by Greg Green
Curing
As soon as the branches are brittle you should consider canning your bud. Canning is a great way to get the most from your bud. Find a can with a removable lid. The more cans you have the better. Using a pair of scissors, clip your bud from the branch and put it into the can. The branches and stem are not much good to you. They do contain THC, but only in small quantities. Most stem and branches go in the bin.
Now take the can and place it a room or cupboard that is dark. Everyday open the lid for a few hours (6 hours is good) and then close the lid again. Also shake the bud around a bit every couple of days. This is the most common curing technique out there and it does do its job well. Bud that is cured well smokes the best! I would give the canning process between 3 – 4 weeks before you should really sample your goods.
8 weeks old bud can smoke extremely well and year old bud is vintage stuff but can loose potency. Fresh bud (8 weeks canned curing) is the pinnacle point of cured bud. After that some of the THC cannabinoids change composition and become different cannabinoid compounds. Fresh bud is far better than aged bud. You may find other curing processes out there, but canning does work wonders and is cheap to do.