Dried herbs...too dry

[dooby]

Hello,

I like to smoke changa in joints...

Rather than tobacco I like to use a variety of herbs as "filling" for my ch-oints...

However, I find the herbs to be very dry which leaves a quarter of the ch-oint hardly smokable due to the smoke being too hot/harsh to inhale...

Could I moisten my herbs by adding a few drops of water to the jars/bags they're kept in?

Or are there other, more preferable, options for making/keeping herbs moist enough?

Thank you

 

[Auxin]

Using water invites mold, this is one of the main issues the australian government complains about in regards to their black market tobacco, 'chop-chop'. My father made the same mistake with his herb, he would use lemon rind and his herb would get all moldy, then his stubborn ass would smoke it anyway :lol: Not healthy.
Proper rehydration employs controlled elevated humidity above ambient humidity but well below 100%. IIRC 65% humidity is what is used in curing tobacco to keep it flexible and curing, but not moldy. In tobacco shops you'll see little machines with propylene glycol solutions in the cigar cases for maintaining a controlled humidity.
If you have a CRC the 'constant humidity' section is useful. It uses a mix of a chemical and its saturated solution to form a constant humidity environment in a closed container for softening your herb in, it just takes a few hours to overnight.
Ammonium chloride produces 80-78% RH at 20-30° C
Ammonium sulfate (a fertilizer) produces 81% RH at 20-30° C, this is what I used for softening smokes and cigarettes in a few hours.
Sodium carbonate (washing soda, oven-baked baking soda) produces 92% at 18.5°C and 87% RH at 24.5° C this is too high but will rehydrate faster.
Magnesium acetate is probably nearest to ideal for longer term storage at 65% RH at 20° C
Dont let the chems touch your herbs.

A tobacco smokers trick is to dunk a piece of newspaper under water and tightly ring it out before putting it in a closed container with tobacco for a couple hours, its done only for what will be smoked that day, its taken out after an hour or three, since it can cause mold.

 

[Gone-and-Back]

I use to stick orange peels into bags of harsh, dried out marijuana. If only left in for a few hours, twelve max, it shouldnt cause enough humidity to generate mold. I never had a problem and would do it to a bag that would last me two weeks. In those two weeks I never noticed mold forming from having the peels in there for only 8-12 hours. I would put them in when going to sleep and remove them upon waking.

Not to mention this added a nice orange flavor to the marijuana, especially since it was some dirt quality so it tasted bad to begin with. The orange made it more pleasing taste wise.

 

[spinCycle]

I put a small piece of lettuce into a bag of buds when they are getting dry. Rehumidifies nicely without altering the taste. Should work nicely to other herbs too.

 

[dooby]

Thanks for the lettuce advice...

As I choose these herbs not only for their effect but also their flavour, a method that doesn't affect taste is what I'm looking for...

btw, I'm not referring to mj, but to moroccon mint, lotus petals, mullein etc...

 

[Parshvik Chintan]

damp paper towel works too (As an alternative to lettuce - make sure its not dripping wet, and its best to not have it touch the herbs directly, and let osmosis do the work)

 

[Auxin]

You guys make me feel like I was over-thinking things in my day :lol:

The flavoring aspect is a valid consideration. Thats why my dad used lemon, the flavor helped a bit with recurrent thrush infection.
I always thought crushed pine needles would be interesting for re-humidifying but I never trialed that before I quit smoking things. Most cone bearing evergreens are pretty much non-toxic.
One thing I loved when smoking tobacco was to keep cigarettes in a jar of humidified pipe tobacco, pipe tobacco flavored cigarettes for nearly regular cigarette price! :shock: