Bud Weight?

Plants will lose around 3/4 of their weight before they are fully cured and good to go.

from the time you trim it to the time its ready to smoke, the average is 80% weight loss. and yes, its always best to slow dry it

yeah, losing 2/3-3/4 their weight sounds about right...Depends on how much water they recieved before the chop too, or if you're in soil or hydro.

i see there's a lot to consider here..question though...

are many of you particular as to how dry your bud is before you consume it? any disadvantages to smokin' when it's just starting to cure?

How dry and cured it needs to be is a matter of opinion, you could smoke as soon as you get it off the vine (DON'T). Drying happens first and (of course) takes out the moisture from the plant making it easier to burn, and it's usually done when you can easily snap your stems (1-3 weeks usually). Curing is the remaining moisture moving from the stems in to the bud, it makes your buds stonier, stickier, and smoother smoking, it can be done in as little as about 2 weeks or can continue as long as a year, but generally the longer you give it the smoother it smokes.

But basically the disadvantages to smoking as it just starts to cure are that it'll be harsher, possibly less potent, and it might steam a bit when you light it.

thanx hashyb! i figured it was ok but the quality would be much better over time. Its still too moist.

thanx again.

remember that when you dry it, you need to seal it in a zip lock bag or something to allow the moisture thats still in the stem to "sweat" out. so...

you chop the plant, trim the buds, throw the buds on a screen or whatever to dry. once they feel dry and crispy, with snapping stems, put the buds in a sealed zip lock and let it sit for about 12 hours. open it up, and you'll notice the buds are wet again. let the bag sit open until the buds feel dry again. close the bag again. check 12 hours later. keep repeating this process until there is no more moisture in to "sweat" out. usually takes anywhere between 3-6 days, depending on the humidity and tempurature of the room you're drying/sweating in