It all sounds reasonable to me.Bulénath said:HempKat,
"Being that it's fairly fresh too, some of that resin is probably still in a rather oily state (the contents of the gland heads on the trichomes). Pressing that would likely release that and be soaked up by the plant material possibly helping everything to burn a little better?"
I believe that may be one of the main reasons behind the better burning.
It is true that Hand-rubbed hash is immediately smokeable becasue the oily glands have been thoroughly mulled like play-doh, exposing the insides to oxygen which causes an immediate reaction, some kind of process like Carboxylation or Oxidization?
This is opposed to letting weed cure, with the glands in a undistured, perfect state, to slowly metabolize the moisture within, while the outside is slowly being exposed to air over relatively long periods of time.
As far as flushing, well I am not the biggest fan of it. I have tried it a couple times, and I find no real difference in the way my buds end up smoking. Maybe it's because of the potting medium and fertz that I use. I grow 100% orgainc with a semi-soiless mixture and use strictly Pure Blend Pro.
I also hang dry my weed, in 50% ambient RH, in a dark closet, hung over my grow box's exhaust, with my bedroom's air conditioner set to 60F, for roughly seven days, by which time the buds are so crispy dry, they can be crumbled between my pointer finger and thumb. Then I cure in Glass on Glass Apothecary jars for two weeks+.
Either way, the fact that it is smoking down to white ash, more so than the same ganja left unpressed, I think has much to do with exact same reason why my bongs have never been cleaner. Seriously, 5 grams of pressed ganja make my bong as dirty and half a gram of regular ganja!
Maybe it is because, like you suggested Hempkat, that the trichomes are still in a "oily" state, because they have not been properly drying for long enough and remain slightly moist. This, combined with heat and pressure, cause the oily glands to burst and evenly soak up amongst the ganja being pressed.
So now, not only does the Ganja burn more evenly, but because it is pressed together, there is less black ash particles that create an invisible mist traveling down the inside of my Roor's diffuser, which, coupled with the smoke-oil, usually casues my diffuser to blacken up quickly.
But because the pressed ganja is burning evenly and more optimally, without requiring an external flame for each hit, what would be black ashes is burnt down to white ashes, which no longer dirty my diffuser and bong water.
Anyway, it is just a theory. Feel free to add your own explanations!