How to keep weed fresh? Is this what you need to know? Well, you are in the right place, my friend. I am here to help you understand the ways and the things you can do in order to keep you cannabis fresh as new. Keep on reading.
How To Keep Weed Fresh?
Regardless of the legality of cannabis in your state. If you are a licensed cannabis vendor, you must have run some logistical problems like rehydrating and storing cannabis. These two are two of the biggest problems you, as a grower, might run into.
If your state has legal cannabis available, then you will note that marijuana products come with a specific expiration or will have the harvesting date written on the bag. These two pieces of information are seminal as they will help educate consumers about the best use duration.
Now the question arises, how to keep weed fresh? Well, this article is about that only. We will see some of the factors that affect the overall freshness of cannabis and the means to extend that. But before we can truly answer your question, we need to study some of the important factors that affect this period.
Proper Storage
If you have been around cannabis as long as I have, you will know that moisture is the biggest friend as well as the most formidable foe of cannabis. If the moisture content in cannabis is too low, the strain will become a harsh cocktail of smoke, but if it is too high, then it can easily get moldy.
According to the American Society for Testing and Materials, you need to store your cannabis in environments that have humidity lower than 65%. Otherwise, you run a risk of infecting your bud with mold. Therefore, unless you store your cannabis properly, there is no way of maintaining these levels.
Ideally, your cannabis must contain moisture content ranging from 6 to 9 percent. So, whichever storing method you employ, make sure that it maintains that level of 0.55 to 0.65 according to the weight.
Optimal Temperature
Another factor that becomes seminal in our how to keep weed fresh debate is temperature. You, as a grower, need to take special care in regulating the temperature of your cannabis. If you overshoot or undershoot this margin, things might go astray for your cannabis.
As per expert growers who have been at it for a while, the optimal temperature for growing your cannabis ranges from 21 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius. Along with the relative humidity we have discussed, you also need to keep the temperature in check. High temperatures can vaporize the existing terpene profiles and render the cannabis flavorless or bland. Therefore, cannabis needs to be stored under optimal conditions, which entails maintaining a proper humidity content and temperature.
Light & Oxygen
Believe it or not, but whenever we are talking about storing or ‘how to keep weed fresh’, light and oxygen also play a major role. It must not come off as a piece of surprising news, but exposing cannabis strains to sunlight and oxygen accelerates its aging process.
According to a study conducted by the Pharmacy and Pharmacology back in 1976, stated that sunlight and oxygens are the primary two contributors to the aging process of cannabis strains. The experiment studied how sunlight and oxygen siphon out the overall potency and aroma of strains. The same study also concluded that strains that were stored in dark and controlled environments stayed fresh for up to 2 years.
Assessing the process from a chemical standpoint will educate you that UV rays or the Ultraviolet rays of the sun turn or activate THCA into THC. In a similar process, the terpene profile of the strain also gets activated and vaporized over an extended period of exposure. So, keeping your cannabis fresh entails keeping it away from the said elements.
Expert’s Take: Best Way To Store Weed
Keeping all the pointers in mind, I think it is time that we look at some of the best ways to store cannabis, according to expert growers. This will help us deal with a very fundamental logistical problem that can get catastrophic if left unchecked.
Glass jars: Glass jars are one of the best ways that you can store your cannabis. I personally prefer lining up the brown paper along the sides of the glass jar and then putting my buds in it. The reason why I line the walls with brown paper is because it keeps the cannabis residues from sticking to the glass and adds an extra bit of protection from extreme temperatures. Tinted glass jars work the best, see if you can find those.
Silicone Containers. An upgraded version of glass jars. The rule is simple here as well, to keep the cannabis away from elements. Take your cannabis and store it in food-grade silicone cases. Silicone containers are sturdier and help keep the elements out in the most effective manner. This is why if you want to keep your cannabis in the best possible shape, a silicone case is a good alternative.
Some Don’ts You Need To Know
Storing cannabis is a fairly straightforward process, but there are some of the ‘dont’s’ that you need to know in order to properly store cannabis.
Do not store your cannabis next to any heating sources.
Do not leave your cannabis out in the sun or leave it out. This will degrade the strain’s potency and damage the flavor profile.
Freezing marijuana buds will make the trichomes brittle and chemically volatile. Therefore, avoid freezing your cannabis flowers.
Avoid leaving your cannabis in the crusher or the bong bowl. This will degrade the quality and make it more susceptible to spoiling.
Final Thought
I hope you have an answer to the question, ‘how to keep weed fresh’? The only takeaway that you need to remember is that you need to keep your weed away from the elements and store it in a dark and airtight container that maintains the optimal moisture content of the strain. If you follow these simple steps, you are good to go.
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