Smell of Trim Vs Bud

Ok, so I’ll try to keep this concise, and give some of the details in shorthand haha

firewater strain > 8 weeks flowering > wet trim > 7 days drying in garage at natures whim.

The process was the same for both. The trim was drying in open cardboard boxes and the bud hanging in open air. A small fan was on low, not blowing on all bud and trim.

When I put the trim and bud into jars, the rh has been at a pretty consistent 63-65% in the jars for the past 5 days.

Here’s the thing: my trim smells wonderful - almost like a chocolate kind of smell.
My bud doesn’t have the classic hay or cut grass smell, but the smell the trim has just isn’t there. although as it cures it’s slowly coming forward.

But I’m wondering why they’re so different when they were treated so similarly? Any ideas?

The only thing I can think of is that the trim dried a little slower in a big clump. On the other hand, it was all smaller material so I could also guess just as easily that it dried faster haha

I think I need someone with more experience to teach me.

How long have your buds been in jars? It’s take time to properly cure weed.

6 days now. The bud is progressing nicely with its smell developing.

but I’m less asking about how curing changes the smells and more about why my trim and bud smell incredibly different at the same stage. The trim smells “done” and the bud does not.

did it dry faster or slower? Less airflow? Has anyone else observed this or is it some weird anomaly?

If I had to guess I say trim dryed faster and buds are still not dry

The RH in your jars is way too high for my liking. I've found the same thing as you...a bag of larf that had double the terpenes of my "cured" jar weed. Now I still dry "low and slow" -under 70 deg and at 55% RH, but I've found I like the flavor of bud that has been dried more than the 58%-63% usual recommendations, it seems to hold on to better, sharper tasting terpenes. I also switched to Grove bags and loved them after the first use-the buds turn out exactly as I want them too, fresh clean potent terps!

Rurumo said:

The RH in your jars is way too high for my liking. I've found the same thing as you...a bag of larf that had double the terpenes of my "cured" jar weed. Now I still dry "low and slow" -under 70 deg and at 55% RH, but I've found I like the flavor of bud that has been dried more than the 58%-63% usual recommendations, it seems to hold on to better, sharper tasting terpenes. I also switched to Grove bags and loved them after the first use-the buds turn out exactly as I want them too, fresh clean potent terps!

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Lots of opinions on RH for curing. I’ve seen 60-65% RH probably more than any other, but on the other hand, I’ve smoked or vaped a lot of mediocre weed, so you might be onto something, especially as you are also after those “sharper” tasting terps. Saw someone else referring to around 58% today as more flavourful as well.

It’s likely enough that ppl just regurgitate what they’ve heard and got used to “hay to yay” during curing and not realize that perhaps the period of unimpressive smell is not a mandatory stage in curing. I also wonder if some of these methods were created before more knowledge of terps etc was around and people actually may have wanted less stinky weed due to it being illegal etc. not realizing that smell is more than just how it smells.

I’ll dry them more thoroughly if the weather behaves and see what kind of a difference that makes.
Cheers!

I've just today put my buds into buckets to cure after 18/19 days drying at 20/22c 59/61% the buds are still springy but dry, after two hours in the bucket the humidity is 62%

I adjusted the humidity as i went initially removing the bulk of the humidity then slowing it down using my cycle timer, dehumidifier and extractor fan.

That chocolate smell is a plant matter smell more than a volatile terp or a flavor. A pentanal, pyrazine or valeraldehyde compound. Cousins of hay and some of the bakery aromas. Alot of strains harvested with the dark leaves smell like chocolate after vaped. No chocolate flavor. While others smell like broiled chicken skins or burnt buttered popcorn etc. Who knows what breeders are doing, trying to avoid the hay. I grew out sfv x Chem 4 and it smelled like cookies for a while before smelling like orange Starburst og.

I've noticed the same as OP. Only other variable that might play a role is that the trichomes on the trim are far more ripe than your bud because that's the nature of them. Sugar leaf 99/100 always turns amber before the bud.

Cannabinoid Froyd said:

I've noticed the same as OP. Only other variable that might play a role is that the trichomes on the trim are far more ripe than your bud because that's the nature of them. Sugar leaf 99/100 always turns amber before the bud.

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thats an interesting idea!

the buds have developed nicely since I originally posted this. the effects are above reproach right now. I even had some relatively vivid visual effects with my eyes closed, then I got a nice sleep after I went to sleep 1.5 hrs later. Everything I hope for, basically! Only one more thing; waiting for some of the harshness to go away. It’s not too bad, but it can improve and I know it will since I’m only a week or so into the cure.

success!

it’s a few months later but I thought I should report in and say that the smell the trim had definitely came to the bud stash after 7 weeks of curing. At least that’s the week that I took note anyway.
But yeah, cool how curing can bring out the smells. It also got hella smooth. Oh yea

After learning about this in the interim, I’d say the trim dried extra fast and it’s dryness meant the terpenes were just evaporating really fast, hence the smell.

During curing none of my bud smelled that much of anything. But I was at pretty good RH levels of like 58-60%. At that like 6-8 week interval they all dropped another percent or so and then the smell came back.

Seems smell and RH are connected in some way, mostly through easier evaporation of terpenes at lower RH’s. But the biological processes during curing complicate it so it’s hard to just guess what’s happening.

the smells are really enjoyable and very different with each plant. Great hobby for a guy like me.

The main thing is that all my weed turning out great this year. Thanks for the help and info everyone! I’m going out to vape some of this stuff right now

You're smelling terpene molecules in the air. Trim turns bone dry quickly and dry brittle molecules breaking off working their way into your nostrils. Flowers having decent moisture is degrading and losing molecules(terps)much slower, so less smell.

Yep that’s essentially what I’m saying.

Except that the terpenes evaporating is a process of a liquid turning into a gas vs molecules “breaking off” a solid into the gas phase. That’s a process called sublimation FWIW.

Rurumo said:

The RH in your jars is way too high for my liking. I've found the same thing as you...a bag of larf that had double the terpenes of my "cured" jar weed. Now I still dry "low and slow" -under 70 deg and at 55% RH, but I've found I like the flavor of bud that has been dried more than the 58%-63% usual recommendations, it seems to hold on to better, sharper tasting terpenes. I also switched to Grove bags and loved them after the first use-the buds turn out exactly as I want them too, fresh clean potent terps!

Click to expand...

+ another for the Grove Bags switch. That's all I use anymore

10 bucks off link. Makes shipping free