Malawi Style Cob Curing.

[seeded]

Thanks for the cigar post and links!

Been thinking about it lately. Certain food and beverages are fermented, even for animals (cattle, feather, horses), for higher nutritional values.

My Zam Cobs
Unsealed and dried one of the two remaining.

Smoked a spliff last night: super smooth, super clean effect... didn't feel stoned at all, just well being, ultraclear vision... though the high was mellow, either my tolerance reached a peak level, or (more possibly) the pests from the grow hurted potency.

I'm chewing on 0,5g of 2 month cured cob, now, and noticed instantly the taste and aroma of the cob has changed, resembling more closely the "live aromas" from when the plant was alive. Still peppery-taste.

That sounds like what I experienced when I first started cobbing. If you're in the same boat the real highs begin at around a gram. If you're the same you'll really begin to notice a sort of hypersensitivity that's hard to explain at around a gram and if you take that gram or so dose and find yourself if that position I cannot honestly recommend an almost scalding hot shower enough. Obviously work your way up with the temperature but feeling each hot drop hit you and feeling it's energy dissipate into you as it hits and rolls away is truly magical. It's like a whole body orgasm that never peaks but leaves you wanting more.

That said the lesson to be learned is to enjoy the moment and not try to force it. I tried. I ate like 10g once and had to sit in the shower until it went cold. Trust me when I say to enjoy the moment and move on as it's never worth it. Do as you will though, I'm not your mother

 

[repuk]

Tycho: I think the reason for using corn husks is they have a sort of waxy residue inside, which helps "sealing" the outer bud surface once you "sweat it" improving the process, it creates a "waxy film": you'll find the buds adhere to the husk inner surface.

It imparts taste also, brine-like. Though on this 2 month cured cob (last month cured without husk) the brined scent was absolutely gone, being replaced with something really, really close to the original aromas.

Seeded: I think I have too much tolerance. Will go straight to one gram or maybe save it for colder weather or at night... a scolding shower right now will finish me off (40C outside) but love the perspective

 

[repuk]

Had a king size spliff of the cob yesterday. Spiciness has subdued, being really smooth smoke.

This time I watched out the cob curing jar RH, and brought it to 60% slowly over the course of several days.

Found is it really important to slowly dry and bring RH to lower levels... dunno if was the proper drying, or myself, but now I understand, Tangwena... Zamaldelica brings out the ninja in you!

I think your mood/mental has also to do with the high. Been through one of the rougher patches in my life, now that I got over it seem to kind of having "loosened" my tolerance, or enhance the positive effects... makes sense as in the end it's an auto-hypnotic!

Was tuning my "ghetto recycled 2.1 soundsystem" at my den while toking on the cob, First time I feel those "rushes" / waves / rollercoaster of energy/electricity/joy... just needed some stimuly: music... "Smack My Bitch Up" did the "Prodigy"

Shortly after finishing the spliff I couldn't stay still nor be "indoors"...

Felt blissed and incredibly busy and inspired for 3-4 hours straight, with noticeably heightened visual "perception"... grabbed the camera, a couple lenses and shot like 30 photos, fixed the veg garden and a couple dozen "loose ends" I had been neglecting for days...

Next will be chewing on it, I think I have a a good couple grams left from that cob.

 

[Tangwena]

Had a king size spliff of the cob yesterday. Spiciness has subdued, being really smooth smoke.

This time I watched out the cob curing jar RH, and brought it to 60% slowly over the course of several days.

Found is it really important to slowly dry and bring RH to lower levels... dunno if was the proper drying, or myself, but now I understand, Tangwena... Zamaldelica brings out the ninja in you!

I think your mood/mental has also to do with the high. Been through one of the rougher patches in my life, now that I got over it seem to kind of having "loosened" my tolerance, or enhance the positive effects... makes sense as in the end it's an auto-hypnotic!

Was tuning my "ghetto recycled 2.1 soundsystem" at my den while toking on the cob, First time I feel those "rushes" / waves / rollercoaster of energy/electricity/joy... just needed some stimuly: music... "Smack My Bitch Up" did the "Prodigy"

Shortly after finishing the spliff I couldn't stay still nor be "indoors"...

Felt blissed and incredibly busy and inspired for 3-4 hours straight, with noticeably heightened visual "perception"... grabbed the camera, a couple lenses and shot like 30 photos, fixed the veg garden and a couple dozen "loose ends" I had been neglecting for days...

Next will be chewing on it, I think I have a a good couple grams left from that cob.

Hi brother I have been on safari at my fishing camp the last month with limited internet access so its good to be back home now.
Sounds nice but chew some my friend chew for as long as possible then wash it down with a drink.
Try half a gram to start and then adjust up or down from there.
My friends at the fishing camp are raving about the Malawi x Ethiopian and Panama x Honduras cobs me too!
One friend was so impressed he would not believe it had not been enhanced with speed ha ha. He just couldn't get enough and that was just smoking it!
Chewed I was tripped and blissed out for days on end the euphoria is so strong on the Panama x Honduras it had me bursting out of my skin wanting to hug and kiss every chick i laid my eyes on ha ha even the ugly ones ha ha.
My friends were trying to set me up with local girls wanting a good time ha ha. It was out of control while the cobs lasted party time every where I cant wait to get my next grow going now.

 

[repuk]

missed your posts Tangwena, always get a hard laugh!

I just realized i chewed like 2 grams last time (prior to carefully drying). Just took a chunk and chewed it w/o weighting it ended up being mouthful almost. Brewed later into some cofee and washed down. Had some eggs for breakfast.

Just took a similarly size chunk after reading you, and weighted 2,5gr

Will try tomorrow morning again, will start with 1gr this time that I know is well dried.

 

[HaHaHashish]

Tycho: I think the reason for using corn husks is they have a sort of waxy residue inside, which helps "sealing" the outer bud surface once you "sweat it" improving the process, it creates a "waxy film": you'll find the buds adhere to the husk inner surface.

Parchment paper (the kind used for lining cooking trays when baking), resin doesn't stick to it at all, it's the same paper that rosin pressers use so it can withstand extreme temps and rosin/resin doesn't stick to it at all.
If corn husks or bamboo leaves are not available then use cooking/oven parchment paper, I do and it works just fine. Actually I've never used any type of leaves, only the oven paper. Wrap the cobs in the paper so it rolls around about 3 times, twist the ends then tie it up. I usually undo the string at least once, unwrap it, then re-roll the cob with the ends of the cob squared off and re-tie it so it's rock hard and heavy (then into a sealed bag//40C heat 24 hours/air dry 6 hours/air tight seal/wait etc).

I've also noticed that the more I cob, the shorter time I spend drying the plant before cobbing. I now roll up cobs with plant material that has at least a day or two less drying time than before....more water is expressed out during the initial 24 hours of heat sealed in a bag (by the way, it's important that the moisture in the bag is not able to escape during this time or your cob will dry out and become just dried out compressed bud without all the positive effects of cobbing) and I also let the cob air dry a little longer after that 24 hours sweat. It's important to reduce the moisture level of the harvested bud down to a point where it's a day or two before that bud could be rolled in a joint and smoked (but would have to be re-lit several times)...I now cob them a day earlier than that....so don't be scared of doing that, the biggest mistake in cobbing is to try and make cobs with bud that is too dry, if you do then the magic won't happen and it will never have the cob smell, taste and effects.
Happy Cobbing!

 

[Tangwena]

Hit the nail on the head hashi, your on the money there my friend moisture is your friend in the beginning.

 

[repuk]

(by the way, it's important that the moisture in the bag is not able to escape during this time or your cob will dry out and become just dried out compressed bud without all the positive effects of cobbing)

Thats a gem

I'm afraid it may have happened to me with first one I made, reused a sealed bag after opening it and it lost the seal.

And that's also why husks may add a second layer of "prevention" from humidity escaping the cobs, that wax "seals" the inner cob.

Canary buds are the way to go until curing I think if using husks, otherwise that seal is lost the moment you open it.

This time the cobs required much more time to lose humidity, I only removed the husks at curing time.

Will also try your method with parchment paper and maybe even a press next time (car jack) if enough crop…

 

[HaHaHashish]

For those who haven't cobbed before - if the bag is sealed then condensation will appear inside the bag during this 24 (or 12) hours of heating, if the bag was not sealed properly then the steam will escape and the cob can dry out (been there, done that) I double bag them now and then I place them under an amp which heats the cobs to about 40C.

 

[HaHaHashish]

I wonder how long it will take before we hear of a US commercial growers offering cobs?...cobs could be a great niche market for a small time Californian grower who is being squeezed out by low and lower market pricing for pounds. There's lots of ways for those "Mom and Pop" farmers to profit now (produce seeds, grow long flowering sativas etc) it's just a matter of specializing in a niche and doing it really well and cobs could be that for some.

 

[HaHaHashish]

Now that cobbing has impressed me, I now wonder how 70's Thai sticks were made? Was the process is any way similar to cobbing? Were the sticks heated or steamed in some way? How were they stored when made? or was it just well grown tropical bud and wasn't fermented in any way? Anyway, I'd like to know the process but I guess it's lost now (or we would of heard something about it in the past 45 years!)
I'm actually old enough to have smoked Thai stick in the 70's. The sticks I scored back then were skinny and about 15 cm/6" long wrapped with a thin twine and a thin stick made from bamboo in the middle. The bud on the stick was not like standard compressed imported bud with it's musty smell, from memory it was denser and heavier and closer to a cob in density and didn't smell musty, though some of the last ones that I could get before they were never seen again were stale, drier and didn't have the punch of the first ones I smoked.

 

[ThaiBliss]

Hahahashish,

Excellent question. I saw a picture of bundles of Thai Sticks being put in a large wooden crate. They were green. I know once they made it to the U.S., they were brown/green. I did once see Thai Sticks golden colored, as gold as Colombian Gold. I know an Australian who cures his bud in a wooden pickle barrel for a year. What I don't know is moisture content or why the Thais went through all the trouble of wrapping pieces of buds around a stick.

Any old timer Thais out there that can chime in?

Those Thai Sticks will never be forgotten.

 

[fsmidt]

more water is expressed out during the initial 24 hours of heat sealed in a bag (by the way, it's important that the moisture in the bag is not able to escape during this time or your cob will dry out and become just dried out compressed bud without all the positive effects of cobbing)

Hi HaHaHashisch

during the sweat,do you vac the bag or not?

 

[Tangwena]

I wonder how long it will take before we hear of a US commercial growers offering cobs?...cobs could be a great niche market for a small time Californian grower who is being squeezed out by low and lower market pricing for pounds. There's lots of ways for those "Mom and Pop" farmers to profit now (produce seeds, grow long flowering sativas etc) it's just a matter of specializing in a niche and doing it really well and cobs could be that for some.

Its what I would do in that situation.
I feel confident I could produce top quality cobs from say half a dozen good strains cured 3 or 4 different styles of cure to suite each individual strains effects.


I know most people I give a piece of cob to rapidly become entranced by the different highs and length of the effects and want only that thereafter.


There is def a market for the chewing public that prefer not to smoke and like the pure plant effect.
I would willingly pay $20 a gram for top quality tripping chewable cob.

But thats just me I'm addicted to the feeling of freedom I feel chewing cob.

 

[Tangwena]

Hi HaHaHashisch

during the sweat,do you vac the bag or not?

Best to until you get your membership of the cob club my friend. Its easy but only when you know how.

 

[HaHaHashish]

Yes, the cob must be sealed (but no need to vacuum seal the bag during this stage) in a bag during the 24 hours of heat (or the moisture will escape and the cob can will or might dry out), and also later when it is vac-sealed and cures for a month.

 

[seeded]

Hahahashish,

Excellent question. I saw a picture of bundles of Thai Sticks being put in a large wooden crate. They were green. I know once they made it to the U.S., they were brown/green. I did once see Thai Sticks golden colored, as gold as Colombian Gold. I know an Australian who cures his bud in a wooden pickle barrel for a year. What I don't know is moisture content or why the Thais went through all the trouble of wrapping pieces of buds around a stick.

Any old timer Thais out there that can chime in?

Those Thai Sticks will never be forgotten.

I'm too young to have experienced thai sticks myself and I forget where I read it too so take this with at least a few grains on salt, but I remember reading that the buds were picked early when they stopped adding weight and maturing and couldn't dry out properly in the jungle conditions at all. They still hung them up, manicured them and all, but the buds were still small and damp so to increase their appearance they tied them down to sticks to form colas and were then dried some more. When they reached the local limits of drying the buds they then boxed them up, wrapped them in multiple layers of plastic to keep the smells contained and then bribed pilots to put them in parts of the plane that wouldn't be searched nearly as often such as next to engines.

Looking back on that and the experiences I've had with cobbing it very much sounds like an uncontrolled cob cure that would deliver a very up/trippy sativa high. It saddens me that I missed out on trying them but at least now I get to have Tang's version every time I harvest

 

[repuk]

I wonder how long it will take before we hear of a US commercial growers offering cobs?...cobs could be a great niche market for a small time Californian grower who is being squeezed out by low and lower market pricing for pounds. There's lots of ways for those "Mom and Pop" farmers to profit now (produce seeds, grow long flowering sativas etc) it's just a matter of specializing in a niche and doing it really well and cobs could be that for some.

I couldn't agree more with your vision, an Artisan Premium Gourmet like product will for sure be very welcome. And great for a sustainable business model at lower volumes. Lots of "small" producers in Spain of Premium (anchovy, tuna, seafood, vegetables) canned or cured (Iberian Ham, Iberial pork products) products.

 

[repuk]

Been chewing on 1.2gr cob piece for 30 minutes… this time I ruminated ("cowing" phase! ) every bit of it and washed it all down to the utmost bit with sippings of coffee at the 30 minutes mark.

Been 30 minutes or so from that… so far nothing high-wise. Only "enhanced vision" (looks like it fights presbyopia too ), and "cozy, intense feel good" state.

"Something" happened to my auditory system too. Kind of enhanced too.

Starting to shake around the chair, the urge to go outside is coming

I'm thinking maybe I screwed and temps rised too much destroying THC while at sweating stage… or is just this high is this clean for high tolerance users!

 

[seeded]

Been chewing on 1.2gr cob piece for 30 minutes… this time I ruminated ("cowing" phase! ) every bit of it and washed it all down to the utmost bit with sippings of coffee at the 30 minutes mark.

Been 30 minutes or so from that… so far nothing high-wise. Only "enhanced vision" (looks like it fights presbyopia too ), and "cozy, intense feel good" state.

"Something" happened to my auditory system too. Kind of enhanced too.

Starting to shake around the chair, the urge to go outside is coming

I'm thinking maybe I screwed and temps rised too much destroying THC while at sweating stage… or is just this high is this clean for high tolerance users!

That's the am I high? high where you don't realize how intoxicated you are until you try to do something that requires a bit of focus at which point you go holy hell I'm fucked up

If you find that you like that high don't swallow your herb. Chew it for like 30-45 mins and you'll get an amazingly clean high without the stone. It lacks the oomph but if you're not a regular smoker chewing a couple of grams and spitting it out makes for an incredible state of being. I kid you not you'll almost cry at how wonderful/beautiful the average experience is. Making a pack of Mi Goreng noodles for example will feel extremely complicated but while cooking them the sights and scents will have you frothing like a rabid dog and then once you sit down after your exhausting 4 minutes of stirring the pot and taste the noodles the spicy burn will make you feel alive and filled with warmth like never before. Mac n Cheese is basically the same but brings a wholesome, this is home kind of feeling. Salad, but especially stuff you've grown yourself, makes you feel as though you're not only doing right by yourself and nature but you're connected to the earth in a primal way. Mind you that's just for taste. Once you experiment with the other senses it's like a whole new world is opened to you.

I don't know if you've ever done shrooms before but the unrelenting happiness to the point of maddening euphoria they can cause comes to mind. It's definitely not that intense but with the right herb it's about as close as you can get without losing your grip on reality. I've found the trick is to give up on the high and enjoy the experience. Just suck it all in like a vacuum cleaner and by the time you're done you'll realize that you were higher than you ever imagined without any disappointment from not being stoned. Learn to enjoy hindsight and you're gonna love spitting it out