Boveda & Boost Humidity packs - do they effect the smell of weed during curing?

[wannabeagrower]

I was curious how many of you use either Boveda or Boost humidity packs for curing your weed.

I'd love to see a test from actual home growers. Has anyone ever tried curing a harvest where only some jars get humidity packs? I wonder how much of a difference they make, if any. It'd be funny if they literally didn't do anything.

It seems like..

Pros

• Automatically manage humidity in the right range, which is supposedly important for curing to happen
• Buds won't dry out over time, even in long storage.
• The packs keep buds softer and less crumbly
• Can it absorb some extra moisture if the buds weren't dried enough?

Cons

• Cost money (though I noticed the Boost ones seem cheaper)
• I've heard some growers say these can affect the smell of weed, while others disagree. It seems to be a point of contention in the grow world for now.
• Any other downsides or cons I missed?

I'm just trying to understand how important the humidity packs are to curing, or if it's just a snake oil fad to sell growers more stuff.

[Need2Know]

I've never used them, but I'm interested in the replies. Good question Wonnabeagrower. I can now follow the post with this reply... : )

[Bowhunterwoody]

Ive used them once. Not a fan. Definitely influenced the smell. Can't say about taste as I don't smoke it but the smell during and after burping was definitely off.

[MeowMeow]

Every grower and grow is different. It can be hard to suss out the real facts of harvest because even if you grow all the time, you only harvest a few times a year. So unlike growing where you get to learn about the plants every day, harvest tactics can be a lot harder to pin down. I think growers just start to get a feel for it after a while.

I personally have had good luck with the humidity packs. I think buds store better, and have a better texture longtime.

I haven't done a real experiment with controls with and without, but I do pay attention when I open the jar and smoke buds that were directly touching the pack.

Buds at the bottom of the jar and buds at the top that touched the pack for weeks or even months seem to smell and taste exactly the same. So if it has some effect, it's about what's happening in the whole jar, not about the buds actually touching the pouches.

I've had both good cures and bad cures long before I ever heard of a humidity pack, and good and bad cures after I started using them around 2018 or so.

For me personally, when I've had a bad cure, it's usually because buds were too wet. But when they're dried right and still don't cure well even with the packs, I'm 90% sure it's always been because I didn't burp the jars often enough.

Like I'll put the packs inside the jars with the buds, stick the jars in a drawer, and come back a month later and it's like they didn't cure at all.

But when that's happened, and I just started opening the jars every day, it's like they actually cured from that point on. Like lack of fresh air put them in stasis or something.

So to me personally, more important than having the packs or not, is to make sure the buds are not too wet, and don't forget to burp the jars.

[golfnrl]

MeowMeow What you said, " is to make sure the buds are not too wet," is a challenge. I tried Groves bags and if I remember correctly they recommended a moisture meter reading of 12%. Meaning at that point the buds are ready to go into the bag. I did not have a good experience with the bags but I did buy the moisture meter and have used the 12% reading a couple of times now. I'm about to settle on that as the determining factor of when the weed is dry enough to jar.

A set point appeals to me more than the stem 'snap' test. I find the snap test a challenge simply because no two stems are the same size, weight, density, etc.

That exchange of air that you mentioned is important, it's what helps diminish the hay smell. I have used the humidity packs in the past and then stopped using them. I started them again because I wanted to see if they would hold the RH steadier than I could w/o one. I'm about to decide they aren't worth it.

[MeowMeow]

My strategy with dryness is I usually dry a bit more than people generally recommend. I'll go and bend the buds and if at least half of them make little snapping sounds, I take that as "done". After I trim them and put them in the jars, the initial reading is lower than others say, around 50-55% RH. Before I used humidity packs, it typically rises over the next week to 60%, as the water inside makes it to the outside of the buds. Now, I don't wait for that. I want it to have perfect moisture from the beginning even on the outside of buds, so I put the humidity packs in the next day just so I can see what the 'natural' humidity is.

I've had really good luck that way, as long as I burp the jars every day.

That being said, I used to wait until ALL the buds snapped, and I think that's too dry. That would like... deflate?.... the buds. They wouldn't seem like 'plump' any more. And it would take a month or more for the humidity pack to bring them back to that normal plumpness. They smoked good, and apparently can cure and get smoother and smell better even at too-dry level, but buds just didn't feel right on my fingers until the humidity packs had several week to re-inflate them and make them plump again.

I've also found that keeping the dry space cool and a tiny bit breezy seems to really reduce the chance of getting hay smell.

I still have a lot to learn. I don't feel like I've got it to 100% yet. Sometimes they come out absolutely perfect, but sometimes they still don't come out quite right. But I'm not 100% sure if that might be due to a growing factor, like it being too hot in the grow space during the summer and that affecting bud quality...

[Need2Know]

Wow! I got one of those Wood Moisture Meters. I use it for monitoring plaster wetness. I never thought of using it this way. 12% on soft wood setting. Just push the prongs into a nice flower. Cool. It depends on the jar is what I found with mine, etc...9.5%, 11% and 12.4%. The meter even measures soil moisture, 30% to 50%, I see being the suggested parameter for the top of the soil.