Drying and Curing Your Cannabis with Swami Select | EP10
Topics
Introduction — After the Harvest 0:12
Drying — Environment, Duration & When It's Ready 0:36
Brown Paper Wrapping & Equalising Moisture 0:59
Curing — Burping, Airflow & Patience 1:32
Trimming & How to Use the Rest 2:19
Long-Term Storage & Aged Cannabis 2:54
Outro 4:04
Video Transcript
Follow along using the transcript
[00:12] Done all the hard work nurturing your plants from seed to veg to flower to harvest — you'll soon be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Welcome back to How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors with Nikki and Swami.
[00:36] Drying takes from 10 days to two weeks depending on outside humidity and temperature inside the drying room. The ideal is 60°F and 60% humidity with good airflow. Branches are ready to come down and be bucked to a shorter length for storage when the smaller twigs snap rather than bend.
[00:59] Once dry enough, we bring the branches down from drying and wrap them in brown craft paper — preferably unbleached — like a burrito. The brown paper helps equalise the moisture content of the various branches. This is where having a few leaves left on the buds protects the delicate trichomes until the flower is trimmed. Tubs can be reused year after year — just make sure to clean them out well before the new crop goes in.
[01:32] For just a few plants, brown paper grocery bags work very well. Once the buds are bucked and put into their containers, put them in a cool dark place where they're still accessible — they'll need to be burped every other day or so. Burping is the act of opening the bag for a moment and letting air in, creating an air exchange vital to the curing process. It prevents condensation building on your buds and replaces the damp air with fresh, drier air — allowing more moisture to seep from the buds slowly, evenly, and deliciously.
[02:19] After seven months of loving care, feeding, and watering your girls — and at least a month of curing after harvest — the beautiful dried flowers are ready to trim and smoke. Be sure to save the trim and shake to make cannabutter, canna oil, or tinctures at home.
[02:54] For my personal taste, I don't really like to smoke the new harvest until late January or early February, when it really has cured. If cured properly and stored in airtight glass containers in a cool dark place, the flower should be at its peak for a year or more. I actually prefer what I call aged or matured cannabis — cured for at least eight or nine months. Now light up and enjoy — you've earned it. Better yet, share your flowers with your friends.
[04:04] Hey home growers. I'm Parker Curtis from Homegrown Cannabis Co. Thanks for watching How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors with Nikki and Swami. Grab your seeds at homegrowncannabisco.com and use promo code SWAMI10 for 10% off. See you in the garden.
Drying and curing are the final steps that separate average cannabis from something truly special. In EP10 — the concluding episode of the outdoor growing series with Swami Select and Homegrown Cannabis Co. — Nikki and Swami share their approach to hang-drying freshly harvested cannabis and the long cure that develops full terpene expression and a smooth smoke. From drying environment and duration to brown paper wrapping, burping schedules, and long-term airtight storage.
