I decided to take the very last sample before harvest and document the drying & curing process and fill you in on the taste and smoothness of the smoke. I made a simple drying box out of these post office shippers that I have. I cut two openings on each side for airflow and left the box topless only because I slide it under my couch which blocks the light from above.
Drying & Curing
I started the process by snipping off one of the smallest of the most mature shoots and began to trim and manicure it. Some people like to keep the fan leaves on for the beginning of the process but I chose to remove all of them and trimmed off some of the bud leaves to give the buds a uniform look.
Next I wrapped the end of the stem around one of the strings inside the drying box and used a paper clip to secure it. For the first day I chose to have minimal airflow by allowing only free moving air to enter the drying box. I'm sure you can get away with putting indirect airflow on the buds from the very first moment but I am going to introduce the airflow slowly starting the second day.
Starting today and soon to be a daily routine, I pulled out the dryer box and turn the bud 180 degrees just to keep the drying process even. I will continue to do this once a day for each day of the drying process.
I have attached day one's photographs.
- The bud straight freshly cut off the plant
- Overall shot of the shoot trimmed
- After the manicure
- Overall shot of the dryer box
- Close-up of the secured baby
- Hanging out to dry
- My custom lid for the glass jar I converted into my curing jar (i was high and bored, leave me alone! haha. it was too perfect to pass up and i had paint markers to waste)
- The jar itself
I will document each day of the process along with pictures and info in case anybody cares to see the first sample cured and smoked! Thanks for looking.