I myself am wondering if I should use mason jars or vacuum packs to store long term (beyond 6 months). Our last harvest was larger than expected so we still have about half of it left-first time for that!.
The jars are working great with a good cure. The current harvest is also almost complete so we want to store the previous harvest for as long as reasonable. From my limited experience some of the trichomes stick to the insides of the jars and plastic seems to increase the potential for that, why I'm thinking of using jars with 58% Boveda for long term storage (the 58% packs are a new release). I'm using the 62% packs now and they seem to be perfect. We used them the first two weeks and then removed them once the humidity was constant at 60-62%, after 2 months we put the 62% packs back into the jars. But I'm concerned about getting them dry enough for long term storage.
One thing we're considering is putting the jars that are 6 months "old" directly into the freezer, but am conflicted on this because I've heard that freezing will cause the trichomes to fall off the buds if handled. But if they are in jars and dry (so the water in them won't freeze and degrade the good stuff) could you remove a jar from the freezer, let it come up to room temperature, and then open the jar without affecting the trichomes? If anyone has experience using both jars and vacuum packs...or freezing verses keeping them in a cool dry space any suggestions would be great!
Oh yeah_FYI_ Don't ever take a jar out of the freezer and open it right away because condensation will form when the cold buds are exposed to warmer and more humid air. Living in a cold climate has made this very evident whenever we come indoors during the winter. When you remove the jar from the freezer water will quickly form on the outside. Wait to open it until you can wipe it dry and no more condensation forms, then it should be safe.