How to Rehydrate Dry Weed

Air tight and out of sight. This classic maxim should tell you all that you need to know about storing marijuana and keeping your weed at its pristine, smokeable best. As long as your pot is stored correctly, in the dark and in a sealed jar, you should have access to dank, sticky buds for as long as your stash holds out. However, here in the real world, we know that keeping your cannabis at its maximum flavor and potency over time can be much harder than it seems. Every consumer has encountered dried out weed in their cannabis consuming lifetime. Sometimes it was left out too long, sometimes it got too old, and sometimes it’s not the fault of the cannabis fan at all.

Whatever the reason, if you’re left with dry weed the last thing you want to do is smoke it. That brittle bud can turn to powder on its way from your fingers to your bowl. When you smoke it, not only are you inhaling a harsher smoke that’s burning way too hot, but the THC percentage has dropped as the terpenes have dried up and the trichomes have likely broken off. However, you may have spent good money on that top shelf bud and don’t want it to go to waste. So what can you do? PotGuide is here to give you the best ways to rehydrate your dry bud, from store-bought products to DIY techniques. 

After it’s been snipped from the stalk and cured, the ideal level of moisture you want to keep your bud at is around 55%-62% RH (Relative Humidity). Of course, maintaining this can get difficult unless you’ve got a keen eye for hydration levels, a fine spray bottle of distilled water, and a lot of time on your hands. The easiest way to keep your weed at its ideal relative humidity is to throw a humidity pack in the jar. There are several companies to choose from, but we’ll focus on the big three.

Humidity packs can help restore moisture to your marijuana.

Humidity packs like those made by Boveda contain a salt solution that adds or subtracts moisture from the surrounding air based on the temperature. The relative humidity percentage that the pack maintains is printed on the package in an easy to read number (such as “62”) and there are several options to choose from. Once the pack loses its softness, throw in another fresh one and you’re good to go.  

If you’re looking for a chemical-free, all-natural route, humidity packs made by Integra Boost use a non-salt, biodegradable type of mixture that still produces or absorbs moisture in order to keep your weed at its dankest. If you’re looking for a more environmentally friendly option, Integra Boost is the one. 

Finally, a newcomer to the market (and a small business to support if you don’t want to give money to bigger brands, Evergreen Pods are capsules instead of packs that stick to the underside of your jar’s lid. They still maintain the exact relative humidity of your weed and like the other packs will even rehydrate your dry marijuana in order to salvage it.

Evergreen Pods are reusable for up to 5 years.

These pods are reusable for up to five years and while they are a little pricier, for $20 you get the Evergreen Pod, a jar with an opaque silicone sleeve to block out light, and a specially designed jar lid and wet-erase marker so that you can write the strain on top and any notes. 

If you’ve got money to burn and especially hate smoking anything but the dankest, freshest bud, a cannabis humidor is a fine investment. A lower end humidifier will maintain your weed’s RH using distilled water and sponges that you’ll have to monitor and refill every now and then. A high tech one will use a propylene glycol mixture that is much easier to maintain and may even send Bluetooth updates to your phone on how your weed is doing.

Humidity packs and cannabis humidors are the best options available for rehydrating your weed. However, if you need to bring moisture back into some dry weed in a pinch, there are several household items you might have lying around that can do the trick.

Lettuce

When it comes to rehydrating weed the old fashioned way, there are a couple options. Lettuce, specifically iceberg, works wonders for rehydrating weed due to its high water content. Leave a couple narrow strips in your jar for a couple of hours and voila.

Lettuce can provide needed moisture for dry flower in a pinch. photo credit

Just be sure the lettuce strips aren’t touching your weed, and remove them once your bud has rehydrated. This way neither the lettuce or your weed will start molding. You’ll know how hydrated your buds have become based on how dry the lettuce has become. As an added bonus, lettuce doesn’t add any flavor to the weed.

Bread

A slice of bread is another option for rehydrating without adding any extra flavor to your bud. Splash a bit of water on the bread to moisten it, then follow the same method as the lettuce. As long as it’s not touching the weed you’re good to go. 

Fresh Paper Towel/Q-Tip/Cotton Swab

Whichever absorbent fabric option you choose, make sure that you use distilled or filtered water. Otherwise, the minerals and chemicals in your water will get into your bud, making it taste weird. Get your paper towel or cotton moist but not soaked, and put it in a plastic bag with a couple of holes poked in it. This will keep your weed from getting too wet, which can make mold grow. Then put that bag in your jar for a couple of hours. 

Citrus Peel

This is the age-old trick for rehydrating bud, done by our parent’s generation and the ones that came before. Since citrus peels are naturally moist with essential oils, that thin skin of orange, lemon, satsuma, or whatever other scurvy-preventing option you choose works perfectly to danken your nug back up.

Using citrus peels is one of the oldest anecdotal methods for rehydrating weed. photo credit

Just place the peel in the jar along with your weed (but not touching it) and seal it tight until your weed freshens up. As an added bonus, you’ll get some citrus terpenes added into your nug, enhancing the flavor. 

If you find yourself opening your stash jar only to find that your nug is more desert than forest, don’t feel like you’re stuck smoking inferior bud. If you’ve planned ahead and made some smart purchases, just throw a humidity pack in there and you’ll be good to go. However, if you need to rehydrate your weed today without modern technology, just head to your kitchen for some supplies. In a couple of hours you’ll be back to smoking bud that’s almost as moist and kind as when it was cured.

What’s your favorite method for restoring moisture to your favorite cannabis strains? Share tips, tricks and experiences in the comments below.