Here’s some good news – I found a solution to a problem that’s been plaguing me, and maybe you as well… read on!

The Problem Solved

If you’ve been following along for the last few months you know I’ve had an ongoing problem with dry herb because of the extremely low humidity up here in the hi-desert.

I’ve tried DIY remedies like adding a piece of lettuce to the jars with dry herb… people have made suggestions like adding an orange or lemon peel or a piece of tortilla to the jar. Adding lettuce or orange peel adds moisture back to the herb, but I have to carefully monitor the situation or the herb will get too damp – then I have to dry it out again to make it smokable… but not let it get too dry again.

Before this project started I usually only had an eighth of herb on hand at any one time. I bought an eighth, smoked through it, and then bought a new eighth. Herb was rarely around long enough to get dry!

As I mentioned last week, one of the side effects of reviewing herb is you end up having a bunch of little leftovers – small nugs, usually under a gram in size. And these leftovers dry out so fast, even sealed in the glass jars the herb came in – the jars just don’t seal tight enough to keep the dryness out.

I have now solved my problems, and I did it in two inexpensive simple steps, which I am happy to share with you…

Step 1. Mason Jars

This is not an original idea, but one that I’m getting behind, wholeheartedly! Back when I attempted to grow herb I used mason jars to cure the cannabis after it had dried. Nothing that I know of helps the curing process like storing herb in mason jars. It’s just a standard practice.

But for the longest time I only had the large, quart-size jars on hand, completely inappropriate for keeping just an eighth in, so I got into the habit of reusing the jars the herb came in. This wasn’t a problem until herb started sitting around for several weeks. I would open the jar expecting the nicely cured herb I had smoked just weeks ago only to find dried out nugs. Very disappointing. Slowly it dawned on me that reusing the jars just wasn’t cutting it, and I needed to invest in long term situation.

My solution was to buy a flat of a dozen, wide mouth, 8oz (half-pint) size, Kerr brand mason jars for just over $17. The jars are a clean and air-tight solution to herb storage. Each jar can comfortably hold up to a quarter or more, and an eighth doesn’t look too small sitting in the jar.

All the old, reused jars went into the trash this last weekend as I smoked through a smorgasbord of odd and ends of little nugs too small to transfer to new mason jars. The leftover nugs had recently been re-hydrated using humidity packs, the second piece of my solution to the low-humidity problem. And that takes us to step two…

Step 2. Boveda Humidity Packs

I’ve been experimenting with humidity packs for the last few weeks, and I’m happy to report that Boveda makes a great “two-way” humidity solution. Two-way – meaning that they both add and remove humidity from the jar. Humidity packs are small, sealed envelopes that are about the size of a sugar pack and contain salt, pure water and other natural ingredients to help maintain a specific humidity level inside a sealed jar.

Cannabis likes a humidity level of 55%-65% and reaches a sweet spot at 62%. This level stores the herb in a state that is just dry enough to cut and roll up in a joint, but damp enough to completely maintain the terpene profile of the nugs. Boveda claims their humidly packs create a “terpene shield”, a monolayer shield of pure water around the surface of the trichomes that protects all the terpenes and cannabinoids… I’ll take them at their word on this one.

Boveda makes different packs depending on what humidity level you want to keep your herb at, ranging from 58%-72%, and in different sizes depending on how much herb you need to store. I bought several different sizes to see how effective they were, and they worked exactly as advertised.

I used humidity packs to re-hydrate several jars that had gone completely dry – bone dry on the verge of turning to dust. I had nearly given up on the herb but it only took a day for the herb to start to regain it’s smell, and the nugs had a slight give when I squeezed them last I checked.

But these aren’t just for restoring old herb. They are made for keeping your jar of cannabis in premium condition from the moment you open it until the last nug goes up in smoke. As a test, I kept a quarter of herb in a mason jar for two weeks with a pack, and it was just as fresh as the day it went in the jar. Unheard of around here without the use of the humidity packs.

Because I just started using these humidity packs I can’t tell you how long they last. The new, fresh Boveda packs start out squishy and flexible. I understand that you know they’re used up when they get stiff and rigid, losing their inner moisture. The literature I read said they last anywhere from a couple weeks to six months, depending on the situation – how much humidity needs to be restored.

I will do a follow-up down the road about how long the packs last up here in the hi-desert. I imagine I’ll be going through these regularly – and I don’t picture myself not using these now that I know they exist and have tried them.

And there you have it – the relatively inexpensive solution I have found to the dry herb problem – mason jars with Boveda humidity packs! Now my herb will last longer and be fresher when I’m ready to smoke it!

Until tomorrow, best of health.

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