How To Keep Weed Fresh From A Online Marijuana Store

Have you ever purchased a large quantity of marijuana from an online store, only to find the quality of your high to dwindle as you smoke your way through your stash? It may have a lot to do with how you store your weed, affecting the bud’s freshness. When you spend a lot of money on quality weed, like picking up some AAA Death Tuna, you want to make sure it’s worth it! Keeping your weed fresh is critical to getting the most out of your next order from an online marijuana store since freshness can your product’s potency product and ensure that it stays usable for as long as possible.

There are plenty of cult classic ways to store your weed, from the freezer to your grandma’s empty pill bottles, but which methods are the best, and why?

Here are a few things to consider when storing your cannabis for freshness.

Moisture

One of the most important factors to keeping marijuana fresh is moisture levels. If your bud has too much moisture, not only will it be difficult to grind and nearly impossible to smoke, but you also run the risk of mold growth. It goes without saying that you probably shouldn’t smoke moldy weed. However, it poses no immediate serious harm but can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headaches and induce asthma-like symptoms. Extended use of moldy weed can cause more harmful effects, as long-term mold exposure would in any other situation. 

You might be wondering if you can remove mold or dry it out from the weed. The answer is, not really. It wouldn’t really be worth it anyway – moldy weed will taste and smell bad.

On the opposite end, too little moisture is also not a good thing. If your weed becomes too dry, it will also become brittle and allow the bud’s psychoactive terpenes and trichomes to fall off, making the flower itself less potent. You could compensate with a good grinder that has a kief catcher and sprinkle some on top of your joint, but your dry flower will smoke fast and harshly. Plus, sprinkling kief onto a joint usually means you’re consuming a lot more than normal, and you may not need to be that high. 

It’s important that the cannabis flower undergoes a curing process prior to consumption so that enough moisture is drawn out to make the bud easy to smoke and safe to consume while also preserving its natural trichomes and terpenes.

Light

Too much light can also adversely affect your weed potency, which is why you’ll often see marijuana growers using different coloured lights during the various growth stages of the plant. UV light will break down the THCA – which makes you high – into regular THC; simultaneously, UV light also converts THC to CBN, which can be physically soothing, but will not make you high. Once your weed is cured, there really isn’t such a thing as too little light when it comes to storing your weed to preserve freshness.

Temperature

Similar to too much light, too much heat is also not good for keeping weed fresh. As we learned in elementary school science, with heat, moisture evaporates. With nowhere for that vapour to go, it will condense back into a liquid. Excess liquid in your weed container means the increased risk of mold – which we’ve already addressed.

Why not just vent your container? Because you run the risk of allowing too much moisture to escape – which we’ve also identified as not ideal. Additionally, venting would allow excess exposure to oxygen, which only speeds up the process mentioned above in converting and degrading your weed’s THC content.

Storing Weed to Keep it Fresh

So what is the best way to keep your weed fresher for longer and extend its shelf life to get the most bang for your buck? 

Dark Containers

To keep out as much light and heat as possible, look into bottles, containers or pouches that are either opaque or translucent in a dark colour. This can minimize as much as 30% of THC loss due to UV exposure. It’s why many online marijuana stores will ship their product in dark baggies, and many stoners will tote their weed in orange pill bottles that effectively filter out light.

Airtight Packages

When choosing a storage device, it’s ideal to find something that will seal out air once it’s shut to preserve ideal moisture levels. Many cannabis users like to store their weed in airtight jars, which will keep air from entering the container, but it can also trap excess oxygen and moisture into the container. This isn’t overly harmful and still better than a lot of other ways you could store your bud, but you do want to be mindful of the amount of air you expose your cannabis to.

A dark, opaque zippered envelope or baggie is one of the best ways to store your weed to keep it fresh. A baggie will offer you the flexibility to squeeze excess air out before sealing it, allowing you to minimize oxygen exposure and maintain optimum moisture levels. 

Fact or Myth: Should I Keep My Weed in the Freezer

A popular theory is that storing your weed in the freezer will keep it fresher and even boost potency. While you need not go to such extremes to keep your weed away from heat, it won’t harm the bud as long as it’s properly sealed to avoid attracting moisture or absorbing frozen food smells. As far as potency, the freezer won’t magically make your weed get you higher. Storing your weed in a sealed container in a drawer in your bedroom will more than suffice.

Cannabis Packed for Freshness at Terra Tonic

At Terra Tonic, we appreciate the importance of fresh bud. We know nothing is more therapeutic than a perfectly cured nug of quality cannabis, and nothing is more annoying than dry, harsh bud when you really need a good smoke. We take care to package quarter-ounce portions in opaque, vacuum-sealed bags to ensure our carefully cured flower stays fresh during delivery and so that you don’t have to worry about finding another storage method once you receive your order. 

Visit Terra Tonic today to discover the difference quality Canadian craft cannabis, packed for freshness, makes!