I know both from the books and from years previous, to lessen the harshness of the leaves, first soak them in ICE WATER for a little bit, and then rinse and dry them when they are fresh, as I recall it has something to go with the chlorophyll in them,,. all I know is if you soak and rinse as directed in Ed's Book "From Trash To Stash" I've known guys to smoke on the leaves all ground up (no bud) and think it was okay bud... never telling them it wasn't any bud... just leaves.