Malawi Style Cob Curing.

[TychoMonolyth]

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Its worth buying a good vacuum machine you can use them for its original purpose when not making cobs they are a great food preservation tool.
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Yup. Get a couple slabs of meat from costco, slice them up, and have steaks and pork chops for a year. Love mine. So do my kids when they come over and do a grocery order. Isn't it supposed to be cheaper when they move out? lol

 

[HaHaHashish]

Tangwena...Thanks for that. I'd use a vacuum sealer if I had one and I will eventually get around to getting one. It's on the list!

Have you ever seen mold on cobs in Africa?

 

[wolfhoundaddy]

I always see them at my thrift store. There were two there today.

 

[Tangwena]

Tangwena...Thanks for that. I'd use a vacuum sealer if I had one and I will eventually get around to getting one. It's on the list!

Have you ever seen mold on cobs in Africa?

I do remember some had it during the rainy season but that was probably poor storage on the dealers part. We still smoked them though, there was no paranoia about mold back in the day.
I'm still here as well so it wasn't too bad.

 

[HaHaHashish]

Since I wrap the cobs in sandwich wrap film (is there still a brand called "Glad wrap" in Australia?) I unravel the tightly wrapped cobs each day for the first week or so then every few days for the next week to check on the moisture levels, give them a smell and then re-wrap tightly again. I wonder if this opening and closing affects the cure?

 

[Tangwena]

Since I wrap the cobs in sandwich wrap film (is there still a brand called "Glad wrap" in Australia?) I unravel the tightly wrapped cobs each day for the first week or so then every few days for the next week to check on the moisture levels, give them a smell and then re-wrap tightly again. I wonder if this opening and closing affects the cure?

It sounds like me in the early days trying to figure out how to make them.
There are many ways to get the cure done there is no reason they wouldn't work.
I remember going to a village to score cobs and the dealer had them in between the thatch of his hut. they were well cured as well so it can work any number of ways. As long as your not seeing mold it should be good.

 

[HaHaHashish]

What is the earliest evidence of cobs in Malawi? Is it centuries old or was the method developed just 50 or so years ago?

 

[HaHaHashish]

It sounds like me in the early days trying to figure out how to make them.
There are many ways to get the cure done there is no reason they wouldn't work.
I remember going to a village to score cobs and the dealer had them in between the thatch of his hut. they were well cured as well so it can work any number of ways. As long as your not seeing mold it should be good.

Actually, with my sun grown chamba and non-vac cobbing is way more authentic lol....thanks again Tangwena, your pioneering knowledge, passion and patience has guided all of us on the road to making and enjoying better cobs.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

In Tanzania, a cob sells for 200 Shillings (about $2) from the grower. $32 for a cob on the street. What would a 1oz cob sell for here?
An ounce of flower here sells for about $175.
https://www.priceofweed.com/directory

 

[Tangwena]

In Tanzania, a cob sells for 200 Shillings (about $2) from the grower. $32 for a cob on the street. What would a 1oz cob sell for here?
An ounce of flower here sells for about $175.
https://www.priceofweed.com/directory

It would all depend on the effects. If I can get the effects I want I would pay as much as I could afford. If nobody else can produce what you want how can you put a price on it there would be nothing to compare it to.
If I was in a legal state I would certainly be trying my hardest to produce something unique with the price set by demand and supply.

 

[Tangwena]

What is the earliest evidence of cobs in Malawi? Is it centuries old or was the method developed just 50 or so years ago?

Hundreds of years there was not much written history on central African cannabis only Southern African.
It would be hard to say exactly but its a very old and traditional way of curing thats been around since Africa was first discovered by the western cultures.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

If you make a cob and dust with kief, will the kief melt into the cob during the sweat or will the cob just remain "dusty"?

 

[Mick]

Hundreds of years there was not much written history on central African cannabis only Southern African.
It would be hard to say exactly but its a very old and traditional way of curing thats been around since Africa was first discovered by the western cultures.

I wonder how they worked it out. Maybe it was accidental or maybe it's similiar to what the Sth American shamans say, that they discovered Ayahuasca by communicating and learning the process from the plants themselves.

 

[Tangwena]

If you make a cob and dust with kief, will the kief melt into the cob during the sweat or will the cob just remain "dusty"?

Theres only one way to find out. I dont think it would do anything negative and the positive just gets me excited thinking about it ha ha.
Mind you if the pots strong enough to begin with you shouldn't need to add anything.
Your hereby appointed chief of experimentation my friend starting right now.
The things you can experiment with on this cure are endless.

I just opened these two buds I have been experimenting with to keep them terppy as well as potent.
Today I tried some 1 month cured Panama x Honduras the taste was very zesty one I attach to memories of good dagga.
Its very clear and super energetic very positive so far 2 hrs in its still building nicely. (chewed of course)

 

[Tangwena]

I wonder how they worked it out. Maybe it was accidental or maybe it's similiar to what the Sth American shamans say, that they discovered Ayahuasca by communicating and learning the process from the plants themselves.

I think it was by their noses.
You know a bunch of plants under a cover of some sort fermenting would grab my attention by the smell alone.

The smell from a freshly opened vacuum bag after a successful fermentation is one of a very short list of the pleasures of life.

The Panama x Honduras I opened today really hit high in the nasal chambers like pine camphor, just the smell is addictive what a cross.
I need to wait 3 months to fully test it but so far it could be a good hit for days when you dont feel like doing any work and are down.
This would pick you up and cheer you up perfectly.

 

[Mick]

I think it was by their noses.
You know a bunch of plants under a cover of some sort fermenting would grab my attention by the smell alone.

The smell from a freshly opened vacuum bag after a successful fermentation is one of a very short list of the pleasures of life.

The Panama x Honduras I opened today really hit high in the nasal chambers like pine camphor, just the smell is addictive what a cross.
I need to wait 3 months to fully test it but so far it could be a good hit for days when you dont feel like doing any work and are down.
This would pick you up and cheer you up perfectly.

Yeah, you're probably right. Wish I could have a smell of yours. I've got a Malawi, Panama and a Bangi going and can't wait to get into cobbing. Btw, they are all sexy girls but the Malawi is super sexy and very unique.
I'm thinking that cobs will make fantastic gifts for family and friends.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

I wonder how they worked it out. Maybe it was accidental or maybe it's similiar to what the Sth American shamans say, that they discovered Ayahuasca by communicating and learning the process from the plants themselves.

They probably invented it, and lost it, many times. The ability to make Fire was lost many times. Without books or the written word, it had to be passed down verbally. Some people got devoured by sabre tooth before they could pass it on, some people were pricks and just wouldn't tell anyone.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

...
Your hereby appointed chief of experimentation my friend starting right now.
The things you can experiment with on this cure are endless.
...
(chewed of course)

WoooHooo!!

If I toke, I get high right away for 2-3 hours. If I ingest (oil), it takes 1-2 hours for it to kick in, I get high and it lasts for 4-6 hours. And it's a very different and clear high. Very nice for work and it lets me focus like a laser beam on my work.

 

[HaHaHashish]

I don't think adding dry sift when making a cob will make any difference to the high compared to adding the same dry sift to aged cob just before smoking it as it's dry and probably won't be affected by the fermentation process...but like Tang said, there's only one way to find out. I'd like to see dry ice sifting done on bud that was air dried for just 3 days then combined with 3 day dried bud in a cob, I think this could possibly make a positive difference to the high of that cob as the resin is not desiccated.

How was cobbing invented? Most likely some branches of half dried bud was wrapped in leaves, stashed and forgotten about for several months then discovered and voila! This is probably how all fermentation techniques were invented, by accident, observation, a keen mind and that wonder filled light bulb moment then experimentation.

Have there been any archaeological digs that discovered ancient cobs? Without proof there's just guessing on when cobs were first made. Was it first made in the Congo or Malawi or elsewhere in Africa?

Are cobs used in cooking in Africa or do they sometimes use just dried bud in stews and soups for medicinal (and recreational) reasons like northern Thais sometimes do? If Africans only smoke cobs then it's highly likely that cobs were developed after tobacco was introduced. And as cobbing is a form to preservation and packaging, it was probably developed as a way of getting bud to market without deteriorating in a standard type of packaging for distribution and sale, so it's my guesstimate that cobbing was developed 200 ~ 100 years ago. have there been any written reports from travelers about cobs that are over 40 or 50 years old? This fermentation method has only been seen in parts of Malawi (and the Congo region) as far as I know, so I wonder why India and other tropical and sub-tropical countries with humid climate that traded with Africa before whites settled there didn't borrow this technique? Perhaps because cobbing was isolated to one small isolated region in Malawi where it was invented until wholesale trade of cannabis out of the region happened (which was probably when cities developed on the coast??)

But it's all guesswork until hard evidence is discovered in the form of scientific digs and analyzed.

 

[HaHaHashish]

Chamba!


f.y.i.

Wikipedia Cannabis in Malawi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Malawi