Before going into details about how to prepare weed to smoke, it is more important to know how to make weed from the plant. Growing weed is not rocket science and any hobbyist could grow it successfully from seed. The weed typically needs 25 weeks to reach maturity if you grow it from the seeds. As the Seeds take 4-7 days to sprout depending on your potting material, type of variety, and growing conditions like temperature and humidity.
The vegetative stage lasts between 4-8 weeks which is again a varietal feature where weed forms leaves, stem, and secondary shoots. Weed propagated from seedling may set early flowering but, the average plants remain short stature resulting in low production. However, the plants raised from seed could produce bigger plants that mean bigger buds, more flowering, and bigger yields.
The flowering stages usually take between 6 weeks to 16 weeks depending on the genetic makeup of the plants. Auto-flowering strains could flower earlier compared to common cultivars especially Sativa and Indica. Every strain that comes between these two possesses less or similar features to these parent species. If the flowering stage would prolong in any strain that means more buds and the biggest harvest. Typically, the harvesting begins after 12 weeks in early maturing cultivars and 25 weeks or more in late-maturing cultivars. Typically, the number of flowers and bud formation decides the maturity of any Cannabis strain. Post-harvesting procedures could take another 3 to 4 weeks for adding aroma and taste to buds and leaves to your taste.
When it comes to harvesting buds and leaves from the weed plant, flush it at priority so that the nutrients and insecticides that exist on the upper surfaces of leaves get excreted through the process of evaporation. It will make it more flavorful, and a smoother taste could arise after the effects of chemicals dry out. It is advisable to apply neutral pH water 3-4 weeks before proceeding with harvesting. The color of ash could determine either it flushed out properly or not. While or grey ash is an indication of complete washing, whereas black ash indicates the presence of inert matters in the leaves.
Coming back to the topic of how to prepare marijuana for smoking?
It starts after you are done with the flushing and harvesting. You need to cut down the branches by having buds using a sharp cutter and hanging them upturned. You need to do wet trimming by pull off the fan leaves and trim the sugar leaves. If you delay trimming at the moment, go for it after the hanger drying. Both processes are equally good and could trigger aroma in the buds and young leaves.
You could use a string or clothing hanger to hang branches for drying. Always prefer a dark place where you could manage the humidity to less than 50%. It could be a grow room or a tent where you could install a fan for regular air circulation that keeps the environment cool.
After you hang branches, including buds about ten days, try bending the stems. If the stem bend with the hand, it needs more drying process. If the stem cracks and explodes in the bending process, your branches are completely dry. If the stem loosely folds without making a cracking sound, it still needs some more days to finish. Once the drying is over, clip off the buds from the main stem, and place into a molded glass jar. Here is the stage that technically finishes your product for smoking weed. The longer you cure the buds and leaves, the better aroma and taste you would get.
To prevent mold and mildews, you could add 8 grams of Boveda- Two Way Humidity Pack (62%) for 1-2 ounces of dry weed. Once you get your molded glass jars full, storing them in a cool, dark, and dry place is suggested. Avoiding direct sunlight exposure could maintain the THC level high. Opening the lid of a jar for about half an hour daily could lead to excrete the extra moisture in the glass jar. It is a burping process and could continue for the first month of storage. Later it could reduce to 15 minutes on consecutive days. Up till now, we got a clear understanding that How to make weed from plants or How to prepare marijuana, the question lies what part of marijuana is used to smoke?
What part do you smoke? Is it the leaves or the flower?
It is evident that flower or bud is the utmost persuasive part of the plant, fan leaves also have a minute portion of THC and CBD. The Asians extract cannabis oil from the leaves for years. Recently, the growers are more selective and would not respect any part of the Cannabis plant other than flower/bud. Whatever the ingredients are, the best smoking quality comes from flowers or buds.
How long do I have to wait to smoke the bud I harvest from my weed plant?
Another opinion about how to prepare marijuana for smoking comes typically waiting for the initial process of drying and curing and making it enough to fit in a house grinder. This means that doesn’t get the shape of a boll, keeps itself a powdery mass, and burns well when ignited. Moreover, a wet product could discharge more smoke compared to weed that holds flowable texture. Some hobbyists could advise you to wait longer to develop the typical taste and aroma that marijuana possesses for smoking but, it could not happen with all strains as only a few hold the feature of a wine.
Keep it testing on regular intervals whether it still keeps that similar taste that was observed at the beginning. Another method is to check its aroma after opening the lid of a container. Some strains might go well for years when aged, while some others might lose their THC levels. If It just smokes improved and better every time you try it until ultimately it’s all away! That’s the material to handle like a superior wine. You could smoke every part of Cannabis, but the most enjoyable part is the flower from the female plant.