Why You Should Cure Your Cannabis Flower

Like any business, Cannabis businesses need a steady flow of revenue to continue to operate. In a cannabis cultivation operation, cutting a little corner here or there may seem like a good idea, particularly if prices for cannabis flower drop throughout the United States. Getting more of your product to market faster may seem like a good strategy for staying in the black. However, if you take this path and don’t cure your cannabis flower you may regret it later. Here’s why…

If your cannabis flower is just like everyone else’s, you may have a hard time differentiating yourself and your brand, which may lead to lower sales or less desire for your product in dispensaries or cannabis processing facilities. What’s the use of getting a product out there if it’s not going to sell? On the other hand, if your cannabis flower smells and tastes amazing with a quality high, you can bet people will buy more, even if it costs them more.

Think of it like this: what’s the difference in quality and taste between a Bud Light and a microbrew? People drink Bud Light for one reason and one reason only: to get a buzz. Just like light beers, any cannabis can give you a high, but if customers are looking for quality over quantity, you want them to come back over and over to your brand of cannabis flower, just like they do for tasty microbrews. There are plenty of people searching for quality cannabis, more now than prior to legalization, and they’ll come back to your business and your brand for more if you have the quality they are looking for. While you certainly can sell uncured cannabis flower, if you properly cure your cannabis flower it will taste better, smell better, and be of higher quality.

In reality, if you’re staggering your harvests, curing won’t be that difficult or that much of an inconvenience to your cultivation operation; rotation of harvests will ensure regular sales and avoid production bottlenecks. With multiple harvests, your operation should have flower regularly coming into and out of the curing process. Advanced planning is the way to make continuous curing happen. Haphazard planting, harvesting, and planning will most likely result in haphazard sales and is an unreliable business model. If you’re really interested in a strong, profitable, sustainable cannabis cultivation business, you need to have a good plan. Know your cannabis varieties; the specific length of time needed for plants to properly flower, and how they will look, feel, taste, and smell when they’re harvested and cured.

In order to properly cure your cannabis flower, it helps to understand what’s happening during the curing process. There are two primary objectives to curing: getting rid of the cannabis plants’ chlorophyll, and rebalancing plant moisture content following the drying process. The chlorophyll should be removed because it contributes an unpleasant flavor and harshness to your cannabis when it is smoked or vaporized. Rebalancing cannabis flower moisture through curing restores flavor and aroma to overly dry flower, preventing harsh consumption experiences.

Finally, bring someone who is  familiar with the cannabis curing process into your business; practice makes perfect, but you must know the process well in order to get started curing your cannabis flower. During the curing process, flower is kept in a sealed container which is systematically opened each day to allow ventilation to your cannabis; always be vigilant during this process and inspect your cannabis carefully for mold.

Knowing exactly when cannabis flower is done curing is a bit of a practiced art, hence our advice about bringing in someone who is knowledgeable about curing. Making this small financial and operational investment in your cannabis cultivation operation will lead to a more potent and higher quality product that will grow your business through repeat customers and enthusiastic referrals.