How to Keep Your Cannabis Buds Fresh For A Long Time?

You’ve just got your hands on some fantastic buds, but you want to save them for later. 

You toss them in a plastic bag and leave them next to your TV. 

It’s cool if you have just a few buds, but anything above a quarter warrants safe-keeping unless you’re okay to smoke degraded bud. 

Cannabis plants are grown with a lot of care, but it’s equally important to store them carefully, so they remain fresh and offer a pleasant experience. 

The way you store your buds will decide how they perform.  

This article will show you how to keep your buds in mint condition. Period. 

Why Keeping the Buds Fresh Matters

Keeping your buds fresh is essential for a good smoking experience. If the buds are too wet, it may be difficult to roll them into joints and smoke them. Plus, wet buds are prone to mold and mildew that adversely affect your health.  

Many people wonder if it’s alright to smoke moldy cannabis. After all, only a few buds “look” like mold while the rest of the stash looks fine, right?

Wrong. Even if your buds look fine, fine mold spores can remain on them and irritate your throat. If your immune system is already compromised, you’ll have to face some severe consequences, from sinus pain to wheezing and lung congestion. 

Therefore, rather than taking a chance with moldy bud, why not store it properly, so you don’t risk your precious health at all? Moisture is your bud’s biggest enemy, so keep it safe to ensure you’re safe too.  

On the other hand, if you leave your cannabis buds out in the open, they will dry out, lose most of their terpenes and flavor and become brittle. In addition, due to terpene loss, they taste nothing like cannabis, not to mention their inability to produce desired effects. 

Balancing the Moisture

The cannabis buds must be a bit moist and sticky for the correct experience, but too wet (read: soggy) or dry is terrible. So what do you do if your new buds are too moist or dry? Follow these tricks.

Adding Moisture to Dried Buds

If your buds have dried out, you will notice they are brittle and break with a crunching sound. You don’t want to smoke those as it would be akin to smoking a cigarette — no flavor or high.

To add moisture to dried cannabis buds, try these tricks:

1. Place iceberg lettuce or orange peels with the buds in a container to introduce some moisture; however, many users report that this approach is tricky. Firstly, we don’t know how the water in lettuce or orange reacts with cannabis. And secondly, letting the peels stay in the container for more than 12 hours will invite mold. Last but not least, the peels can change the aroma and flavor of your buds. Therefore, do not use the peels for more than 8 hours to be on the safer side. 

2. Wrap wet cotton balls in tin foil with some holes for ventilation and place them in the buds jar for a few hours to increase moisture in the container

3. Place a fresh, moist bud into the container with other dried buds for a while

Removing Moisture from Soggy Buds

On the contrary, if you want to remove moisture, it’s relatively easy. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Place the buds in a bowl of rice; the rice would osmotically pull moisture from the buds.

2. Tightly wrap buds in paper towels or toilet paper and leave them in a well-ventilated, dry area. As long as the paper is in contact with the buds, it will pull moisture, and ventilation will avoid mold development.

3. You can even use Boveda packs in the container as they are pretty effective at pulling moisture out of their immediate surroundings.

Tips on Keeping Your Buds Fresh

You’ve balanced the moisture levels on your cannabis buds — they are just sticky enough without being soggy or dry — but now, you want to store them. Use these tips to store them well for the long term.

• Use the Right Container

Using the right container is critical to storing cannabis. You can use glass jars with lids or medicine bottles. You can even invest in titanium containers, but those are expensive.

Glass jars are quite economical for storing as they create an artificial airlocked environment for the buds. The airlock prevents mold and prevents the air from seeping in or out. Here, jars with rubber seals are the best. Just ensure the jars are completely dry and devoid of moisture.

However, even with glass jars, you need to be careful about UV light. Ultraviolet light degrades your cannabis buds. So, even if you use mason glass jars and store them anywhere near bright light, your buds will be susceptible to damage. Thus, the best option is to go for opaque glass bottles that are air-tight and block light from passing through the jar. 

Medicine bottles also make terrific containers for buds. They are designed to keep the contents safe from contamination and moisture. Plus, they are convenient to carry around. However, sanitize and dry the containers before storing buds to avoid contamination. 

• Store in a Dark Place

Choose dark locations to store cannabis. Your kitchen cupboard is just ideal, as long as it blocks light. Light exposure can cause the buds to degrade as it dries out the terpenes, leading to flavor and aroma loss. This would make your buds lose their potency and become harsh to smoke. 

Plus, the light will gradually convert cannabinoids like THC to CBN. CBN or cannabinol can make you sleepy, but it doesn’t produce the effects you’re expecting from THC. In fact, many companies deliberately expose their buds to air and light to derive CBN. Although it’s preferable for medicinal cannabis users, it’s not desirable if you want THC. 

• Avoid Heat Exposure

Similarly, heat is also bad for cannabis buds. The terpenes start evaporating in high temperatures affecting the buds’ flavor, potency, and aroma. Ideally, you should store the buds below 70°F or 21°C to keep them fresh. 

• Use humidification systems

A humidification system sounds super complicated, but it’s nothing but a humidity packet or a sachet like Boveda. Boveda is a famous brand that manufactures “Humidipak,” used to store guitars, but it works for cannabis as well. 

Moreover, Humidipaks have a two-way moisture control system that maintains 59 to 63% RH or Relative Humidity to keep your buds as fresh as possible. So, if the buds become wet, Humidipak will absorb the moisture, but it will also release moisture if the buds are too dry! You don’t have to use humidifiers or other equipment to store your buds if you purchase these little packers of freshness. Of course, you will have to replace them at least once in 2-3 months, but it’s well worth the cost because wet or dry weed equates to wasted money. 

Unless you’re fixing dry or moist cannabis buds, you need to keep moisture under control. Air-tight containers are a must to avoid buds from coming in contact with organic matter. 

• Never Freeze Your Buds

Some cannabis users prefer to keep their buds in a deep freezer to keep them fresh, but this does not work. Low temperatures can dry out the buds and make them go bad faster than usual. And placing cannabis in your refrigerator increases the chances of contamination because we open and shut the fridge doors numerous times a day.

Moreover, icy temperatures can make the trichomes brittle, which means the buds lose their potency quickly. Sure, you can still use the trichomes as kief or dry ice hash, but the buds will not be up to the mark. Therefore, rather than subjecting the buds to extremely low temperatures by freezing them, it’s better to store them in a dark, cool area to preserve their freshness. 

• Do not store your buds in plastic bags

It's a bad idea to store your buds in plastic bags. Typically, the plastic will degrade the trichomes — a situation similar to storing the buds in the freezer. Over time, you are likely to end up with very low potency buds.

In addition, plastic is notorious for containing chemicals that can leach into the buds. For instance, plastic with bisphenol-A or BPA, is incredibly harmful and leaches chemicals into the buds. The problem is that BPA is used in manufacturing many types of plastic, and since you don't know the exact ingredients used to make your plastic bag, you can never be sure about its safety. Therefore, it's best to avoid plastic of all kinds.

However, if you have no other choice other than using plastic bags, it's best to remove the air from the bags and seal them to keep the buds as fresh as possible. You can also vacuum seal the buds to extend their shelf life.

Summary: How to Keep Your Cannabis Buds Fresh For A Long Time?

Many cannabis lovers overlook the importance of storing their buds properly. But if you want to keep your buds’ potency, flavor, and aroma intact, you must learn how to store them properly. 

Remember these things for proper storage:

• The container must be air-tight and completely dry.
• Use opaque containers that block light as much as possible. 
• Use two-way humidification systems like Humidipak that absorb and release moisture as required. 
• Store the container in a dark, well-ventilated environment.
• The ideal storage temperature must be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Never freeze your buds or let them come in contact with organic materials.

Follow these tips mentioned above, and you can store your cannabis buds for a long time.