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Help making malawi cobs

zamalito

zamalito

Guest
Veteran
Since I've never tried a real malawi cob and since I have a bit of malawi I want to play with. I'd like some help with doing some traditional curing techniques. Does afropips or anyone have any advice for making malawi cobs or zomba black cobs? Specifically how dry or cured should the herb be before wrapping it? How dry should the corn husk be and how tightly should it be wrapped? What kind of soil should I bury it in and how deep? We get freezing weather here in the winter but the soil rarely freezes past an inch or two. Any details are greatly appreciated.
 
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Blunt Africa

Blunt Africa

Member
Then you get Appalachian Cob!!

Why not experiment with some normal type weed first. Tie the husk round the weed tight enough and with enough layers so that soil does not get in. Make about 3 of them and then bury about a foot deep.

Normal curing time for weed is a month or more, so why not dig one up after a month, the second after 2 and the third after 3. Or make one cob, dig it up and then sample a bit of it and put it back into the ground for a longer cure.

I would imagine you would need to be careful where you bury it though, I would say not to bury it somewhere that gets a lot of rain or moisture, otherwise mouldy weed is on the cards. Malawi is a pretty dry place...

I ain't no pro on Malawi Cob, but logic dictates that this is how it is done. It will be interesting to see results.

To improve flavour you could always play it some Old-Time music with the trusty banjo and fiddle, maybe get the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers to pop round do it a gig for your weed.

Peace
 
G

Guest

What about burying it in a bucket of sand with holes in the bottom, this way you avoid any damp issues that may cause mold and rot, I suppose a foot deep bucket of sad would replicate being buried in dry malawi earth quite well and would drain quickly if it got too wet.

I;ve seen pics of African weed being dried in the sun which is partly how some of it gets its really dark colouring so maybe the best thing is to try it with doth fresh and dried buds. I'd suggest making some small test cobs of say a quarter oz to refine your technique before going for the full sized cob.
 
zamalito

zamalito

Guest
Veteran
Sounds like a plan. So I should dry like normal for a cure (4-5 days hung then 4-7 days in paper bags). Then instead of sealing it up in a jar I will do some quick experiments wrap some malawi in green or dried corn husks and possibly a little zamal in fresh leaves from a dwarf banana plant. I will pack them in 10 gallon bins filled with a 50% mix of sand and the other 50% pine forest soil some and the other with hardwood forest soil since around this time of year its hard to find very dry soil around.
 
Blunt Africa

Blunt Africa

Member
Yup, try it out....

The benefit of burying it outdoors (i.e. under african sun) as opposed to in a bucket is that the ground maintains a degree of heat throughout the day, and it takes longer to cool down in evening. This warmth should create the sweating that malkop referred to. I'm hazarding to say that you can replace the curing phase of normal procedure with the burying of your appalachian pine cob. Dry then bury as opposed to dry then can.

Give it a bash. I've got some Satori that is coming to a close now, maybe I'll try and do a cob also. Your idea of using pine needles sounds interesting as it could add a unique flavour to the finished product.

l8rz

BA
 
G

Guest

yeh - I would suggest that air flow is an issue here i.e. that the aim in wrapping and burying the buds is not to make them airtight, but to allow a degree of permeability to air and moisture

to me BH's suggestion looks very sensible - i.e. doing a number of trial wraps using sand and buckets - though I would incline to leave the buckets where it will not be possible to get rained on directly -

I would also guess that corn husks, rather than banana leaves, would be safer - I think that the latter would initially be too waxy and would not be absorbent and permeable enough
my guess is that the bud may rot in them, although perhaps the tanins (?) and so on in the banana leaves may also have a preserving effect, so who knows?

I'd be interested to see how it turns out
 
zamalito

zamalito

Guest
Veteran
It'll be interesting to see. I'll be very conservative with my first use of banana leaves. I thought I read that someone somewhere uses banana leaves (maybe in south india that's why I picked zamal due to its similarity to south indian strains) but there's so much myth and lore with traditional harvest techniques that it could be completely false. We'll see. I know it pains some to see good landrace herb possibly go to waste. But I like experimentation and hopefully after this others will be able to make cobs.
 
G

Guest

Good look mate, hope it works for ya, always good to keep these traditional skills and techniques alive.
 
G

Guest

i don't mean to kill the vibe or anything, but i'm pretty sure cobs were primarily a low-tech traditional method of packaging weed, and burying them just a way to keep them cool. the curing effect would be an inevitable process and therefore a secondary benefit.

regarding the making of the cobs, the ends need to be bound very tightly to prevent moisture from wicking into the cob. soak the twine in water before you bind the cob, when the twine dries it shrinks and tightens.
 
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getafix

getafix

Member
I tried burying some swazi in foil and glad wrap for 2 months under the ground. It turned mouldy with an ammonia smell. Keep to natural wrapping and beware the moisture...
 
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L

Limeygreen

Well-known member
Veteran
Rita Marley said in Jamaica the best herb she smoked was cured for 3 months in Banana leaves, a lot of Indians in Jamaica so the south Indian theory could very likely be right on the money.
 
Dozee

Dozee

Member
Do like the mexicans do ..
get a wood box. brown paper bags.
let it crisp then put paper bags in box and burry a month.
 
lowridersa

lowridersa

Active member
This cob was cooked in the sun for a couple of weeks, no soil.
Fantastic smoke. I reckon the ground is great, but it really needs to be hot and the weed sealed in, nice and tight. I like that trick with wetting the twine.




 
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