So, you’ve bagged yourself a bargain and ended up with way more weed than you can deal with right now. There’s enough of the stuff to last you a while, but you want to hold onto its freshness and potency.

The question being – what’s the best way to store surplus weed?

Contrary to popular belief, preserving pot properly isn’t particularly difficult.  Nevertheless, evidence would seem to suggest that the vast majority of stoners get it wrong. And quite wrong, at that.

Give your weed the TLC it needs and it will take care of you for some time to come. So rather than throwing it in the first random box you come across, take a leaf from the books of the pros and step up your storage standards.

Here’s how to make it happen:

Avoid Accessories

First up, tossing your spare cannabis in the same place as your bong, your pipes and the rest of your paraphernalia seems to make sense. At least, in terms of convenience and accessibility. The problem being that in doing so, you could compromise the flavour and quality of the cannabis.

This is because the leftover burn residue lining your smoking paraphernalia can make its way into your fresh bud. The result of which can be a harsh and unpleasant flavour, which is the last thing you want. It might not adversely impact the potency of your pot, but could make for a significantly less enjoyable smoke.

In this instance therefore, keep things separate for the benefit of your bud.

Light (Or Lack Thereof)

When cultivating cannabis, light is your best friend. There’s almost no such thing as providing cannabis plants with too much high-quality light to fuel their development. Once you’ve harvested the final product, however, light is no less than your worst enemy.

The reason being that UV light from any source can severely damage the cannabinoids in cannabis flowers. This means that the more UV light your buds are exposed to, the less THC and CBD they’ll contain as a result. Along with cannabinoid and degradation, you can also expect less aromatic and enjoyable pot as a result of UV exposure.

As a rule of thumb, it’s better to avoid exposing your excess bud to any kind of light whatsoever. Keep it in a dark place where it’s unlikely to be blasted with UV rays, keeping it fresher and more potent for longer. 

Temperature Control

There are two reasons why it’s important to store your weed at a cool and controlled temperature. The first of which being the elevated risk of mould, rot and any number of diseases as temperatures rise. By keeping things cool, you provide your pot with the protection it needs from a fate worse than death.

In addition, excessive temperatures at the top end of the scale can have a marked impact on the cannabinoids in cannabis flowers. The higher and more prolonged the temperatures, the more CBD and THC are destroyed and the less enjoyable your cannabis becomes.

Keeping cannabis cool is the best way to go, but taking things to extremes can be just as harmful. If you’ve heard it’s possible to store cannabis in the freezer, it is. Nevertheless, thaw it out and it won’t be the same top-shelf bud you froze a while back. And if you refrigerate your cannabis, you’ll massively increase the risk of mould, rot and cannabinoid decomposition.

As is the case with most household staples, the key to success can be found in a cool, dark, dry and undisturbed space.

Humidity

Speaking of dry, you’ll also want to keep a close eye on humidity. Even if you store your cannabis in a sealed container, it still makes sense to keep the container away from excess moisture and humidity. It’s important to remember that each time you open the container even a crack, the humidity in the ambient environment will rush into it and do its business.

That said, it’s also perfectly possible to annihilate your cannabis by allowing it to get too dry. Using a flawlessly sealed container is the way to go, but don’t make the mistake of storing a couple of small buds in a massive 10-liter jar. There will be far too much air in the jar to keep the cannabis preserved, ultimately resulting in dry and brittle weed you won’t want to smoke.

And don’t forget to ‘burp’ your jars from time to time, exchanging the potentially stale air on the interior for fresh air from the outside.

Beware Baggies

Ziplock plastic baggies play a more pivotal role in the global cannabis community than almost anything else. Nevertheless, they’re actually borderline useless when it comes to quality cannabis storage. They’re anything but effectively sealed, they allow a ton of UV light to hit your cannabis and they do nothing to help maintain a steady temperature.

For initial transportation purposes, baggies are fine. For longer-term storage, they’re of little to no use whatsoever. Opt instead for high-quality glass jars with air-tight seals, or a specially-designed cannabis container you can count on.

Rehydrating Dry Bud

Last but not least, it’s worth remembering that a batch of rather dry and tired-looking cannabis isn’t necessarily the end of the world. Even if it’s in a pretty poor state, there’s always the option of rehydrating it.

One of the most popular and effective methods being to simply throw a few pieces of fresh orange peel into the jar with your bud. Give it a gentle shake every couple of hours and see how things are the next day. If it works, you’ll be looking at freshly moistened weed with a delightful citrus fragrance as an added bonus.

You could also try throwing a small piece of wet paper towel in there as an alternative, but the results won’t be nearly as tasty.