What is The Best Way to Store Marijuana?

Welcome to thegreengold.org, the cannabis for everyone site, where we provide a judgment free zone to learn and talk all about cannabis. In previous articles I have talked a lot about the effects of cannabis and how to consume it. I talked about the different kinds of cannabis, and what they do. However, I did not go over the importance of preserving your cannabis. This leads to the question, what is the best way to store marijuana? This is not medical or legal advice, and is written for educational purposes only.

So, you have bought your medicine. You get home and open it up, you pull out a nug of marijuana with excitement, but you notice it feels hard and dry. Normally, cannabis that has been stored properly has a stickiness to it. You have gotten marijuana that wasn’t stored properly. It is important to store your cannabis properly so that it doesn’t dry out. Once cannabis has dried out it isn’t dangerous or bad for you. However, it isn’t nearly as enjoyable as properly stored cannabis.

Dry, but not too dry.

marijuana is grown either outside, or inside in a controlled environment. Both of these ways are adequate, and the biggest difference is that you can grow all year round in any climate with an indoor grow. Therefore, being able to produce more cannabis year round.

whether grown inside or outside, once ready the marijuana is harvested. After harvest, it is hung to dry. Wait… hold the boat, I thought you said you don’t want dry marijuana? I did say this, however, cannabis is entirely too moist to consume when it is first cut off the plant. It is not likely to burn very well, and more than likely it will not smoke very well either. I know, I know, what about those movies like ted 2? the ones where they just happen to stumble upon a hidden weed farm, and they smoke the weed. It seems like this wonderful thing, but this couldn’t be more wrong.

in fact, do me a favor. If you ever stumble across a marijuana field, don’t just pick the marijuana off the plant and smoke it. One, you have no clue it could be hemp, or not even in a stage where it is ready to be consumed. This is not the movies, there are many obvious reasons not to just pick and smoke someone elses cannabis. But, if you are wondering how it would be I’m here to tell you not very good.

So, cannabis has to be dried to a point before it is processed and consumed. Usually, they try to keep it around 62% humidity in the drying room or area. Once the marijuana is dried, they then cure it. This means it is put into a jar or an air tight container. then they are burped every day or two for two weeks to cure. It is after this point that marijuana is at it’s best! now, you just have to store it in a way that preserves this stage of the process.

The worst way to store marijuana.

After the curing process, marijuana can be stored in a couple different containers, that will help preserve it’s moistness and potency. We will highlight a couple of the options I have found to be the most effective here, but first lets talk about the worst way to store marijuana. Which also happens to be the most common way.

The famous zip lock baggy. Really, any thin plastic baggie. This is what people usually receive “street weed” in. marijuana bought on the street is illegal even if you live in a state where marijuana is recreationally legal. However, this is how an ounce of marijuana got it’s most famous name, a whole zip. A zip means I want a whole ounce or in other words fill that whole zip lock baggie up. Therefore, getting the name a whole zip or just a zip. As cool as it sounds, this is the worst way to store marijuana.

The best ways to store marijuana.

As I discussed early, cannabis is at it’s best right after it has been cured. So, how do you preserve that stage of the cannabis. The best thing you could do, is keep it in the same jar it cured in until it is fully consumed. However, that’s not always practical. So, lets look at some very reliable options for keeping your cannabis as fresh as possible.

Jar- Whether the same jar it was cured in or a different jar, I have found a jar to be the best way to store cannabis. Obviously you want to make sure it is an air tight jar. If your jar has air leaks your marijuana could dry out.

Cannabis grade bag- These come in the form of a very upgraded zip lock baggie. They can be 10 times thicker, and they usually have a way better zip locking system on them than a typical plastic baggie. A good way to tell if it’s a good bag or not, is if you can smell the marijuana through it. If you can, then there are air leaks, and it is not a good baggie. If you can’t smell it, then it is probably a good bag to store your cannabis in.

I also like to put 2 way humidity packs in with my cannabis, whether I store it in a jar or a really good bag. While the bags and jars I use are usually air tight, I still like to use the humidity packs for a couple reasons. One of those is that they regulate the humidity not just add it. therefore, they won’t let the humidity get too high which could be bad thing as well. As we discussed earlier wet weed is harder to consume. Not only that, but it could also get moldy rendering it useless.

You can save it!

You cannot save moldy marijuana. If your marijuana has become moldy, then It is best that you throw it away. You can, however, save marijuana that has become too dry. There are a couple of different ways that you could go about this.

The old-fashioned way- A tried and true way to rehydrate your marijuana, and one that I have used personally in the  past, is on the stove. No, I don’t want you to cook your marijuana… first you put some water on the stove, and let it get to a boil. Then, you put the marijuana in a strainer, and hold it over the boiling water for a few minutes. After this, lay the nuggets of marijuana out on a paper towel for 10 minutes. Boom you have rehydrated your marijuana. Make sure to put it in an air tight jar or baggie afterwards to preserve it’s new-found moistness.

The new and easy way- You could get into all that, or you can buy and use the same humidity packs that I discussed  earlier. Again you want to make sure you are using an airtight container. However, if you put marijuana that has become  too dry in an air tight container with a 2 way humidity pack, let it sit for a day or 2, it will become rehydrated once again.

I hope this was helpful

Personally, when I first started to smoke marijuana, one of the things I didn’t like was how dry it always was. I didn’t realize at the time why it was so dry or how I could fix. Now I do know, and I hope that my knowledge of this will help you have a more enjoyable experience with marijuana. Since I’ve started using 2 way humidity packs and proper storage, my smoking experience has gone to the next level. I hope that yours will too.

You can check out some great storage options here. However, if you are buying from a dispensary their containers are normally sufficient, but not always. So, make sure you do the smell test!

thank you for reading, and feel free to leave any comments or questions below. I would be happy to help in any way that I can.