Regarding potential mold on buds

[Ommmmm]

Hello,

About a week ago I received some weed. Two out of four buds in the bag had small-ish white spots on them; The white spots were not cloudy or anything, it almost looked like dense white balls of woven spider's web or something. I picked them away with a toothpick and examined them, then I placed the weed in some jars.

I know that mold can be extremely dangerous, and if I were to see any further signs of mold I'd throw it all away instantly. My issue is this: It's hard to determine if there are any spores left going by smell alone, because as soon as I open the jar the room is filled with a strong smell of weed.

The buds have been sealed in relatively air-tight jars for a approximately a week now, and I haven't noticed any visual signs of mold in any of the jars. Is it possible that it was mold, and that that was in the bag is still contaminated with spores? The weed is very dry, could that be keeping the potential dangers hidden/invisible? If I keep it in the jars for another week or two, and there's still no sign of mold, could I be 100% sure that it's not full of dangerous spores?

At the moment I'm thinking about either tossing it or keeping it just to see how things develop, I'm too unsure to smoke it at the moment.

 

[bit_pattern]

I know that mold can be extremely dangerous

Can anyone extrapolate on this point? I've always been quite cavalier when it comes to smoking mouldy bud.

 

[《Plasticity》]

Can anyone extrapolate on this point? I've always been quite cavalier when it comes to smoking mouldy bud.

This article may be of interest, although it's pretty outdated...

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_writings3.shtml

Apparently there's alot of nasty bacteria in moldy weed that can be pretty harmful, especially when rolling joints/blunts due to direct disposure to your mouth. Keep in mind this article is from 1993 so the growing techniques in question aren't likely to be as good of quality as todays standard, eiher way definately avoid.

And then there's this...

http://forum.grasscity.com/recreational-marijuana-use/205866-smoking-moldy-weed.html

 

[thujone]

Can anyone extrapolate on this point? I've always been quite cavalier when it comes to smoking mouldy bud.

my regional lung association insists infections caused by mould can lead to painful death, so i guess that is the risk.

Hello,

About a week ago I received some weed. Two out of four buds in the bag had small-ish white spots on them; The white spots were not cloudy or anything, it almost looked like dense white balls of woven spider's web or something. I picked them away with a toothpick and examined them, then I placed the weed in some jars.

I know that mold can be extremely dangerous, and if I were to see any further signs of mold I'd throw it all away instantly. My issue is this: It's hard to determine if there are any spores left going by smell alone, because as soon as I open the jar the room is filled with a strong smell of weed.

The buds have been sealed in relatively air-tight jars for a approximately a week now, and I haven't noticed any visual signs of mold in any of the jars. Is it possible that it was mold, and that that was in the bag is still contaminated with spores? The weed is very dry, could that be keeping the potential dangers hidden/invisible? If I keep it in the jars for another week or two, and there's still no sign of mold, could I be 100% sure that it's not full of dangerous spores?

At the moment I'm thinking about either tossing it or keeping it just to see how things develop, I'm too unsure to smoke it at the moment.

If you found mould on it, then it's contaminated. I'd say toss it, although if it's a quarter or more then I'd try to save it with BHO*.

*I'm not particularly recommending this to people, since it's potentially a dangerous procedure, but it's an excellent way to de-mould THC

 

[Ommmmm]

my regional lung association insists infections caused by mould can lead to painful death, so i guess that is the risk.

If you found mould on it, then it's contaminated. I'd say toss it, although if it's a quarter or more then I'd try to save it with BHO*.

This makes me wonder though. I mean, the weed has been sealed in jars for over a week now, and I can smell nothing foul, and there are no visual signs of mold. Are you saying it can still be contaminated from that white thing I picked away with a toothpick? It wasn't quite as cloudy as I'm used to seeing mould, it was more of a dense white thing, still soft.

I'm now slightly paranoid; If this is the case, that weed can in fact be contaminated without visual signs after a week... Couldn't dealers just pick away a tiny piece of mould and sell potentially lethal weed to customers, without anyone having a chance of knowing?

 

[thujone]

This makes me wonder though. I mean, the weed has been sealed in jars for over a week now, and I can smell nothing foul, and there are no visual signs of mold. Are you saying it can still be contaminated from that white thing I picked away with a toothpick? It wasn't quite as cloudy as I'm used to seeing mould, it was more of a dense white thing, still soft.

Mould is resilient, that's the nature of mould. For all the clusters you picked away, there are still microscopic spores left behind. You can't get rid of them just by drying out the nugs, if you moisturized the nugs the mould would start growing again from the remaining spores.

I'm now slightly paranoid; If this is the case, that weed can in fact be contaminated without visual signs after a week... Couldn't dealers just pick away a tiny piece of mould and sell potentially lethal weed to customers, without anyone having a chance of knowing?

Well, yeah, dealers can sell whatever a user will buy. If you get some bud that suddenly starts growing a forest of mould then chances are it was already contaminated before it left the dealer's hands. Breathing in negligible amounts of mould spores is not an issue for anyone with decent immune function, so you could smoke your herb and nothing bad may happen, but on the other hand nobody knows just how many spores are still on those nugs so you might just run the risk of getting a lung infection, and it's pretty serious for you if you do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungal_pneumonia

 

[Ommmmm]

Mould is resilient, that's the nature of mould. For all the clusters you picked away, there are still microscopic spores left behind. You can't get rid of them just by drying out the nugs, if you moisturized the nugs the mould would start growing again from the remaining spores.

Fungal pneumonia sounds awful indeed. The weed is really high quality, except for the mold, so I'd be happy if I could find just a small uncontaminated piece. I've separated all of the buds that I got into different jars; Would rehydrating each bud in each jar (with a piece of moist cloth or something) be an effective way of making the spores grow into visible mold? If so, I'll just rehydrate everything and toss all of the jars showing signs of growth. Would you say this is a sound plan?

Thanks for the help!

 

[What 23]

Mold should crumble along with dry weed (of its dry, so will the mold be). If it is silky-smooth or like cotton, its from an insect of sorts.

Likely spider mites.

I would avoid "rehydrating" marijuana... If you have any interest in using it. That wouldn't be a great test for mold, either... Mold is EVERYWHERE, and you're kind of just giving it the chance to grow. Keep it dry. If you don't suffer side effects I wouldn't worry too much.