Finish a joint and look at the ash. Light grey, almost white: the bud went through both stages, flushing and curing. Dark, black, in clumps: one of them was skipped.
What burns along with the bud
A bud burns together with everything left in it. Leftover mineral nutrients, the salts from fertiliser, and sugars that did not break down give dark ash, clumps and harsh smoke when burned.
An even burn and clean light ash mean there is nothing extra inside. The smoke is softer then, and the flavour opens up gently, without bitterness on top.
Flushing: two weeks on clean water
All its life the plant is fed mineral nutrients. Two weeks before harvest it is switched to clean water only, with no fertiliser, and the plant uses up what it has stored. That is flushing.
Whatever has not left by then stays in the bud and burns with it, hence the dark ash and clumps. We flush every batch, for 14 days before harvest.
Curing: sugars and moisture
The second stage starts after drying. The bud is kept for months in a closed jar at 58-62% humidity and 16-20 °C. During that time enzymes break down leftover sugars and starch, which give harshness and dark ash when burned.
Moisture also moves from the core of the bud to its edges. A freshly dried bud is dry outside and still damp inside, and it burns in jerks. After curing the burn evens out.
Most mass-market farms cut curing to two weeks. Ours runs two to three months, and some batches stay up to six months.
What ash cannot tell you
Ash shows the result. Dark colour comes both from salts left without flushing and from sugars that did not break down without curing, so the ash cannot tell you which stage was skipped.
It tells you something else: whether the bud was taken all the way or sold as it was.
