We only must smoke good, green grass as a stoner. Many stoners believe that pure green weed is the best and the purest of all, with its strains being more expensive than the others. However, we often find white lines and strains on the weed that make it look dirty.
If you ever wondered what that is after smoking it up (we know you did), then it is mold. It is a sign that the weed has become moisturized and has fungus growing all over it. However, is it OK to smoke moldy weed? Read this article to find out the answer!
What Is Moldy Weed?
Mold by itself is pretty common in many food products. Mold is a fungus that can grow on bread, cheese, and, more importantly, on your fresh green weed. This is a common occurrence that many stoners have faced throughout their lives. It makes the best weed strains stink, and it remains the same while lighting it up too.
If you want to know what does moldy weed looks like, it seems like a regular weed. Except for the fact that fine white dust is growing all over it. Generally, three types of fungus grow over weed, making it moldy. They are:
- Aspergillus
- Mucor
- Cryptococcus
Out of these three types of fungi, all three can lead to adverse health effects if you smoke them. These types of fungi can attack weak immune systems, lead to lung infections, and even cause damage to your Central Nervous System (CNS). Therefore, we can rightfully recommend you not to smoke moldy weed.
How To Tell If Weed Is Moldy?
There are several symptoms to see that can help you identify whether the weed is moldy or not. They are:
1. Grayish White Coating
This is the most common and obvious symptom of moldy weed. This is because the fungi are mostly grayish-whitish in color, with it often yellow on color if the weed has molded for a long time. This grayish-white fungus is also soft to touch (though you should not feel it in the first place).
However, many new stoners’ most common mistake is to confuse trichomes for weed. Trichomes are tiny crystals that grow on pot. They look like crystallized hair-like structures that protrude from the bud’s leaves. This substance gives green weed the leafy aroma that many people look for while scoring weed.
2. Smell It And See For Yourself
If you are still confused after seeing the whitish mold, the last option you have in your arsenal to identify moldy weed is to smell it and judge for yourself. Place the weed bud near the tip of your nose and try to smell it. They are not molded if it smells aromatic, like a natural green weed. It means that you have good quality weed with trichomes growing all over it.
However, if you get a moist, damp smell from the bud, it is a clear indicator of you possessing moldy weed. Therefore, if you get this wet smell from the strongest weed strains, we recommend you stop looking at your moldy weed plant and throw it immediately.
Can You Smoke Moldy Weed?
Many young stoners have asked experts whether they can smoke moldy weed or not. While it is true that good weed is expensive, and it seems like a shame to throw them away, there is nothing you can do here, unfortunately. Once you see your weed growing mold all over it, it is best not to smoke it and just throw your buds away. Smoking moldy weed is bad for your health, as it gives you a bad trip even while listening to good high songs.
If you see that one of your buds has mold growing all over it, chances are all the other buds in the container will have it too. Therefore, it would be best to throw out the entire container to make sure that the mold does not stay anywhere near you. Unfortunately, you cannot remove mold from weed.
If you want to keep the container to store new weed, then make sure that you wash it with soap well and dry it off in sunlight to make sure it is clean. Otherwise, unclean moldy containers will often make new weed mold faster.
How To Protect Weed From Mold?
Now that you know all about moldy weed, you must be wondering – how does weed get moldy, and how do I stop the mold? For this, learning how to store weed in a proper place will be necessary.
Some tips for adequately storing weed are:
1. Avoid The Refrigerator
Many stoners often mistake storing weed in the refrigerator, especially in your freezer. People make this mistake because they suddenly get this great idea that since you can keep leafy vegetables with ease in your refrigerator, you can do the same with weed.
This is a bad idea because weed is kept differently from other leaves. In addition, since the insides of your refrigerator contain a lot of moisture, the weed will turn moldy faster than average inside a fridge. Therefore, always store weed in cool, dry places to make it stay potent for long.
2. In Darkness, They Thrive
Your green grass appears to be pretty shy from staying in the spotlight for too long. Therefore, try to keep them in the dark to ensure that they do not see the light of day. This is good for them since many fungi grow faster in contact with sunlight.
Is There A Way To Salvage?
Well, this section will educate you on how to ‘salvage’ a moldy weed. But before we proceed, I would like to clarify a number of things before you proceed. Now, as explained earlier, we know that premium quality weed is something that is quite costly and is fairly hard to come by. Hence it can be tough throwing them away.
But if the mold is quite extensive, then you need to throw it away. However, if the mold is in its initial stage, understand that there is some time and hope of salvaging it. Still, do remember that a salvaged weed will not retain its initial potency. So, proceed with realistic expectations.
Step: 1
With those things in mind, you are ready to proceed to salvage your moldy pot. Take a glass jar, and place your moldy weed in the jar. Once the jar is filled with moldy weed, add some tap water. Make sure that the weed is completely submerged in the water.
Step: 2
Once the jar is full of water and your moldy weed is effectively submerged, you should store the jar. Remember to store the jar someplace cool and away from sunlight. A brown paper wrap on the jar can also do the trick. Keep it stored for 24 hours. After 24 hours, take out the jar. You will see the water will be all gunky and brownish. Take a sieve and pour the water onto the sieve. You will have some residue of mold in the sieve. Once you are done pouring the filthy water, refill the jar with fresh water. Keep doing this for about a week or till the time there is no mold residue in the sieve.
Step: 3
Once you are done curing the weed via water, take the buds out and dry it. Personally, I use tissues and a hair dryer to dry my soaked weed. I wrap the nugs in a double layer of tissues and then blast them with the heat from the dryers. This hastens the process. But if you are not willing to do this, just sunlight can do the truck. But do not keep the weed out in the sun without wrapping it in tissues first. Also, do not leave it out for a long period of time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mold on weed is pretty common if you store them in the wrong places.
It is not OK to smoke moldy tobacco. You are best throwing them away.
Weed can stay good for months if stored in a sealed, air-tight container.
Growing weed indoors can make them mold because the ventilation indoors is tighter, with higher humidity in the air.
Conclusion
Weed thrives in dry places just like other plants. However, it will get moldy over time when it comes in contact with moisture and humidity. This is the main reason why weed is required to be kept in cool and dry places to keep it safe. If you see purple moldy weed anywhere in your house, throw them away and empty the container.
If you are interested in stoning and want to read about other related articles, share this with other stoners and check out our other “lit” articles!
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