Moisture Content & Curing
Hundreds of factors could potentially affect your toking experience. From physical elements such as your smoking circle to more technical factors like the terpene profile, it’s important to take note of your preferences in order to curate the best possible experience for yourself every single time.
We’ve already shared everything you need to know about terpenes and how they affect your experience (If you haven’t read our Terpene 101 blog post yet, you can do so here!); however, understanding moisture content & curing is just another important technical element that will level up your cannabis knowledge and help you to make the best decisions while placing your next order.
But before we get too ahead of ourselves and share how moisture content and curing affects your overall experience, we need to first explain…
What is Curing?
If you’ve seen a live marijuana plant, you’ll notice that the leaves look quite a bit different from the nugs in your HyperWolf jar. This is because the weed you’ve purchased has already been cured.
The curing process involves aging and drying the harvested cannabis leaves in order to allow the sugars and chlorophyll within the plant to decay, as well as to monitor and control the moisture content — but more on that later.
In addition to guaranteeing a cleaner, smoother smoke, cannabis cultivation requires a very specialized and specific curing process for quality control purposes because curing the weed properly ensures that mold and other toxic pathogens are unable to grow.
What is Moisture Content?
If you’ve already assumed that moisture content is simply the amount of water in cannabis flower, then you’d be correct! Measuring the moisture content is absolutely essential to determining if the flower is dry enough to be consumed or to begin the process of creating a cured resin concentrate (more on that here).
Ideally, the moisture content should stay within 10 to 12 percent. Above 12% leaves the flower vulnerable to mold, below 10% will result in dry, crumbly nugs.
While measuring moisture content is essential in the initial growing and cultivation process, it’s equally important in the preservation and packaging process as well. In order to maintain optimal moisture, prevent terpene loss, and preserve flavor and aroma, we include Boveda 2-way humidity control packs in every jar of flower.
Moisture + Terpenes
It’s no secret that we’re very passionate about terpenes; after all, they play one of the most important roles in defining your overall experience. But how do the terpenes and moisture content work together?
Properly curing the cannabis flower and closely monitoring the moisture content not only guarantees optimal freshness, but it preserves all the good stuff — the trichomes, the terpenes, the texture, and the therapeutic benefits.
If done correctly, the cannabinoid and terpene-dense trichomes will remain intact; preserving the flavor, aroma, and potency of the flower.
Both growers and consumers are affected by moisture content and curing. These technical factors define your experience, determine your high, and play a huge role in the overall safety of your cannabis. If you’re not already hyper-aware of these factors, we encourage you to do your research moving forward in order to guarantee that you’re smoking the freshest and safest flower.
