If you’ve gone out of your way to getting your hands on a good strain, you don’t want to waste it by storing it badly and ruining the potency. And while weed doesn’t exactly have a hard and fast use by date, you still don’t want to find yourself with stale and weak weed on your hands.
Weed packaging has, for the most part, come a long way from the days of plastic baggies. Most dispensaries now provide slightly better containers that might boast a harvest date, but rarely have a use by. So, you have to take care of home storage to keep potency high.
If you don’t understand the point of good storage, then expect to find your weed losing quality due to air and light exposure. Or you can read this guide, and find the best ways to keep weed fresh.
Why Does Storage Matter?
If you’ve been happy with the quality and potency of your plastic sandwich bag weed, you might not understand why storage matters. But improperly stored weed can not only lose its potency, but it can also be a real health concern. Here’s why you need to take some care when storing your weed:
Humidity
Moisture and humidity are one of the worst things about weed. When cannabis gets moist, it can become a breeding ground for mold and mildew. This means that your bud will start smelling funky and could even turn into something dangerous.
Smoking or vaping moldy weed could have a serious effect on the health of your lungs (as well as being generally very gross).
But that doesn’t mean all humidity is bad. Without enough moisture, the bud will start to dry out and degrade.
The ideal humidity level for weed is from 59% to 63% if you plan on smoking it. If you prefer to vape, humidity should be around 54%.
Temperature
You want to avoid high temperatures when it comes to storing weed. Too high can either dry your weed out or encourage the growth of mold, depending on the moisture in the air.
Despite that, you don’t want to put your weed in the freezer. Freezing is good for making tinctures or edibles, but not so good for smoking. Freezing causes trichome resin to drop off, ruining the smoking potential.
The ideal temperature is somewhere around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Light
Exposure to light is one of the worst things you can do to your weed. It will cause it to degrade quickly, turning THCA into THC, and then into CBN. This will cause your weed to lose its potency, and deliver more of a sleepy calm than a real buzz.
Ideally, you want to keep your weed in an opaque container, where the light can’t get in. This will keep it fresh for as long as possible.
Oxygen
The final key to storage is to control the amount of oxygen that gets in. Like light, oxygen can cause the potency to degrade quickly. It will convert those cannabinoids, dulling the quality of the weed. Oxygen can also affect the smell, giving a stronger grassy odor.
How To Store Weed To Keep It Fresh
Now you know exactly why it’s important to store your weed properly, so it’s time to learn how to do it. Unsurprisingly, plastic baggies don’t make the list.
Glass Mason Jars
The airtight seal of a mason jar has made it a popular choice for weed storage. It’s easy to control the humidity and oxygen exposure with a mason jar (which is why they’re so often used for foodstuff).
Mason jars are great because they allow you to see what’s inside, which makes them easier to use for identification purposes. They’re also pretty cheap, so you won’t break the bank buying them.
Ideally, you should use opaque mason jars, rather than clear mason jars. The transparent kind lets light in, causing the weed to degrade. If you do use a transparent jar, make sure to keep it in the dark.
Also, consider the size. A few nugs at the bottom of a big jar are locked in with a lot of oxygen and will start to lose potency. Pick the size of the jar based on the size of your stash.
Old Medicine Bottles
Medicine bottles are designed to limit the influx of oxygen, light, and humidity so that medicines stay untainted and potent. The same principles apply no matter what you store in there, making old medicine bottles a fantastic place to keep a small stash.
Titanium Containers
Metal containers can be good for storage because they block out light and lower the flow of oxygen. The best metal to use is titanium, particularly if you’ve chosen a strain with an excellent flavor and aroma. Titanium doesn’t allow any flavors to get lost, nor does it impart any flavor of its own.
Weed Humidors
One for a real connoisseur, the weed humidor is specifically designed for safe storage to keep weed fresh. They’re a little pricey, but they’re specifically designed to keep weed at the perfect temperature and humidity. Made of wood, they also block out harmful UV lights.
Don’t use tobacco humidors, as these are generally set at too high a humidity. Also, tobacco humidors tend to use different materials, which can mess with the resin.
A weed humidor is expensive, but it really is the best thing for long term storage.
The Container It Came In
When a grower has spent a long time tending, harvesting, drying, and caring for their plant, they don’t just want to stick it in a plastic bag that will undo all the hard work. Instead, you can expect to find quality buds now come in good containers, designed to keep the weed at its best. Keep hold of the nicest containers to use at a later date.
Final Thoughts
If you want to keep your weed fresh, you really do have to think about storage. Airtight containers can keep the precious trichomes and cannabinoids safe from oxygen, light, and moisture, all of which destroy the potency.
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