An explainer on how long weed will stay good. Or, what to do when you rediscover some premium herb in your sock drawer.
Here’s a true story. Lately, I’ve had a lingering desire to make some
“When treated right, well-cured weed can stay good for six months to a year.”
The only problem? The
Here’s what I learned: As is the case with most organic elements on earth, nothing lasts forever. Everything is temporary. My apologies if you’re first hearing about mortality via a cannabis website, but hey, there are worse ways to learn about death. Generally, when treated right, well-cured weed can last for a good six months to a year. Now, after that date, it’s not as if smoking some dusty weed will kill you. In fact, it might not do much of anything. In the same way other drugs and even spices in your pantry lose potency over time, your old herb won’t give you the same lift as that hot, young herb. It’s an ageist, terrible reality, but it is what it is.

But exactly how shitty will your weed be if you forget about it all year, you ask? The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has a solid answer. Basically, the gradual loss of
It’s not bad to smoke geriatric weed, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s good either. Cannabis is different from a fine wine in that it won’t always get better the longer it is aged. However, like fine wine, you want to store your nugs in a cool, dark place to help it last longer. Your mom’s basement will do just fine. One of those nifty cannabis humidors would be perfect. And Buffalo Bill’s lotion pit works, too, if being a creeper is more your style. Point being, keep your weed out of the sun and rain if you want it to get you high.

And if you want to make that weed last—whether you’re a slow burner or prepping for the apocalypse—there are a couple key tricks to keeping it tight. For instance, avoid too-large containers, paper anything, and plastic baggies that get punctured easily and aren’t particularly airtight anyway. So much for my hidden pantry weed. Sigh.
On the flipside, glass and ceramic jars are great for weed storage for a variety of reasons. You can get a good seal with jars and they generally maintain proper humidity levels. (Jam jars make a lot more sense now, don’t they?) Should you want to get super fancy, grab your mom’s vacuum sealer and zip those puppies up like a Space Bag infomercial.
Fancy tools aside, the single best thing you can do to keep your weed good is to keep it out of the sun. Sunlight degrades THC, converting it to the non-intoxicating cannabinoid, cannabinol or
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Illustrations by Andrew Janik