Re:

How To Dry Marijuana Buds Guide

Wed, 15/Jul/20

You know how to grow and you’re sure you are good at it. Then you grow a nice clone-plant of nice sativa family full of positive genetics from the proper mother, containing proper number of trichomes and you know for 100% that you cut it right in time.

Marijuana Drying Techniques

It’s obvious that a true professional grower develops the relation with the every single cannabis plant. And it’s quite well-expected that the most active part of this development happens on the growing stage. Say, when the plant is alive, and it is kind-of very logical, but here we have another pot of puzzles to solve: the very professional cannabis growers all know that in the moment of cutting yet another extremely important period only starts — drying and then storing the cannabis product to have the best glorious pot out of it.

Why Drying / Curing is so important?

There is chemistry behind all this cannabis treatment always. Yes-yes, again that chemistry and as soon as we are dealing with the living thing, the carbon form of life, we never get rid totally of cannabis chemistry. It is the very same process why fruits get ripe after being harvested. The chemistry continues working.

There shall be NO! Light!

Cannabis is the complex organic matter. All organic thingies lose properties under exposure to the sunshine or another good light. Like, chlorophyll is giving green colour to the buds, and your buds will be ugly if you not hide them in the dark. And it’ll certainly loose the high components too, I think, not completely, yet we do not want it to happen, as we are to keep all! Easy to understand the conception, when you think about usual paper getting yellow and less elastic when exposed to the sun for long, or a paint on your walls or on your cloth: the sunlight is merciless, it gives everything and it takes everything, keep it in mind.

Mind THC when you dry cannabis plant

There is no pure THC inside the plant, but there is THCA which changes into THC when the temperature hits and then vaporizes. By curing you increase the effects and the amount of THC that shall work on you, means: better cure give more potent buds and less loss of the desired components.

While curing is technically the other process, it’s still very close by the idea. And the official difference that you cure it enclosed, that the plant (already dried as the curing goes after drying) gives away less of its moisture, rather than when is being dried. Under some conditions we can skip curing or combine it as one process (until you do it for yourself, not commercially, and can try this quality vs the other, experimenting).

Can it be too much of drying cannabis plant?

Anything can be too much. Many think weed and cash cannot, but they can, and the drying marijuana either. Many professional growers mention, that the best cured buds happen after a month or about of very proper curing. Never tried by myself tho, as my buds are burnt into smoke much earlier, all of them. However, one obvious problem of a ‘too dry’ is that trichomes start braking easily and you loose the potency. I think in time THC should start disappearing either, so you need to pick it up at its prime. Matter of XP (experience), no less, and I never heard about a stoner able to wait to long, which makes this issue theoretical, yet others are real.

External threats and issues for drying cannabis

Mold id the Enemy. Hopefully there is no mold around in your place, but you need to keep an eye, checking it carefully. It may also hit live growing cannabis plants too. See the head picture? It’s a mold on it! Bugs and pests are to avoid, and the other house animals, cats, dogs, also small children, elder brother maybe, and of course – a mom sometimes may ruin the harvest even worse than the others mentioned here, hahahaha ) ) )

Drying cannabis in One piece

There is a certain misbelief that drying a plant in one piece may allow more THC come up from the stem to leaves and buds. A total untrue. Among other reasons there is a simple fact that the water moves up in stems and branches, due to water surface tension, which is stronger than the gravity when it comes to micro pipes (and this is how water elevated from the ground to the very top of the cannabis plant.

And a complete total untrue for those couple of plants of indoor cannabis that you grow at home in personal-consumption volumes. Significantly longer drying is the only thing that may happen and you definitely do not want it. If you still feel explorer then try it and make your own conclusions.

Marijuana THC Drying Labeled Full Plants

Best Drying Conditions, Temperatures, Humidity for Weed

From 18 to 24 degrees Celsius (65 to 75 Fahrenheit). Humidity 45-50 percent. Darkness is essential for marijuana buds through all drying process. If all is done correctly then in 6-10 days the plant starts being dry. Check how far it is dry by tactile check and apply for the ultimate phase — curing.


What are Terpenes

Tue, 20/Aug/19

Weed in a pocket produces smell, the scent is strong and merciless, it spreads out, and identifies the bearer as a stoner. The aromas of plants are produced by terpenes, volatile chemical compounds, which are smells per se, terpenes deliver aromas when we keep weed or smoke weed.

What are terpenes?

Terpenes are organic compounds present in all plants, they give smell of plants and all parts of the plants, fruits, leaves, buds, etc. Studies indicate there are 20,000+ different types of terpenes in nature, while 100+ types of terpenes are found in cannabis plants. Terpenes are very volatile, they are smells themselves, each gives its effects on human body.

What is the entourage effect?

How strong weed kick in may be a result of entourage effect as synergistic relationship of cannabinoids with terpenes which improves the impact of cannabis in the body. In other words, when cannabinoids and terpenes interact, an entourage effect is what we call individual feels.

Terpenes in marijuana

In marijuana more than 100 terpenes are found. We do not need to know them all, but some of terpenes are more popular than others. Like, Limonene is the easiest to be identified as it smells like lemon or orange, giving citric aroma. A very unique terpene in weed is Caryophyllene interacting CB-receptors, which makes Caryophyllene a psychedelic terpene, but it is more recognizable if we say it’s famous peppery diesel taste in weed.

Limonene

Some strains aim at lifting your mood and providing you with a creative front and an inspiration to complete your work. These strains are mostly of the Sativa family and contain limonene more often rather than Indica. From its name we understand it is responsible for the taste similar to lemon, let’s call it a citrus fragrance. Other than cannabis, for example, rosemary and peppermint contain limonene.

Also, consider smoking weed using glass bongs, it may help to accumulate smoke, mix it with air, and feel the presence of terpenes better. The same effect comes when you take wine from a wider glass with a narrower top, such holds the volatile molecules over the wine level yet preventing them from flying out of the glass for a while.

Larry Lemon on the picture offers a lot of limonene:

Pinene

If your stash has a pine tree scent or fir trees or orange-like, its composition has lots of pinenes. This terpene also occurs in many Sativa dominant strains.

Myrcene

This terpene occurs mostly in Indica strains. Myrcene provides an earthy smell that characterizes most of the cannabis plant types found in the world today. However, it may also be fruity and sweet. For example, the scent of grapes, and sometimes, it may have a gassy like fragrance like that of nutmeg.

Beta Caryophyllene

Caryophyllene terpene identifies as a spicy aroma, and is the same terpene present in black pepper or rosemary.

Caryophyllene terpene forms the famous Diesel taste in combination with limonene and myrcene. Caryophyllene is the only terpene which is also psychedelic as it interacts CB-receptors in the brain.

More about Caryophyllene terpene in weed and black pepper

Humulene

Its identification comes from its musky or earthy fragrance and sometimes may include being spicy. The Mediterranean dish “humus” shares the same root in it’s name, I’m not sure which of these two comes first and which inherits the name.

Linalool

It is characterized by its floral scent with a hint of spiciness.

Understanding terpenes is fundamental in the identification of different cannabis strains we purchase and use. Some terpenes enhance the high effect, some bring it low, and others have different medical benefits. And of course the best use of terpene comes of our preferences in smell, and now we know just a small bit more about the cannabis plant!!+)))

ツ 👍


Clean Bong or Smoking Pipe Like A Pro

Tue, 09/Jul/19

HOW TO CLEAN A BONG problem, of course, it is a problem. Any shining brand-new or even a wooden pipe start crying for cleansing soon enough.

Remember This Guy?

Col. Landa's Smoking Pipe

Colonel Hans Landa’s Remarkable Pipe from “Inglourious Basterds” motion picture: rottentomatoes.com/m/inglourious_basterds

Also Remember That Smoking Kills:

Smoking May Kill

Lieutenant Aldo Raine (on right) from “Inglourious Basterds” motion picture: rottentomatoes.com/m/inglourious_basterds

After few days or weeks of use any cool shining bong is no more transparent and after few days more it is damn not transparent. Someone say we can scrub it to keep it for a rainy day, don’t be that far ridiculous. Anyway now we want to clean it to its original glory.

Love Yourself

This is rule number one, as always, do not clean it with anything not-drinkable and not-eatable. And especially when it’s wood as keep a lot of cleaning material inside its nooks and crannies.

Cleaning Is Easy

It is like a small discovery: use alcohol. Pure and strong one, like vodka. And not any whisky or cognac or alike, they all contain a lot of extras in the blend, smells, alien oils, etc, just more a pure one will work the best for cleaning. Just a reminder a famous bong replacement if the bong is out of order is a coca-cola can, works well.

Directions

Pour alcohol inside and it’ll react with gras leaving neither gras nor itself, more or less so, by the same reason it perfectly cleans pretty everything and fly away pretty instantly. Then only wash it off with amount of water. Considering a tricky structure of a bong and a hard accessibility of wooden pipe’s parts, it may require open mind to invent the proper way to wash.


Anthocyanin in the buds, or Why Weed is Purple

Fri, 24/May/19

When weed is purple color it means the anthocyanin pigment is present in the plant in significant amounts. Anthocyanin is a universal plant colorant responsible for red, purple, and blue colors, and evident in many fruits, vegetable, grains, flowers, and berries, like blueberries and raspberries.

Anthocyanin suggests the vast list of health benefits, and medical theories, including traditional ones around the world, use anthocyanin to treat conditions such as liver disorders, diarrhea, kidney problems, infections, it provides the reduction of blood pressure, it improves the eyesight. More important, anthocyanin even cures the common cold. It’s easy to imagine, raspberry (rich with anthocyanin) as a medicine in a form of a grandma’s anti-cold raspberry jam and hot tea. Besides its healing application anthocyanin is used as a natural color in food, health, cosmetic industries.

! This website does not provide advice, but it is a compilation of material, personal experience, and opinion. My grandma cured me with forest berries in the North, I felt better, they were yummy and with grandma’s cooking witchcraft. All we say herein is not a call to action, nor a promotion of weed, we make websites, we are not growing cure, and no grass.

Why weed is purple, the role of anthocyanin in marijuana

Weed on the top picture is a little bit blue in color, considering it is dark on the photo. It starts making itself rich with anthocyanin, the result shall be what we call purple weed. And, a very nice close-up on the image below we have borrowed from @chewberto420, you can see the purple and a little bit red colors of anthocyanin in cannabis trichomes:

Why weed is purple, the view of anthocyanin in marijuana trichomes

Being a phenolic compound, Anthocyanin may also behave as the pro-oxidant, means numerous medical effects, and used traditionally to prevent blood issues or flew and other sicknesses — people take fruits and especially berries rich with anthocyanin as source of vitamins, and against common cold. Grandmas use it on children all the time in a form of raspberry and blueberry jams, whether science or grandma’s witchcraft, I don’t know.

It is not well known by now about how anthocyanin exactly works, either by itself alone or serving a component of a more complicated sequence, but it works. Anthocyanin makes the body stronger. Eat berries. Find marijuana edible recipes of berry deserts and weed cheesecakes by this link: The Cookbook App by Chef420

How To Make The Weed Purple

Exposure to cold

Exactly the thing happening when summer turns into fall when all plants change leaves to yellow and red: all plants produce Anthocyanin when the temperatures drop.

Beware, too much cold may affect the quantity of buds. We’d recommend doing it in the last couple of weeks of flowering. To make it cold low down the night temperature to 60 degrees.

Basically any stress provoke anthocyanin increase in plants, the cold is one of such. The science does not know for sure, by far, but this may serve as some sort of explanation why it helps against health issues, right because plant just do the same when synthesize the anthocyanin in itself, and it works to suppress a stress, illness or cold or a wrong nutrition. Exposure of the cannabis plant to colder temperatures shall make buds more purple, the “how long” and “how cold” can be a more tricky technology, but the basic idea is to expose the plant to the cold.

Anthocyanin as a genetics property

Genetic food engineering uses anthocyanin as a visual marker, as soon as this is a quite forgiving genetic material easy to deal with (sources say so, I don’t know))). And then it may be yet another reason for purple buds – the genetically determined amount of anthocyanin in a certain strain.

Anthocyanin color from PH

Anthocyanin is very sensible to the PH level (and this is another stress for the plant too), and the colourful compound is degraded to none in an environment with a higher PH. It changes it colour as soon as PH level changes, it can be red in acidic (pH < 7), purple in neutral (pH = 7), yellow with greenish in alkaline (pH > 7). Can serve as the natural PH indicator either.


This is how you get the amount of Purple into the trichomes of your weed. And here the following is about what else to do with it:

Where Else?

Except in marijuana flowers, and especially those showing a lot of purple color, high amounts of anthocyanin are found. Alternatively, anthocyanin is present berries and fruits showing magenta, red and blue colors.

Except in marijuana Anthocyanin is found in Raspberry and Blackberry

Except in marijuana Anthocyanin is found in Grapes

Except in marijuana Anthocyanin is found in red oranges

Anthocyanin carriers can be also red cabbage, cauliflower, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, red oranges aka blood oranges, cherry, eggplant, black peas, blackcurrant, etc. Everything demonstrating an obvious cyan and/or purple tones in color. You may notice, a lot of cyan component in overall color of what is on the pictures is visually dominating.

More of scientific stuff about anthocyanin can be found on the NIH, the US national institute of health, you maybe enjoy this one Anthocyanin and human health, an in vitro investigative approach or this one Anthocyanin the comprehensive review of chemichal properties. And a very special one is for to start your dig up on anthocyanin in fruits and plants: Anthocyanins, more than nature’s colors

Cooking weed and berries together

You should try, a little headache with cannabutter if you are a first timer, then ll go smooth. Imagine a cheesecake or a cookie which contain both blueberry weed and blueberries, or, say, raspberries — oh! ho! ho!

A Tall Ship Loaded with Weed? Ha, this is the THC-Infused Cheesecake runs high over the waves

Download the Cookbook app Edible Recipes by Chef420