Skunky, cheesy, fruity, herbal or exotic – no matter what you say, cannabis smells amazing.
There’s something about dank weed…
Every strain has its own unique smell, and there's a lot more to the terpenes than just inducing a pleasant smell.
It’s not only possible to alter the smell of your marijuana temporarily, but you could also grow it in a way that enhances the terpenes.
Today, I’ll tell you how to do both, so get ready to smoke weed that smells like a dream.
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What are Cannabis Terpenes?
Cannabis terpenes are nothing but aromatic oils found in the cannabis plant.
As different strains have different terpenes, they exhibit unique fragrances ranging from cheese to pineapple to a skunky smell.
THC – the cannabinoid that induces psychoactive effects – is the most researched, but cannabis contains far more cannabinoids that play an important role in enhancing therapeutic effects.
Apart from making your cannabis smell delectable, terpenes have many more benefits since they assume the role of an antidepressant and also increase the activity of dopamine in the brain.
A scientific study points to the fact that while terpenes can inhibit the psychoactive effect of the THC, it also increases the therapeutic effects of the plant, making it a perfect combination for anyone relying on medical cannabis for their illnesses.
So, now that you know that the smell of marijuana plays an important role, let me teach you how you can make cannabis smell better.
How To Make Weed Smell Better Temporarily?
Imagine you just bought a fresh batch of cannabis.
The flavor’s great, and the high is just amazing, but there’s one small problem – it just doesn’t smell good.
One reason for your weed to smell “off” could be that it’s not cured well, and in such cases, you can simply leave it near your windowsill to dry it out; however, in some cases, the cannabis may not smell good at all.
To make your weed smell great temporarily, you can:
Cut an orange or a lemon into slices and place it next to your weed in an air-tight container.
Or, you can tape the slices to the top (on the inside) of your container so that there’s no risk of the fruit touching your weed.
After 24 hours, you’ll notice that your weed smells exactly like the fruit you wanted because weed absorbs all the moisture from the air.
Be careful not to let the weed touch the fruit lest you want to battle with other issues such as mold.
You can also alter the fragrance by placing the cannabis with a cotton ball sprinkled with a few drops of any essential oil of your choice.
Although it’s great to smoke cannabis that smells like say, eucalyptus, for example, it’s not possible to permanently manipulate the fragrance, unless you take specific steps to grow marijuana that not only smells great but tastes like heaven as well.
How to Grow Weed that Smells Amazing?
We've already discussed terpenes, and you now know that they are responsible for the fragrance exuded by the cannabis plants.
To grow marijuana that smells like a dream, it’s important to increase the production of terpenoids and terpenes in the plants by stressing them using several techniques.
Yes, you heard that right.
When the cannabis plant is stressed due to a variety of techniques including LST – Low-Stress Training – or Monster cropping or even topping and FIMing, you increase the likelihood of the production of terpenes.
Stress techniques are somewhat complicated and must be attempted only if you’re confident after a few grows under your belt.
If you stress the plant too much for long periods of time, you'll end up with hermies (plants that exhibit both male and female characteristics), and that's so not fun.
What is Low-Stress Training?
Low-Stress Training is a method that recommends stressing the cannabis plant by exposing it to a lot more light.
The plant is trained in such a way that it’s forced to grow laterally, thereby increasing the production of buds.
As light is exposed to other parts of the plant apart from the main stem, the plant thrives even under stress, and subsequently increases the level of terpenoids and terpenes as well.
LST, including defoliation – getting rid of leaves near the buds regularly – can increase the yields, and you can also do a combination of several techniques to get the best out of your plant.
How to Increase Bud production with Training Techniques
Topping and Fimming
Topping is a technique that involves pruning the growing shoot found on the main stem of the plant.
With clean scissors, growers make one single cut to prevent the plant from growing like a Christmas tree.
Not only does this method agitate the plant to grow faster, but it also increases the production of terpenes because of the amount of stress involved.
Seasoned growers repeatedly top their plants to encourage maximum growth, but others that don’t have a lot of experience try the Fimming method.
The Fimming (FIM stands for Fuck I missed!) method is very similar to Topping and is also performed during the vegetative process, but instead of cutting the entire top off, growers only prune 50-75% of the top shoot using their fingers.
Remember that while both these processes force the plant to grow faster and better by manipulating the growth, they apply a lot of stress on the plant, thus producing results you may not want at times.
Nutrients
Apart from stressing the plants, the grower needs to take care of the very basics while tending to his plants.
Today, many nutrients are formulated to increase the terpene production.
Most “Bloom” nutrients that are used specifically in the flowering stages are meant to help the buds swell and increase the favor.
As a rule, don’t use any fertilizer containing too much nitrogen because it increases the growth, yes, but also reduces the bud yield.
To further encourage the fragrance and flavor, growers also use molasses – the byproduct obtained from raw sugar – by mixing it with water and feeding it to the plants.
Molasses contains added sugar and minerals the plant's love, and it's especially useful if you're on a tight budget and can't afford to buy fancy, expensive nutrients.
If you can’t get access to molasses, a tablespoon of sugar mixed with a gallon of water will also help to a certain extent.
Lighting
You may spend a lot on the grow tent, space, ventilation, nutrients, seeds and everything else required to grow some kickass marijuana, but if you skimp on lights, you’ll lose the battle before you’ve even begun!
Do not settle and buy cheap grow lights to save money because it will turn out to be an expensive investment later.
Of course, there are so many LED and HPS Grow light manufacturers now you’re spilt for choices. It is possible that you’ll find that perfect light. One that’s not only cheap, but works efficiently too.
But, before you purchase lights, I recommend that you do some research and buy the best grow lights even if it’s not the cheapest option.
A good grow light will boost the production of terpenes like you’ve never imagined and you’ll believe it when you see the results.
Temperature
Cannabis plants love moderate temperatures ranging from 20 to 30 C, or 70 to 85 F, so it’s a good idea to provide proper ventilation.
If your grow room becomes too hot or too cold, the bud formation is affected that in turn affects the terpenes as well.
Cannabis plants thrive when you provide the perfect temperature, nutrients, space, lighting, and ventilation.
Yes, it seems like a lot of work and can be expensive too, but it will all be worth it when you take a whiff of your buds!
Conclusion
We all love when our weed smells better!
How to make weed smell better is something we can approach both before and after harvest.
WIth the help of fruit we can make our cannabis smell better for a little while.
When we grow the cannabis is when we can really affect the smell, though.
Do you have any tricks to making your cannabis smell better?
We’d love for you to share them in the comments below!