6 Easy Ways to Rehydrate Dry Cannabis

If the stuff didn’t cost so darn much, you wouldn’t care about dried-out cannabis. Brown, brittle, and flakey, dehydrated cannabis seems worthless.

Dry is better than moldy wet. But overdried kills aroma, flavor, and brain/body impact. You can over-dry buds by curing them too long, storing them poorly, or letting them age forever.

But, you just might be able to rehydrate dry cannabis — if it is not too far gone.

6 Easy Ways to Rehydrate Dry Cannabis

If the cannabis has dried to a crumbling dry powder, you can forget it. Even mixing it with quality stuff will only contaminate the good with the bad. But these tricks might work for you:

1. Citrus Strips: Adding a strip of orange, lemon, or lime rind to your storage container allows the moisture in the rind to leach into the cannabis. Others add pieces of bread, lettuce, kale, mint, or banana peel to work the same “magic.” It can add to or distract from the natural aroma or taste, so you should keep that in mind. And you must remove the added organic matter the next day to avoid mold.
2. Wet Seal: Using a dampened cheesecloth or paper towel, stretch it across your storage jar before you seal it with a tight lid.
3. Humidifier: If you wrap a damp cotton ball in aluminum foil, you can poke holes to release the moisture in the cannabis jar. Other options include using the commercially available humidifier pack to keep cigars hydrated. And some users put a moist paper towel or cotton in a tea infuser.
4. Fresh Bud Bomb: Adding a fresh bud to the stash can achieve the same effect. The new bud will share its moisture with the existing product. It will likely affect the taste and aroma of the dry herb, so it makes sense to add a bud from the same strain.
5. Distilled Water: Distilling removes minerals and chemicals from tap water or spring water. If you dampen a paper towel with distilled water, you can insert it in a mylar bag. After you poke holes in the mylar, you can insert it into your storage container beside your overly dry cannabis.
6. Spray the Stuff: The idea is to rewet the cannabis to start over. Spray the product with distilled water using a very fine sprayer, such as that used to moisten African violet orchids. You certainly don’t want to soak the buds, or you will have another problem. But you can spray them lightly and reseal them.

There is another way!

You must learn to cure and dry in such a way that you don’t wind up with overdried cannabis in the first place. You can avoid overdrying by curing, drying, and storing correctly.

• First, harvest your cannabis by gently and carefully cutting off the individual buds. Removing the leaves, you leave the stem on even though it lengthens the drying time.

You can keep the trimmings for recipes, concentrates, and cannabutter. Either hang the buds from their stems in a drying room or lay them on a drying rack or screen. You should rotate or turn over the buds as they dry to expose all sides to the drying air.

• Second, you should invest in some tools and containers that will last. Relying on low-cost baggies and Tupperware containers won’t do you any good in the long run.

You want to dry your cannabis slowly in a controlled environment. You want a room temperature of 68°F – 70°F with 50% humidity. Drying too quickly will damage color, smell, and taste, and it risks over-drying the product.

If you want to retain the best qualities of your strain, you must not dry buds in an oven, toaster oven, food dehydrator, or microwave. Such heat only agitates the product when slow drying properly ages the crop.

• Third, you must allow your supply to dry for 3 to 7 days. But you must monitor it throughout the process.

If you leave the buds attached to their stems, drying will take longer, but the buds will draw and store moisture from the stems. Moreover, you can hang the product by the stem.

• Fourth, if the cannabis still feels damp or wet, it needs more processing. It may be dry at the edges but still moist in the middle. It may be a little spongey but not squishy.

You should separate moist buds from each other on a medium that will absorb their moisture, such as a paper towel or piece of cardboard. But you don’t want to jar them until they have dried some more.

In any case, you should burp your jar several times a day, shaking the buds around. If they are sticking together or leaking moisture, you must remove the “wet” ones for additional drying. Otherwise, you risk initiating and spreading mold.

• Fifth, you need an excellent place to dry your cannabis. Hanging cannabis remains the best option, but you need the room, temperature, and air circulation to make it work. And, you will have a big odor issue to protect or hide.

Once it’s dry.

When the buds have spent time trying, you fill mason jars to three-quarters full. Sealing it tightly, you can shake it gently. If buds stick to the sides of the jar, they are still too moist. You then remove them for more drying.

For several days, you will repeat this process to weed out all the moist products until you have the product ready for use. Getting it right is a bit of a dance and art, but practice will make perfect.