mix it up

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#9

Another thing to keep in mind. If you end up desperate for smoking material, that funky, hay smelling nastiness doesn’t pass through a bong too awful much. A joint or hand piece will be much rougher. I guess the water catches some of the nasty stuff.
This comes to mind because I just last night test fired a piece of a tiny bud that’s only been in jars a few days. It’s still got that hay funk going on, but through the bong, was reasonable, and it didn’t hurt the potency a bit.

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#10

Good point. I also tested some and it is way smoother than I thought it would be based on it just being cured a few days. But to be honest product I’ve had in the past I really have no idea how long it was cured or if it even was cured to begin with.

#11

Commercial product, of necessity, is pretty old by the time it hits the street. I don’t think shrink wrapped in the holdof a shrimp boat or bricks inside a pallet of bricks counts as a gourmet cure.

1 Like
#12

A very lovely flower.

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#13

Beautiful buds :green_heart:

When I was working with the legislature about how to ship/maintain humidity, I was hooked up with a person in Canada that assisted in the legislature there. They rejected any kind of salt based humidity control as damaging to the bud.

I found this product in all the electronics devices I used to install… from the 70’s

My understanding is under Canadian law, if you ship it, it must have Integra Boost for humidity control.

Canada supplies cannabis to retired military personnel for ptsd.

Just thought I’d add, I’ve used their product for about 6 years… I buy mine from Amazon.

For all the time and patience to grow this, why would you want it in a salt environment?

Do you salt your buds? … if you use a salt based humidity control, you are.

Try this stuff, it’s pretty low cost and is great for bud.

:smiley_cat: