i split the last Quarter i bought into 3 bags about 6 weeks ago. Down to the final bag, i open it and find the smell is a bit foul. it still smells a bit like weed, but 80% of what i smell is pretty gross
i'm guessing this is mould, i've never seen it before. is it at all smokable? salvagable? will it make me sick?
im so peeved off. i wish i checked it before blazing up my last few smokes. hanging for a cone for Game of Thrones.
Aarghjscumafurkafemidon!!!!!!!!!!!
It is possible to salvage mouldy weed without inhaling or ingesting any potentially toxic or hazardous spores. But from your description of the smell I personally would just toss it, if it smells like ammonia it's probably got some toxic chemicals floating around in there, if you'd caught it earlier you might have been able to save it.
All you have to do to salvage mouldy chop is make a batch of QWISO hash oil(quick wash isopropanol hash oil/honey oil). They sell 99.9% pure isopropanol in most pharmacies the other 0.1% is water. The isopropanol kills anything it comes into contact with(it's sold as a medical grade sterilizing agent), any spores making it through wont be viable, so shouldn't cause lung infections, but since they are microscopic even the finest of filters can't filter them out, but the iso will render them completely innert. The main danger from spores comes from the fact that they can germinate in the lungs causing a fungal infection, if the spores are dead this isn't possible. No spore can spend minutes, if not hours submerged in isopropanol and survive, if it did it would practically be a miracle, it's simply not going to happen. All the isopropinol will evaporate out within 48 hours at room temperature, which is why it has to be done outside in a well ventillated area.
Butane, acetone or ethanol(green dragon) extractions will also kill 100% of spores, but some forms of fungus(not all) produce toxins. Whether or not there are toxins present and whether or not your chosen extraction method will break them down, leave them behind or dissolve them and carry them through to the final product depends on what strain of fungus it is and what specific toxins it may or may not be creating. Whether or not a mould is creating toxins is almost impossible to tell since the creation of these chemicals can vary depending on the growing conditions, such as temperature and PH. For example a fungus at a neutral PH might not generate any toxins but the same fungus in a low PH environment might start creating toxic substances, so even if you can identify the fungal strain beyond a doubt you wont neccessarily know whether it's producing anything toxic.
SWIM has done extractions on mouldy weed before and not suffered any ill effects, but it's always been the same strain of fungus. There are quite a few forms of fungus out there that commonly affect weed. I've heard of many people doing various forms of extractions on buds with various types of fungus growing on them without any negative effects. While it is possible that toxins may find their way through to the hash, it is fairly unlikely. I have never heard of anyone getting sick from smoking hash or honey oil made from mouldy weed, but it is a possibility.
You should take precautions and smoke it in moderation at first to be sure there are no ill effects, just to be safe.
Making cannabutter will kill most if not all varieties of fungus. It depends on how hardy the particular spores are and your cooking method, but any toxins that may be present will most definitely make it into the final product. I wouldn't risk it personally, but many people swear it works and has no negative effects. IMO it's not worth the risk.
Green Dragon, QWISO, butane or acetone extractions are the safest methods.
My friend recently had a problem with mouldy weed. He bought a bunch, then the next day the guy who sold it calls up and says he can buy the same amount of the same stuff for $20 less than last time. My friend thought it was a great deal and bought another lot. When he got home he realized there was fungus growing on all of it, tiny little hairs about 0.4 of a millimetre long with tiny orange/yellow balls on the ends growing out of the buds. Which is why the guy was so desperate to sell it.
The weed was unusually damp from the start, so my friend should have noticed something was up. SWIM got 21 grams, froze it to kill any active fungus, then dried it by putting it in a paper bag and hanging it up, after 30 hours of air drying 21 grams turned into 11 grams.
Turns out that it was mouldy because the guy selling it had been doubling the weight by misting it with water. It still smells like regular weed but has a slight earthy hint to it, the earthy smell is characteristic of fungal or bacterial decomposition. It's the only weed SWIM has been able to get ahold of in over 6 months, so SWIM is intending to salvage it through one of the few safe(relatively) methods available - alcohol extraction. SWIM has done extractions on bud with this type of fungus before with no ill effects whatsoever.
My friend should have known something was off when he weighed it up and it was slightly OVER weight, in Brisbane you usually get about three quarters of what you pay for, and a quarter of that is leaf, seed and stem, the fact that it was slightly over weight, hydro and free of stem and leaf was in itself a huge indicator that something was fishy.
The moral of this story? If it's damp and not dry and crackly, don't buy it, half of what you're paying for is water and it's liable to sprout fungus at any moment. There are a lot of scammers out there.
QLD, the worst place in the country to try to buy weed.
