By now you’ve probably heard the basics: find a cool dark place and put your weed in an airtight mason jar. This has been the stoner mantra for years, and only recently, we learned that there is one more element that can sustain or even enhance your weed’s flavor and it’s commonly overlooked. That element is moisture, and contrary to many innocent posts on various marijuana related forums, moisture is not the enemy, it’s actually your bud’s…bud. Moisture has the power to keep the trichomes from losing water, otherwise known as evaporative loss. This is key to maintaing flavor and taste, given that the terpenes (which make up 10% of the bud) reside among the oily trichome glands. When these trichomes dry out, the bud becomes brittle and stale. While some people are perfectly fine with smoking or vaporizing dry bud, others may experience a harsher smoke and detect less flavor. For those who appreciate the full-body taste and aroma, it’s best to keep your bud fluffy.
In order to get that sticky bounce to your bud, for example when you pinch it, it doesn’t break apart, you need to add an element of moisture to your storage containers. There are several common traits your storage method should include, so here is the best way to store weed:
- Use an airtight mason jar and add Boveda® packs and keep it in a dark cupboard away from any light.
- Us an airtight box, like the Cannador® or your makeshift stashbox, so long as it’s airtight, and add a humidity element such as the Humidity Bead System® or Boveda® packs. Make sure to separate strains so they’re not touching each other. Some strains have volatile aromatic compounds that can affect each others’ tastes if they rub up against each other.
- Whether you use glass, metal or wood, make sure it’s airtight and keep the relative humidity (RH) between 55% to 62%.
There are few studies that have been conducted on cannabis storage and potency, which we discuss here: cannador.com/weed-storage and from this information, we can rule out certain practices that will not keep your weed fresh. Here are some of the worst ways to store weed:
- Keeping weed in a freezer. This will make the trichomes dry and brittle, and will break off, leaving your weed tasteless.
- Keeping weed in an Altoids tin cans. These tin cans let in too much oxygen, which degrades THC over time. Furthermore, without a humidity element, your buds will dry out. This method is okay for the short term, but no more than a week.
- Keeping weed in rolled up sandwich bags. If there’s no sealer, such as those on Ziploc® bags, then your weed is exposed to oxygen and potentially dry air. This method might be okay for a day or two, especially if you live in a moist climate like Hawaii or Florida, but certainly not in any arid climates like California, Nevada or Colorado.
We know the prices of weed are not cheap these days, especially for those rare strains, so if you don’t use all of your weed in one day, make sure to invest in the proper storage methods to keep flavor, potency and freshness.