It'll happen to any weed fan at some point or another. You open a stash drawer or box and hey presto! There's a bag of weed that you'd completely forgotten even existed. The memories come flooding back. There was some massive party and you wanted to make sure you'd have some weed to fall back on at the end of the night, so you stashed it. And now, six months later, behold. Inviting to you. Is it still active, though? Or is it going to be worth nothing but a sore throat and headache? In this article, the crew at IC Glass cuts to the chase.

Does Weed Expire? What You Should Know

Discovering a cache of stale weed is like winning the lottery (minus the anticipated moochers who arrive with fortunes in cash). There is shock and awe followed by queries about how to make the best use of the surprise windfall. One query, however, ranks above all others. Is it still good? Will stale weed still function on the buzz front?

The better news is that, theoretically at least, weed does not rot. At least not for a few years. But that's not to say that you should necessarily want to smoke it. If the herb has been stored in a humid area it might be covered in a fluffy, white mold. And nothing gets the crew working here in the smoke shop wanting to want to puke more than a moldy weed. The upshot of this is if the weed's got mold all over the top of it all you can really do is dispose of it and move on.

But, provided that it doesn't have mold on it and even still kind of smells like its own weird smell when you open the bag up then party time, everybody! Studies indicate the THC high will begin to subside after approximately six months and diminishes by approximately 25% in potency every two years after that. So it might not give you other timelines and planes of existence like it used to, but you'll probably still be able to achieve a buzz from it, even if it's a couple years old.

Even if it is stale, pungent, and dehydrated, that does not imply it is no longer usable. And that is what we are here talking about today; how you can get the best out of your stale weed.

Five Ways to Repurpose Old Weed

So you discovered a cache of stale pot in a backpack or drawer that has not been seen in a while. You've decided it's a couple years old and survived mold so far. Kudos. Now what? Can you simply break out the engraved bong or the rolling papers and get at it 2019-style?

You can try it, but it will probably be short on a lot of the flavor and aroma that made it so enjoyable to eat when fresh. A wiser plan would be to recycle it by using one of the following proven methods.

1. Make Edibles

When you bake your stale cannabis in order to prepare edibles, you are able to enjoy the psychoactive effects and yet not have to go through the stale, lifeless flavor and lack of aroma. If you have never made edibles before the most important thing is to ensure you first bake the stale cannabis.

When you bake the weed you make decarboxylation, which is a $10 word that really means that you are activating the THC and CBD in the weed. After you've baked the weed soak it in butter or coconut oil. This is what you will end up adding to your brownie mix or other edible.

If you don't do this and just add the old, unbaked weed to your other ingredients you'll end up with a brownie that does absolutely nothing except make your mouth taste horrible.

2. Make Concentrates

The best thing about cannabis concentrates is you can't smoke them and have to contend with all the combustion byproducts. Instead, you vaporize them and inhale the cleaner, generally healthier vapor cloud.

Condensing the material of your old weed is not a more complex affair than it appears. The easiest way is the old-fashioned way and involves rolling the bud around in your hands. As you're doing this, the sticky trichomes (which contain all the THC goodness) adhere to your hands while the rubbish material sloughs off.

Literally, just roll and just keep scraping the sticky glue off your hands onto a plate until you're sure you've extracted as much as you can from the old weed. Then grab your dab rig or pocket vape and get your goodies.

3. Rehydrate It

We've mentioned before that weed dries out with age and what a terrible and foul-tasting smoking experience it provides. But low and behold, there are some smart cookies who've discovered how you're able to rehydrate stale weed and get it smokable again.

In order to rehydrate veteran weed, it can be put in a mason jar (or any jar that has a tightly sealing lid), include some humidity packs and leave it for a couple of days. Another process is putting the weed in the same mason jar and, instead of including humidity packs, include a (fresh) fruit peel and close the jar up tight. After 24 to 36 hours (not longer) peel off the skin and your weed will be rollable.

Will it taste as good as fresh garden herb? No, but the smoking quality will be two steps higher than it would have been if you attempted to smoke the wilted buds when you first discovered them.

4. Use Your Dry Herb Vaporizer

Assuming your antique weed is not mildewed you will never have to use any of the above techniques to achieve a sufficient buzz from it. Try experimenting by putting the errant weed directly into a dry herb vaporizer as is.

In real life, since your old weed is so much drier than it is when it's fresh, it's likely better suited to the dry herb vaporizer and will have some seriously thick, juicy clouds of vapor. As a bonus, you won't be choking on stale smoke off weed. If you don't possess a dry herb vape, you can get one at our wholesale head shop.

5. Dry Sift

Earlier we had recommended that you trichome isolate from old weed by rubbing it between your hands. You may derive the concentrate and vape it along with your dab rig. Rubbing, however, if you do not enjoy the idea, can still be avoided so that you get those flavorous trichomes through dry sifting.

Simply grind up your stale pot in your grinder. The resulting powder (or "kief") will be trichome-rich and can be sprinkled on top of a bowl of fresh pot for an added kick, or sprinkled on a joint of fresh pot for increased potency.

Shop With IC Glass for All Your Cannabis Essentials

And that's it. Five uses for old weed that will be effective with nearly any herb that is five or six years or younger and not infested with mold.

If you are searching for custom bongs in which to fill your smoke shop inventory, or for custom glass pipes in which to enjoy your newly discovered weed, call the staff at IC Glass today. Our retail store is open seven days per week and our online head shop never closes.