okay, so something like "Cannatrol"
You can DIY a thermoelectric wine cooler (not a 'condensor' type) -- need to make sure it selas up properly to control RH% with some boveday 2-way packs -- just like cigars in a humidor... but those packs have limits as far as how much it can absorb, so you need to dry to some level first before using equipment liek this... The humidity control packs can only absorbe so much moisture before it stops doing so due to physical limit.
Think freeze drying would remove all or nearly all of the moisture.. which might be fine for long term vacuum sealed storag (big maybe?), but not great for anything you intend to smoke without reconstituting with some moisture. Cured weed has the "right" amount of moisture, not devoid of it.
in my experience if it dries too fast it impacts results... may or may not be true. others tend to feel same way, but i have enough humility that if testing is done that proves otheriwise, i'd drop that belief like a bad habit. so many factors invovled, and easily confused as to what causes what.
"also reading that the buds are light and airy -" -- if true this makes sense... law of conservation of mass... if it doesn't shrink, it is less dense. mass is neither manifesting nor disappearing (water loss through evaporation, but still exists elsewhere). if the remaining bud mass doesn't shrink, it's still the same mass without the water = > less dense resulting nugs. (maybe bad or good, i'm not guessing on that... taste test would tell you everything... forgot what it looks like.. that's not relevant to smoke quality)